// RATES AND BENCHMARKS
Australian trade rates and call-out fee index (2026)
As of August 2026, Australian trade businesses typically charge between $40 and $150 per hour, with electricians and plumbers at the top of the range at $80 to $150 per hour and handymen, gardeners and cleaners between $40 and $100 per hour. Most trades also charge a call-out fee or minimum charge on top, typically $50 to $150 for electricians and plumbers, while the Fair Work award minimum for a qualified tradesperson is $27.08 to $32.80 per hour including all-purpose allowances, effective 1 July 2026.
This page is the 2026 edition of the Australian Trade Rates and Call-Out Fee Index, previously published as the Australian Tradie Rates and Benchmarks dataset: hourly rates, call-out fees, day rates, major-city rates and award wage floors for fourteen trades, in citable tables with a free CSV of each. The full dataset is reviewed every July; the index sources are re-checked quarterly and every revision is dated in the change log.
// THE 2026 BENCHMARKS
What Australian trades charge in 2026
One row per trade: the national hourly range, the typical rate, the call-out fee or minimum charge, the day rate where a real day-rate market exists, and the Fair Work award floor. Prices are what customers are quoted, including GST where the business is registered. Each trade links to a full guide with city-level rates and every source. The award floors include the 4.75% rise of 1 July 2026; what that rise does to charge-out rates is covered separately.
| Trade | Hourly rate | Typical | Call-out fee or minimum | Day rate | Award minimum /hr (incl. all-purpose allowances) | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrician | $80 to $150 | $115 | Call-out $50 to $150, typical $90 | $650 to $1,100, full 8-hour day* | $32.19 | Electrician rates |
| Plumber | $80 to $150 | $120 | Call-out $80 to $150, typical $100 | -§ | $32.80 | Plumber rates |
| Carpenter | $55 to $130 | $85 | Call-out around $70 to $120† | $400 to $900, typical $620 | $31.95 | Carpenter rates |
| Painter | $50 to $100 | $70 | Rarely a fixed call-out; minimums vary $60 to $250‡ | $300 to $800, typical $500 | $31.12 | Painter rates |
| Handyman | $40 to $100 | $60 | One-hour minimum; fee $40 to $100‡ | -§ | $31.95 | Handyman rates |
| Cleaner | $55 to $90 | $55.37 | 2-hour minimum booking; no call-out fee | -§ | $27.08 | Cleaner rates |
| Gardener / Landscaper | $40 to $100 | $68.19 | Minimum varies; observed tasks from $70† | Average $574.90, from $120† | $29.45 | Gardener / Landscaper rates |
| Tiler | $45 to $120 | $70 | Minimum charge $300 to $500† | Average $604.60, from $120† | $31.95 | Tiler rates |
| Concreter | $60 to $120 | $70 | No call-out fee; quotes per m2 | Average $848.82, from $250† | $30.86 | Concreter rates |
| Plasterer | $50 to $120 | $77 | Minimum charge $150 to $300† | $350 to $850, full 8-hour day* | $31.76 | Plasterer rates |
| Locksmith | $70 to $140 | $100 | Call-out $50 to $150, typical $100 | -§ | $29.45 | Locksmith rates |
| Fencer | $50 to $100 | $106‖ | No call-out market; quotes per metre | -§ | $29.47 | Fencer rates |
| Bricklayer | $45 to $120 | $65 | No published call-out market | $400 to $850, full 8-hour day* | $31.63 | Bricklayer rates |
| Roofer | $40 to $90 | $113.42‖ | Call-out $80 to $350 by business size† | -§ | $31.43 | Roofer rates |
- * Published only as a full 8-hour day (Quotcha, updated 12 May 2026): Sydney, Melbourne and Perth $900 to $1,100; Brisbane and Adelaide $700 to $950; regional areas $650 to $850. ServiceSeeking's $372.86 daily average is skewed by part-day jobs and is not used.
- † Single-sourced figure: published by one source only, so treat it as indicative. The source and its date are shown on the linked trade page.
- ‡ Published sources conflict on the amount; the range shown spans the published figures. Both sources are shown on the linked trade page.
- ‖ Marketplace average across quotes of all sizes; it sits above the published hourly band because most quotes for this trade are per job or per metre rather than per hour. The linked trade page explains the skew with its sources.
- § No day-rate market exists for this trade in any verified 2024 to 2026 source; work is quoted hourly or per booking.
The full dataset behind this table is a plain CSV, one row per trade, with hourly ranges, call-out figures, day rates, award floors, source counts and a link to each trade's guide: download australian-tradie-rates-2026.csv.
// RATES BY CITY
Hourly rates by city
Seven of the fourteen trades have a published city-level hourly breakdown; the other seven are priced nationally on their guide pages because no verified city figures exist, and this table never pads the gap. Sources publish three different figure types, so the figure column states what each row's numbers are: a full hourly range, a starting rate, or an average. Every row is single-sourced from the dated guide in its source column, so treat city figures as indicative rather than market-wide. Prices are what customers are quoted, including GST where the business is registered.
| Trade | Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Perth | Adelaide | Canberra | Hobart | Darwin | Gold Coast | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrician | $90–$130 | $85–$130 | $75–$110 | $90–$105 | $80–$100 | - | - | $80–$110 | - | Hourly range | Service.com.au, updated 14 Apr 2026 |
| Plumber | $92 | $84 | $80 | $84 | $74 | - | $72 | $92 | - | Starting rate, not the average charged | WhatsTheDamage, Aug 2026 |
| Carpenter | $63 | $58 | $55 | $58 | $51 | $61 | $50 | $63 | $54 | Starting rate, not the average charged | WhatsTheDamage, Aug 2026 |
| Painter | $74–$110 | $79–$87 | $84–$88 | $82–$87 | $70–$85 | - | - | - | - | Average charged | Airtasker, updated 04 Jun 2025 |
| Cleaner | $62.40 | $60.96 | $58.02 | $57.23 | $54.64 | $59.57 | $49.61 | $47.48 | - | Average hourly rate | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Plasterer | $57 | $52 | $50 | $52 | $46 | - | $45 | - | - | Starting rate, not the average charged | WhatsTheDamage, Aug 2026 |
| Bricklayer | $52 | $47 | $45 | $47 | $41 | $50 | $40 | $52 | $44 | Starting rate, not the average charged | WhatsTheDamage, Aug 2026 |
The city figures are a second plain CSV, one row per trade and city with the source named on every row: download australian-trade-city-rates-2026.csv.
// WORK OUT YOUR OWN RATE
Benchmarks tell you the market. The calculator tells you your number.
A market-rate table cannot tell you whether $95 an hour keeps your business alive. The charge-out rate calculator works it out from your own wage, overheads, billable hours and margin, then compares the result with the benchmarks above.
// FREE CALCULATOR
Charge-out rate and day rate calculator
Pick your trade, tweak two or three numbers, and see the hourly and day rate your business actually needs. Runs in your browser; nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Open the calculator →// RATE GUIDES BY TRADE
Full rate guides for every trade
Each guide carries the national figures above plus city and state rates, emergency and after-hours loadings, the award cost floor explained, and every source with its date.
Electrician
$80 to $150 per hour
See electrician rates →Plumber
$80 to $150 per hour
See plumber rates →Carpenter
$55 to $130 per hour
See carpenter rates →Painter
$50 to $100 per hour
See painter rates →Handyman
$40 to $100 per hour
See handyman rates →Cleaner
$55 to $90 per hour
See cleaner rates →Gardener / Landscaper
$40 to $100 per hour
See gardener / landscaper rates →Tiler
$45 to $120 per hour
See tiler rates →Concreter
$60 to $120 per hour
See concreter rates →Plasterer
$50 to $120 per hour
See plasterer rates →Locksmith
$70 to $140 per hour
See locksmith rates →Fencer
$50 to $100 per hour
See fencer rates →Bricklayer
$45 to $120 per hour
See bricklayer rates →Roofer
$40 to $90 per hour
See roofer rates →Call-out fees explained
What a call-out fee is, what it covers, and what every trade charges
See call-out fees →Apprentice cost
What an apprentice costs a trade business: award wages, on-costs and incentives
See apprentice costs →Subbie vs employee
The true hourly cost of an employee against subcontractor rates, worked through
See the comparison →// METHODOLOGY
How this dataset is compiled
Every figure in the table above is transcribed from a dated, published Australian source and cross-checked against at least one other source wherever one exists; figures that could only be single-sourced are marked in the table rather than blended or hidden. Charge-out rates come from published cost guides, while award wage floors were read directly from official Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide PDFs effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, not from third-party summaries.
The Australian rate-data landscape splits into dated pricing guides (ServiceSeeking, Airtasker, WhatsTheDamage, Service.com.au, ServiceTasker and similar) and undated marketplace headline rates that sit systematically below them; this dataset uses the dated guides only. Employee wage data such as Payscale, Indeed and award tables reports what a tradesperson earns, not what a business charges, and the two are never mixed here.
The initial 78 sources were accessed on 7 or 18 August 2026, dated per source on each trade page. This dataset is reviewed and republished every July following the Fair Work annual wage review. The next full review is July 2027. Between July reviews, the index sources are re-checked each quarter (January, April, July, October) and a dated entry is added to the change log below whether or not anything moved, so a citation of this page always resolves to a known revision.
Cite this index as: Web Blend, Australian Trade Rates and Call-Out Fee Index 2026, webblend.au/rates/, updated 22 October 2026. Citations of the dataset's previous name, Australian Tradie Rates and Benchmarks 2026, refer to the same data at the same URL.
// REVISIONS
Change log
- 22 October 2026: the dataset page becomes the Australian Trade Rates and Call-Out Fee Index: major-city hourly rates added as a table and a second CSV for the seven trades with published city figures, and the cadence gains a quarterly source re-check between the annual July reviews. No published rate changed.
- 24 September 2026: gardener source interpretation corrected after rechecking four commercial guides. The observed Airtasker task-price low is no longer labelled a minimum fee. Day-rate source dependence, GST treatment and the hypothetical worked example are clarified. Core published market rates are unchanged.
- 18 August 2026: five trades added (plasterers, locksmiths, fencers, bricklayers, roofers), each researched from freshly accessed sources and the 1 July 2026 Fair Work pay guides. Employer guides added for apprentice cost and subcontractor vs employee cost. Every trade page gained a rate chart, a job cost estimator and a per-trade CSV download.
- 7 August 2026: initial publication of the 2026 dataset.
// WHILE YOU ARE HERE
Charging right but not winning enough work?
The rate only matters if the phone rings. Web Blend builds the websites, video and Google Ads that keep trade businesses booked, so the hours you can invoice are full ones.
More free tools: Charge-Out Rate Calculator · Missed Call Calculator · Hipages Cost Calculator · all tools