How much do I make as a Carpenter

This is how much I made for my own quoted job and how much I charge as a sub contractor.

I'm making this video to share how much can be made as a carpenter, as I have had a lot of questions asking if its a career worth considering

[YeshuaChristKING]

Bro dont be shy to pump up ur quotes! Doing these type of jobs every day for the last 20 years, people WILL pay! And your work is worth more my friend

[robbiepayne]

-Min for a trade qualified Carpenter should be $65PH +GST
-10% on materials as you get get them at trade price anyway
-lastly some kind of margin to make it worth your time and to help you grow (trailers, tools, so on) around 15-20% is a good starting point.

[tonyaquino_photography]

Hey bro cool very video👌🏻 I would definitely be charging a bit more. just remember to charge yourself out @ your
rate/hr and make sure to add margin for your buisness to thrive.

Also try charging your man out at 1.5x what you pay him👍🏻

Obviously you are a talented young guy. my advise as a 35 year old carpenter would be, get to know your own value and think bigger and more outside the box in the way of what you should/could be charging. I know the feeling that goes through your mind on
“AM I CHARGING TOO MUCH”.
Just remember you have invested time & money to acquire these skills and this is your time to make good coin 💵 you can always come down on price to win a job.

You are going awesome and a great example of what a young tradie should be, keep up the good work 💪🏻

[JimTom.]

Awesom mate, appreciate the transparency. Some of us dont really have anyone to compare our prices to so its nice to have an insight from someone in the same business. Looks like my pricing and system is practically the same as yours.

[ChrisJohnson-zq]

Agree with the comments advocating margins. I put 25% on materials and subcontract labour and 33% on my labour (these margins can be adjusted). I used to worry about how customers would react, but surprisingly I’ve had no impact and have stacks of work on. Again agree with comments highlighting hidden costs. The margin covers the hidden costs of operating a business in our industry, helps me meet the financial outlay for the sustained operation in our industry, plus puts money away for if and when work slows down. If you read the stats, thousands of builders are going bust and contractors are leaving the industry. I also get half the money upfront to avoid putting financial pressure on myself (I mostly do works from $5, 000 - $100, 00). It took a while to work this approach out. I enjoy your videos, for the knowledge you pass on. You appear to be a bloody good worker/contractor, so believe in yourself. Keep up the good work.

[steven.t]

Don't be afraid of sharing cost, I've seen videos of watch flipping where the seller records what he buys the watch for and sells it for and how much they make. i think a lot of people watching your videos wouldn't have any idea about building anything but appreciate the transparency and ASMR of the build. keep it up!

[grgwendt]

Great video as always Dave. Thanks for sharing. I have been self employed for 3 years and still manage to stuff up a quote once in a while. My biggest piece of advice is to not itemize quotes. Write what you are doing EG: supply & install 10 Black Aluminium windows & reveals
Price $3600 inc gst.
If you quote materials and kabour seperatly clients think the labour is negotiable.

[jframing]

Honestly man loving these videos lately trying to start up on my own soon and seeing the day to day sorta stuff is so helpful 🤙

[footscray]

Interesting video, thanks Dave. It seems as though you should definitely have quoted more, you seem to be worth it. And good on you for being fair to Mitch with the pay. It's a big struggle these days being an apprentice.

[whateyatalkinabout]

For future quotes, at least allow another 10% on top of material just in case you made a mistake.
In your case $3000 I would have allowed for material, and then 950 per day for you and your worker as you’re paying him full timer rates. So your quote would have been 4900 + GST.
You might think that’s a bit much, but once you’re factoring in apps like Xero, Microsoft office subscriptions, overheads such as travel and vehicle expenses you’d want to be allowing at least $65 an hour for yourself to make it worth the headfuck of quoting and doing the job.

[ajscarpentry]

Thankyou for the video. It was very helpful to learn from a fellow carpenter in Australia on this topic of pricing jobs.

[plumbobmillionaire]

I enjoyed that. The heat seems nice to me as I was in the snow today😢.
I allow 15% extra materials for jobs like that, I mark up my materials 25% and then add 20% on top for profit.
That deck looks unreal, not much hardwoods used here in Canada.

[steffengrossmann]

$500 day rate (8.5hrs minus lunchbreak) in Melbourne is a must. Otherwise you are short changing yourself after paying the taxman, super, sick leave, annual leave, tools, purpose built car for the job, profit as a business etc.

[pabit]

Nice one brother! Another great vid, it would be great to see work-arounds for sparkys vs Chippys when it comes to light installs when joists are in the way, when you've done the job and their trying to get their light fittings symmetrical after the install.

[handymandan]

I use to subby for $50 an hour and charge out private at $60. Changed that all this year to subby at $60-65 minimum and private I aim for around $100hr. When I'm quoting I round up all material to the nearest $100 and then chuck between 15-25% mark up on material. Also try to add in all my quoting/ site meeting time and travel time to the end price as that is your time which you should be payed for. Good stuff mate!!

[Thenewgenerationshow]

Dave you are a professional. Plumbers and electricians are at $110 so should you. That's minimum. Not paying for time there paying for knowledge

[Icemane]

I’m a sparky and I have always envied the work of a chippy. Working with wood and building looks legitimately fun! But damn the money looks low

[simondelaney]

And out of that $430 you have tax, fuel, vehicle running costs, wear and tear on tools then out of what you have left you spend on more dead money, rent, interest on loans, food, insurance and all the other crap we are forced to shell out for so after that what are you really earning?, 95% of us are pretty much just working for the system while a small greedy few line their pockets, great video mate I’ll even subscribe to support your channel plus I like carpentry building construction landscaping, you name it

[justmakeitalready]

Firstly, good on you for treating your apprentice well, many out there don't appreciate their helpers.

With that said, I'm a builder based in from NZ. In my opinion you are significantly undervaluing your services. You need to take into account the considerable time investment required for each job: initial inquiries, site visits, plan and document review, and the preparation of quotes and contracts. Furthermore, there are additional expenses to consider, such as insurance, tool maintenance, and vehicle upkeep.

Let's not overlook the pitfalls of fixed-price contracts. They often entail unforeseen challenges that can end up costing you money in the long run. It's inevitable that you'll encounter such situations, so it's crucial to build a safety margin into your contracts to mitigate potential losses.

[BenThomas]

As a sparky I used to charge $120 an hour but first hour was $180 to help absord some of the overheads such as lost time with travel and so forth. Day rate for my business I would aim for $1200-1500 which also allowed for some mark up on materials and so forth so $4-5000 a week gross before tax, any less I may as well work for someone else. My builder mate would be similar charge out and working in south east Queensland, once you get the word of mouth and demand up naturally can increase charge out as your a limited commodity. Towards the end I also used to just job cost so no hourly rate so say for a small job instead of my usually hourly rate I may end up being on $3-400 an hour but your also charging for your vision, admin time and so forth..