Carpenter salary in Australia

What a qualified carpenter earns

Once you are qualified, carpentry sits comfortably in the middle-to-upper band of the trades. Jobs and Skills Australia, whose figures feed the Your Career profile, puts the median full-time carpenter at roughly $1,760 a week, or about $91,500 a year before tax. That is drawn from the ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, and it reflects full-time, non-managerial pay at the adult rate before tax.

Treat that as a guide, not a promise. It is a median, so half of carpenters earn more and half earn less. The number also updates over time as new survey data comes through, and it does not account for your experience, your state, or the hours you actually put in. Use it to get your bearings, then check the award and real job ads for your patch.

What moves your pay up

• •Experience: a first-year qualified chippy earns less than someone with ten years and a solid reputation behind them.
• •State and location: rates vary between states, and remote or hard-to-staff areas often pay more to get bodies on site.
• •Overtime and allowances: a lot of a carpenter's take-home comes from extra hours, plus site, travel, tool and height allowances under the award.
• •Specialisation: formwork, shopfitting, heritage work, or getting your ticket for scaffolding or EWPs can lift your rate.
• •Running your own business: going out as a subbie or starting your own outfit can pay well, but you carry the risk, the insurance, and the quiet weeks.
• •Mining, resources and FIFO: construction and maintenance work on mine sites or big resource projects usually pays the most, in exchange for long rosters and time away from home.

What you earn as an apprentice

While you are training, your pay is set by the relevant modern award, for most on-site chippies that is the Building and Construction General On-site Award (MA000020). Apprentice rates start lower than a qualified wage and step up each year of your apprenticeship as your skills grow.

Your exact rate depends on your year, your age, and whether you have finished Year 12. Rather than quoting a number that goes out of date, plug your details into the Fair Work Pay Calculator. It gives you the current base rate, plus allowances and penalties, straight from the award.

How carpentry compares to other trades

On pay, carpentry runs close to the tradie pack. The licensed trades, electricians and plumbers in particular, usually sit a notch above on the median, partly because of the extra licensing and the compliance work only they can sign off.

Carpentry stacks up well against painting, tiling and landscaping, and it is one of the most flexible trades going. The skills carry across residential, commercial and civil work, which means when one part of the market slows down, you can usually move to where the work is.

How to earn more over a career

The biggest lifts come from doing more than swinging a hammer. Chase leading hand or site supervisor roles, get your builder's licence, or move into estimating and project management.

Tickets matter too: whitecard is just the start. Add scaffolding, rigging, EWP, or a concrete and formwork focus and you become worth more on any site.

Longer term, the two proven paths are going out on your own as a licensed builder or subbie, or chasing the high-paying resources and infrastructure jobs. Both ask more of you, but both are where carpenters push well past the median.