Free tool
What should this cost?
A starting point, drawn from what businesses on this directory actually publish.
Put two or three quotes in side by side. It works out what each one actually costs once the call out, the loading and the materials are in, and shows you the effective hourly rate, which is the number that makes them comparable. Nothing is sent anywhere.
| Line | Quote A | Quote B | Quote C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | — | — | — |
| Effective per hour | — | — | — |
There is no single right price for a trade job in a regional town. There is a range, and knowing the range is most of what you need to tell a fair quote from a bad one.
The figures on this site come from what businesses publish themselves: call out fees on their own websites, hourly rates on their quote pages, and the ranges they advertise. They are indicative, not quotes, and they are not a benchmark you can hold anyone to.
How to read a trade quote
A quote worth accepting separates four things:
- The call out or attendance fee. What it costs for someone to turn up. Sometimes it is waived if the job proceeds. Ask which.
- Labour. An hourly or half hourly rate, and the minimum charge. A one hour minimum is normal. A four hour minimum on a domestic job is not.
- Materials. Listed, with a markup that is either stated or built into the line. Both are normal. Neither being visible at all is not.
- Loadings. After hours, weekend, public holiday, emergency. These are where the surprises live, and on this border they depend on which state's calendar applies.
If a quote is one number with no breakdown, ask for the breakdown. A tradesperson who will not itemise is not necessarily overcharging, but you have no way of telling.
Where the border changes the number
Travel is the obvious one. A Corowa electrician quoting on a Howlong job is charging for the drive whether it appears as a line or not. Ask whether travel is inside the call out fee or on top of it.
The less obvious one is the public holiday calendar. Victoria and New South Wales do not share one, and a job booked for Melbourne Cup Day is a holiday rate on one side of the Murray and a normal Tuesday rate on the other.
What is on the category pages
Every locality and category page on this site carries a block built from the listings on that page: the range of published call out fees, the average, how many trade Saturdays, and how many hold a licence we have checked. Those numbers are computed from the rows underneath them and they change as listings are added and claimed.
Start there rather than here. A page like plumbers in Albury has the actual figures for the actual businesses that will quote you.
What we will not do
We will not publish a single national average and call it a price. The spread between a straightforward tap washer and a burst main under a slab is not a rounding error, and a number that averages them is worse than useless. The ranges here are for orientation. The quote is the quote.
Common questions
Where do these figures come from?
From what businesses publish on their own websites and quote pages, recorded with the URL it was read from and the date. They are not survey data and they are not a benchmark.
Can I hold a tradesperson to a price on this site?
No. Nothing here is a quote or an offer. A quote is a document from that business for your specific job. Use these ranges to know whether a quote is in the normal zone, then get the quote.
Why is the call out fee separate from the hourly rate?
Because they cover different things. The call out covers getting there, including travel and the vehicle. The hourly covers the work. Some businesses roll them together and some do not, which is exactly why an itemised quote matters.
What is a reasonable after hours loading?
It varies by trade and by how far outside hours the job is. What is not reasonable is finding out about it on the invoice. Ask what triggers the loading and what the rate is before you agree to the visit.
How often are these numbers updated?
The per page figures recompute on every build, from the listings on that page. Each listing shows the date its details were last read from a source.