hi everyone, was just looking for a bit of info to all of you out there in brisbane gold coast, does anyone no what the work is like is there any i mean cause my husband is self employed and normally has jobs but like everywhere credit crunch means no work on. would be greatful for any info :smile:

looking to arrive march 2010

 

Not sure on the plastering side of things in Gold Coast etc.. as we are in Adelaide and looking to move up that way later in the year. I think they build in the same way as here with brick veneer houses, plasterboard on the inside and tape & jointed or as the aussies say gyprocked and flushed. So there is not much of a call for solid plasterers and most turn to rendering the outside of houses. There is usually a lot of work for them and once they have their builders license they earn good money. To get the builders license usually means working for someone else for quite a while to get references and learn the way they do things. Then you have to attend college and prove yourself again. Can be quite an annoying process with the money being low until you are on your own. They build double brick houses in Perth, so very similar to the uk and to my knowledge that is the only place. So they plaster the inside walls and flush the ceilings. I used to do Suspended Ceilings, Dry Lining & Tape & Jointing in the UK, here I am Tape & Jointing ( Flushing ) full time, I did do some rendering for a while when I was first here. I hope this helps and is the best of my knowledge, so if anyone else knows more or better then so be it.

 

Hi Pommypaul
I am tape and jointer in UK and just had visa approved. Hoping to move to Sunshine Coast July time. Do you think there are jobs for this trade up there? Do you work on commercial or residential jobs? What sort of money can you earn? I only use hand tools in the UK and have heard that they do machine taping over there. Will this be a problem or will I be ok with hand tools?
Thanks
Seff

 

I think you will find work on the sunshine coast, just depends whether you want to work on commercial or housing. Housing = no health & safety whatsoever, all price work, need machines, prices are tight - but you can earn if you are flat out. Commercial = Lots of health & safety, can work for a company as a subbie or on the cards, $25-35 an hour & price work, can flush by hand. I am doing the housing working through someone else at the moment and the money is not good, but you need to learn the machines and the different beads that they use here to be able to go on your own. If you go on the cards or as a subbie on commercial I think the work load will be less and you can learn with less pressure and better money. On the housing side you can earn $1500-2000 a week and more depending on the prices and size of houses you are getting. All the machine tools will soon add up and a basic tool kit will cost you $5000. Hope this helps

 

Hi,
Thanks for that. Certainly gives me something to think about. As well as tape and jointing I do painting/decorating so I suppose it all depends on what job I can get when we move. At least I can work out what is expected of me now.
Cheers
Seff

 

oh forgot to mention that the housing side of things can be quite tricky and annoying at times. I used to work on commercial jobs in the UK and we worked to the mm, here on the housing they work to the nearest inch. Most of the places are built with timber and the first fix chippies are not too fussy. Then the plasterboard fixers are not too bothered either and leave big gaps everywhere, and don't finish the external corners flush. So the beads end up rocking around and then you have to scrape the corners as the mud bubbles up as there is nothing behind it, and it expands. The timber is all over the place and we have to pinch the beads out all the time to try and make it look right, not un common to see walls looking like snakes. On the commercial side of things I know they are very similar to the UK using metal stud and working to good tollerences. So just something to think about, give me a shout if you want any more info.