You work hard. But are you getting paid for it? The highest paid tradies in Sydney earn around $30 an hour more than the average. That adds up to $60,000 a year. How do they do it? These are the five things we see the most.

1. Stop giving away your profits to suppliers

The biggest difference between successful tradies and unsuccessful tradies is that they keep more of what they earn for themselves. Like your concrete sales rep? Great. Like them enough to pay them $10,000 a year out of your own pocket? Didn't think so.

The price of 25MPa concrete varies by up to 35% across Sydney so make sure you check for the best price before ordering. MaterialsLink can get you quotes without the hassle of ringing around— give us a try.

Here's an example of a small 5m3 concrete job where the builder kept almost $250 for themselves rather than giving it to a supplier:

2. Don't cut prices, engineer value

Customers will often ask for a discount and there's nothing wrong with that. The highest paid tradies won't just cut prices though, they'll say:

"Sure we can make it cheaper for you, what should we take out?"

This makes your customer assign value to what they're asking for rather than assuming you were overcharging them the first time around.

3. Make sure you're actually getting paid

Quoting a job at a healthy margin is great but it doesn't mean much if you're never actually paid! The best paid tradies minimise this risk by doing the following:

Have customers pay for materials up front (when you order with MaterialsLink, we make this as easy as sending your customer a text message)Agreeing task based payment benchmarks up front and invoicing on timeEnsuring previous invoices are paid before completing further work

4. Use your time efficiently

Every minute you spend on admin is a minute you're not earning or enjoying. There are so many great tools out there to help you win work, manage jobs, order materials andarrange your finances. Use them to your advantage— your competitors already are.

5. Provide great service

Sounds simple but this point is common to almost all of the best paid tradies. When customers are happy they'll pay you more, pay you faster and pay you again in the future (whether for their own use or through referrals). Oneflare reports that businesses with a profile rating of 90 or above win 50% more jobs.

So go the extra mile: 15 minutes with a broom might be worth thousands of dollars in future work.

We're introducing a new blog series here at MaterialsLink called Market Update. Our aim is to keep you informed of the latest developments in the industry. If you have any suggestions, let us know on info@materialslink.com.au

Tradie Price Index

According to serviceseeking, the average rate for trade labour has fallen by 8% over the last year. Things are worst if you're a builder with average per hour rates falling by a whopping 28%! As always, sparkies swum against the stream with average rates rising by 13%. See the full details below:

Materials Prices

While competition for rates has hotted up, suppliers haven't noticed, raising prices for concrete by an average of 4% and steel by an average of 3% over the same period according to the ABS. Despite this, MaterialsLink's in house data shows a price spread for 20MPa concrete of 37% in metropolitan Sydney so there are still some suppliers offering a good deal.

What's it all mean?

All this means that quality and referrals are more important than ever. It also means that if you're going to be competitive, you can't pay more for your materials and labour than everyone else! Use MaterialsLink's quote service to check whether you're getting a good deal.

Here at MaterialsLink, we'll always go the extra mile to fulfil your order be it day or night. But while we have the largest network of concrete suppliers in Australia, there are only so many trucks and so many concrete plants out there. This means that sometimes customers who leave it late miss out. So, when's the best time to place an order? Well in this blog post, we explore just that.

What's the right time of day for me to pour?

While concrete can safely be poured anytime of day, greater precautionary measures are required when pouring in hot, windy and dry conditions to ensure the workability, structural integrity and strength of the concrete (we'll cover some tips for this in a future post).

Because of these factors, ideally, concrete should be poured in the early morning before temperatures rise, humidity drops and the wind picks up. Pouring in the early morning also allows those pouring large jobs to get going so that they have enough time to pour all the loads required and perform finishing work.

This means that the earlier time slots (from 6am-10am) are often very popular with builders and concreters and get booked up early.

So, when should I place an order for ready-mix concrete?

While we can normally get you booked in even on the same day you require the concrete, booking early means you're more likely to get the timeslot you want. Remember: if it's wet on the day you're booked in your can reschedule to another day free of charge.

If you want to pour first thing in the morning, we recommend you look to book in your job a week in advance which will usually guarantee you a 6am slot. All jobs for weekends should be scheduled at least a week in advance as this is a short day for suppliers (6am-midday) and there are a large number of DIY orders competing with trade customers.

Booking in early also ensures you can use the best value for money supplier rather than having to resort to a more expensive supplier who is available at the time you want.

Happy pouring!

MaterialsLink

As a quote site, our speciality is finding the best prices you can buy concrete for (and plenty of other building materials too!). In this post, we wanted to share some numbers with you so you can get an idea about whether you're getting the best deal. Prices can vary depending on your job so it's always a good idea to get a quote: