Tradespeople across Brisbane have opened up how much money they earn in their respective jobs.
From fire technicians to traffic controllers, the workers revealed a huge variation in pay packets depending on the trade and the level of experience.
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The Queensland tradespeople spilled their salary secrets during roving interviews with representatives from Brisbane-based job search startup GetAhead last week.
The highest earner of the bunch was an underground coal miner, earning an annual salary of about $300,000 per year.
That’s about double the average wage of a miner in Australia, according to Seek data based on full-time salary ranges disclosed by employers on job ads.
But the coal miner also clarified that he owns the business he works for.
The second-highest salaries were revealed by a crane operator who said he earns over $200,000 annually, and a fire technician who said that same figure was at the top end of his annual earning capacity, matching the average earnings for the roles.
A diesel fitter who spoke to GetAhead said he earned up to $180,000 annually, which matches the average earnings in the role, and one electrician said he earned $150,000 per year, a bump up from the average, according to Seek data.
Many of the tradies interviewed by GetAhead revealed their annual earnings could vary hugely, and Fair Work award guidelines show just how much overtime pay rates and a high classification of industry experience can impact wages in the trades.
For the electrical trade, the hourly pay rate difference between a grade 1 worker and a grade 10 worker, is more than $16 per hour — and those rates balloon for overtime, unrostered shifts, Sundays and public holidays.
A highly experienced electrician working on a public holiday, for example, can earn over $115 per hour — and on the other end of the scale, a first year apprentice in the trade would earn just $12.25 per hour on an average weekday.
‘One week there I made $26,000’
One traffic controller told GetAhead he made about $35 per hour, the same hourly earnings disclosed by one tree lopper who additionally revealed a surprisingly large earning capacity.
“One week there I made $26,000 cash for one of my bosses, and he was spinning out,” he told GetAhead.
And a tiler, who said he works on Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) sites, revealed earnings of $70 per hour, on top of the additional hourly allowances based on the project value and the height of the work site.
A glassworker said he earns about $1100 per week, which is just below the median earnings for the role ($1341), according to Jobs and Skills Australia.
A steel fixer interviewed by GetAhead said he earned $1200 per week, and one labourer revealed he earned about $1500 per week.
And an abseiler said that when he works at nights, he earns about $4000 per week.
That’s almost double that of the poly welder/operator, who revealed he earns the same figure in a fortnight.