Tiler salary in Australia

What the official data says (and does not say)

The Australian Government's Jobs and Skills Australia profile for Wall and Floor Tilers (ANZSCO 3334) lists median weekly earnings as N/A: the ABS survey behind it had too high a standard error to publish a figure, largely because the survey covers employees and a big slice of tilers are self employed. For context, the same data puts the median for all full time occupations at 1,852 dollars a week before tax. The Your Career profile for the occupation is the place to check for whatever figures the government publishes when you read this, because the data gets refreshed and new OSCA-based profiles are coming.

Treat the big round numbers on job ads and salary websites as marketing until proven otherwise. Real tiler income varies too much for one average to mean much.

What moves the number

• •Wages vs price work: employees get an hourly rate, while subcontractors price per square metre or per job, so a fast, clean subbie earns more for the same hours (and carries the costs and risk)
• •Award vs EBA: big commercial and high rise projects often run on enterprise agreements that pay above award, sometimes with site allowances, while residential work is more commonly award rates or subcontract prices
• •Location: earnings follow building activity, and with about two thirds of tilers in NSW and Queensland, busy metro markets generally pay more than quiet regional ones
• •Specialisation: waterproofing tickets, stone, large format, pools and heritage work all let you charge more
• •Experience and speed: tiling rewards output, and a tradie who lays more square metres per day to standard simply earns more, especially on price

Apprentice pay: how it is actually set

Apprentice tiler pay is not one number and we will not pretend it is. Your legal minimum comes from the award that covers your employer, normally the Building and Construction General On-site Award, and it steps up with each year (or competency stage) of your apprenticeship. Your age matters too: adult apprentices, meaning 21 or older when they start, get higher minimum rates, and school-based apprentices have their own arrangements. If your employer has an enterprise agreement, that sets your pay instead, and it cannot leave you worse off than the award.

On top of the base rate there can be allowances (tools, travel, site conditions) and penalties. The only way to know your correct current rate is the Fair Work Pay Calculator at https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/, using your award, year and age. If your payslip does not match what it says, ask questions.

How it compares to other trades

As an apprentice, tiling pays much the same as the other building trades under the same award: carpentry, bricklaying and plastering apprentices on award rates are on comparable steps. The difference shows up after you qualify. Tiling has a lower barrier to going out on your own than the licensed-everywhere trades like electrical and plumbing, and a high share of tilers subcontract, so your ceiling depends more on your speed, quality and business sense than on a fixed pay scale. The trade-off is less certainty: subbies wear the quiet weeks, chase their own invoices and fund their own super, tools and insurance.

The shortage effect

Wall and Floor Tiler is rated in shortage nationally and in every state and territory on the Occupation Shortage List, and has been every year since 2021. Shortage does not put a specific number on your payslip, but it does mean qualified tilers have bargaining power: more choice of employers, steadier pipelines of work, and a strong market for subcontractors. Finishing your ticket in this environment is a genuinely good financial position for a young tradie.