Single UK male 20 years old.......

[sigibbons]

No i dont want to go on a date. :U

I'm considering moving to OZ to work and live for at least a few years. Im a fully trained Site Carpenter and am trying to see what prospects i have in Australia.

What sort of salary range would be paid roughly to a Level 3 Site chippie?
Also i have been trying to look at housing prices (buying and rental) but not sure what area's are considered cheap? Could somone give me some prices and living costs please.

Also would you Aussies actually want a Brit in your country?

Thanks very much, Si.

[jow104]

Moved your post to Employment forum.

[smidsy]

Would we want a brit - one more won't make any difference lol so come on over.

I'm not in the trades so I can only speak in general terms, but if you come to Western Australia (which coincidentally happens to be the better part of the place anyway hehe) there is a big boom happening at the moment which has created a labour shortage - especially in the building trades.

Best thing to do is check out www.seek.com and e-mail a few employers directly.
Cheers

[sigibbons]

I have noticed a few people wanting workers in Perth area. Thanks for your reply.
What is the affordability of houses like out there. Could a good chippie afford to get a mortgage on a decent house?

[Brickie]

The resources boom has made things expensive in the west. (http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?s=wa&t=res&snf=rbs&a=sf)

[Barry_White]

Si

Have a look here for homes both to buy and to rent.

http://www.domain.com.au/

As far as jobs go for a chippie you would be able to work almost anywhere.

For a job you could search here.

https://jobsearch.gov.au/Login/Login.aspx?WHCode=0

[smidsy]

It all depends on where you want to live - if you want a flash trendy house 5 minutes from the centre of Perth then you're going to pay. If you don't mind living a bit further out then you can still get a 70's/80's place with some yard for under $400k.
We're renting a decent 70's brick and tile place in one of the better areas only 15 minutes from the centre of Perth for $265 a week - in this area you'd pay between $350 & $500k to buy.

A couple of things to consider:
Perth is not a big place, you can drive from one end of the Perth metro area to other in less than 2 hours, so "further out" is not that far.
With 1 aussie dollar only costing you about 42p, any cash you bring is going to stretch when you swap it over.

A lot of companies are doing deals to get staff, the mining boom means they have to - my wifes company is after a sparkie (electrician) and they're offering good cash AND a car and fuel card.

Check out www.reiwa.com for house prices, and www.whereis.com.au is an online road map so you can get an idea of where places are.
Cheers

[silentC]

A mate of mine who is a painter came over with his family about 4 years ago. They got more 'points' on their visa application by moving to a regional area, so rather than Sydney, they came here. 12 months later, his missus was home sick. She got on the internet and met some poms in Perth. Come on over they said, there's plenty of us over here. So they packed everything up and moved over there.

So if you're like him and his missus, it wont matter whether aussies want you here or not because you'll be hanging out and working with other poms anyway.

[underused]

I lived and worked my way around Australia for 2 years back in 2001 onwards.
Lovely country, well worth you going out and having a look while you're still young and have no commitments (wife, kids , morgage)
Ive probably seen more of Australia than a lot of these dinky di's:wink:
The best money, and most jobs (or easiest to get) around then, for a Pom chippie was in Sydney. I had to turn work down in Sydney, I was so busy.
At the time I couldnt get any work in Perth, stayed there about a month drinking cold beer:D.
Melbourne is a nice city, (one of the nicest IMO) but they didnt seem so welcoming for a brit chippe (or any trade as a mater of fact) a lot of us poms worked there putting up marquee's...crap job it was:rolleyes:
UP in Carins and North Queensland, only work there at the time, was in Hospitality. I got a job working for a hostel (being the odd job man:D)
Anyway mate, I reckon you should give it a go!
Oh and dont listen to people saying poms whinge whine etc...they are the ones whinging about the pom, dont bite:wink:

[thesupervisor]

if you want to move to perth try joondulup, craigie,wanneroo tapping are some of the pom places i mean thats where they all seem to live rent would be anywhere from $250 to $450 to buy $400k up but you can still buy 20mins from city for $320k
as a fixing carpenter you should have no probs getting $$30-$50 per hour what is a level 3 carpenter what do they do?

[Rossluck]

"would you Aussies actually want a Brit in your country?"
Si: yes, you're welcome. There's not much difference between you and us, except that we're better at most sports. :wink:

[Toolin Around]

Gday Si

The best place I'd say you need to begin your search is at http://britishexpats.com/ I moved here just over two years ago and spent a lot of time in that forum.

For the time being I'd say the economic climate is similar to pretty well any western nation. They're all booming and there's no shortage of work for those willing to work. Rents, property and the over all cost of living are high. Unfortunately the wages are somewhat low, relatively speaking, but 365 days of summer makes up for it. As for what it will take to get here your other stop should be the Australian Immigration Website. Just like every other western nation they screaming for immigrants so your chances are most likely good at getting in.

[Sharnbrook]

I was a Pom when I moved here in '84, having left UK in '66 when I went to Africa.

I have recently retired, but was in the Building Industry and have been ever since I left school in 1959.

For the past 15 yrs or so here in Oz, I have had my own construction business, and I recently paid anything from $50 to $65 per hour for chippies working for Carpentry gangs. I think the chippies themselves probably get aroung $35 to $45 per hour, dependant upon skills and experience. For that they provide all their normal tools, including a ute and specialised power tools (compressors and nail guns for example), which are obligatory in Oz, and the mark up includes for on costs, superannuation, workers compensation, company overheads etc etc. To work on your own, and contract with the public, you have to have a licence, (in most if not all states) but to work for a carpentry company, you don't need a licence, but may well need a Union ticket in some areas/jobs, and will need your apprenticeship papers obviously. Remember that it is much hotter in Oz than in UK, and working on site can be VERY demanding. Australians, I believe, work much harder than the average Pom, and when I was contracting, we would often start at 6 am, and would often still be on site at 5 or 6 pm if the job needed finishing. I speak about Queensland, and Brisbane in particular, but I have worked in the coal fields of Central Qld, and in Mt Isa, where it REALLY gets hot. I think the shade temperature today was 40 deg plus, and that's if you can find any shade on a building site. If you are fair skinned, remember that Qld is the skin cancer capital of the world, and take steps accordingly. You will need to get a Safety Induction certificate before starting work, and these can be got at a variety of places, costs about $130, and takes about a day. Try the Master Builders office in the area, they are reasonable and thorough.

Housing is much more than it was 5 yrs ago, but still much less than UK, so if you have a house to sell, you will be quids in, and with prices still on the way up, you should be OK for a couple of years, but then you probably won't go back anyway.......

If you are a good chippy, and want to work hard, you can't go wrong, but if you are a clock watcher, and a wood butcher, you won't last long. I can thoroughly recommend Australia, and we are very happy here, kids have both grown up as Aussies, and are also happy.

At 20 yrs old and single, you have nothing to lose, give it a go.