AARON PATRICK: How a leaky nut and a $990 power point explains inflation amid Aussie tradie crisis

When the electrician called on Monday and said his call-out fee was $350, I should have reconsidered whether 48 hours with limited power in my kitchen would be unendurable.

The giveaway was in his voice. There was an uncertainty that said, I realised after being slugged $990 for the replacement of a power point, are you really prepared to pay this on what was, coincidentally, Labour Day?

Sydney, like much of Australia, has a tradie problem. There’s nothing wrong with the plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters and other tradesmen who build and maintain the city’s two million houses and apartments.

There just aren’t enough of them.

This manpower shortage is one of the reasons why getting basic household problems fixed costs more than hiring a decent accountant who can find those deductions you never thought of.

Over the past few years — despite a natural frugal inclination — I have racked up bills that still make me wince. In their own small way, they are an example of inflation that is driving a debate over immigration, regulation and productivity.

$280 to turn a nut

They began, as many regrettable events did, during the pandemic. A gas cylinder in my house was leaking, slightly. The law requires all gas work to be carried out by licensed plumber. For $280 I watched one tighten a nut attached to a metal tube atop the cylinder. No more leak.

Recently, a few patches of timber cladding just below my roof needed painting. They were only accessible by ladder, cherry picker or scaffolding. I hired a painter, who charged $750 to climb up a ladder and paint about one square metre. At least he left the paint tin.

But the most traumatic tradie engagement happened two years ago, when my air-conditioning unit was struggling against the summer heat. I contacted a business well-rated on Google.

A young man turned up a few hours later in neat trousers and a monogrammed shirt, which was clearly a red flag. He entered the roof and emerged with news that the filters were now clean and the unit was cactus. The bill, of $2049, came with an offer to replace the aircon for $27,000, which was when I realised I was just about to pay for a very expensive sales pitch.

I wish we would stop having a race to the bottom.

Australia is short 83,000 tradesmen, according to the Housing Industry Association. The labour gap operates more like a funnel. Big, expensive projects, including data centres, power plants, civil infrastructure and office buildings have budgets that give them first shot at skilled labour.

They are followed by apartment and house builders, who operate on thin profit margins. Home maintenance comes last.

Jocelyn Martin, the HIA’s chief executive, said electricians are particularly tough to find at the moment because many are helping build data centres. There is no simple solution.

The HIA, like most business groups, worries immigration cuts will exacerbate labour shortages. “I wish we would stop having a race to the bottom,” Ms Martin said today. “We have members waiting over a year to get skilled migrants into the country.”

Well that’s supply and demand.

The association is working on a plan to convince the government to make data centres help fund apprentice training for home construction, a recognition the AI factories are hiring trainees who would otherwise be helping build desperately needed houses and apartments.

Pi-Shen Seet, an innovation professor at Edith Cowan University has identified other problems, including a system that is too slow to recognise foreign qualifications, the low status of trades among young people and a 50 per cent drop-out rate for apprentices. It would help if apprentices’ work lives were more attractive, especially for women, who have been estimated to occupy just 3.1 per cent of construction trades jobs.

Both sides of politics recognise the problem. But they’re running into an understandable resistance among voters to respond to immigration-generated inflation and housing shortages by welcoming more migrants.

Last month Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said construction workers would be given a higher priority in the skilled migration program. On Tuesday, Liberal leader Angus Taylor also promised to support the industry.

The changes will take time to have an effect, leaving home owners around the country short of tradesmen for the foreseeable future.

After a couple of days regretting my public holiday call out for power, I asked my regular electrician if I had been ripped off. Why didn’t you shop around, he asked, unaware I reached out to four electricians and only one was available.

“Well that’s supply and demand,” he said. “There is no correct answer whether this guy was expensive or whether he was cheap.”

Which is true. Welcome to the new Australia.