Building tradespeople in Orange are charging more than their Sydney counterparts as they are in big demand from a busy housing and renovation market.
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The Master Builders Association of NSW warned that with a shortage of apprentices and many older carpenters set to retire within the next few years the situation would get worse for people wanting new homes, renovations and improvements.
The warning came as a find-a-tradie website revealed that nationally people seeking work to be done could expect three to four quotes on its site.
However, they were only getting one to two quotes from Central West carpenters due to the tradie shortage.
A spokeswoman for serviceseeking.com.au said carpenters in the Central West had 52 per cent less competition than the national average.
Master Builders Association [MBA] Central West Divisional president Mick Banks said the busy Orange market was enabling tradies to charge higher rates.
“Orange tradesmen, I believe, are a bit higher than in Sydney.
“It’s not across the board but definitely in specialised trades such as painting and tiling it is happening.
“In Orange people have got their prices and you like it or lump it.”
He said the demand was also delaying the completion of jobs by up to a month as companies had to wait for tradies to be available.
Soon we are going to have carpenters that can demand higher wages than doctors.
- John Spanjer, carpenter
Mr Banks said there was a shortage of young people wanting to be apprentices, barely half of those who started apprenticeships finished them and builders were sometimes too busy to employ apprentices.
Carpenter John Spanjer said he had a huge backlog of jobs in Orange.
“I tell people I won’t see them for months. I’ve got 50 jobs outstanding. It’s crazy.”
Mr Spanjer forecast that the shortage would lead to problems for house owners and riches for tradies.
“Soon we are going to have carpenters who can demand higher wages than doctors.”
He said apprenticeships should be better promoted and encouraged in schools.
MBA executive director Brian Seidler said parents pushed their children to university rather than to trades which would prove costly for the economy.
“Over the next three years we estimate 80,000 tradies are going to hang up their nailbags and retire,” he said.