Kristopher Bithel has struck out on his own as a sole trader. The money can be great but the hours are long. (Source: Supplied/Getty)
When it come to top earnings among the trades, there’s a new king (or queen) in town. Fresh data from a software platform used by tradies to help manage their bookings and billings shows plumbers have pipped electricians at the top of the best paid trades in the business.
But while the average income for sole traders in the sector can put them in the top 10 per cent of all wage earners in the country, plenty are having to work 60 hour weeks to get there.
Kristopher Bithel is a sparky in the Hunter Valley region of NSW and runs his own business. He’s been an electrician for 15 years but struck out on his own a few years ago after the company he previously worked for went bust.
“It left me in a spot where I either had to start my own business or potentially go back to work with someone else that I didn’t like… So I just sort of gave it a shot,” he told Yahoo Finance.
“There’s not a great deal of money in trades if you work for someone, but there is a fair bit of money in trades if you work for yourself. It’s been obviously stressful at times but at the end of the day, I don’t think I could go back.”
RELATED
For sole traders, the administrative side of the business can become massively time-consuming. Bithel uses software platform Tradify to manage his jobs including quoting, scheduling, timesheets for his apprentice and invoicing, as well as ASX-listed accounting platform Xero to handle payments.
But even with the boon provided by technology platforms, long work weeks are hard to avoid for tradies like him.
Tradify has about 10,000 sole traders and small businesses using its software, CEO Michael Steckler told Yahoo Finance.
“These are all super hard working people – it’s not an easy job.
“I think one of the things we’ve seen over the last few years is that it’s quite a highly stressful job, in terms of the amount of stress that particularly sole traders are under,” he said.
“Because they’re managing a business, they’re running jobs, they’re dealing with new customers, and they’re often doing it all on their own, possibly with the support of a family member.”
The Tradify chief executive said the platform was seeing more of its client try to move towards doing administrative tasks during the week, rather than on evenings and the weekend, which can often be the norm.
Story Continues
“Where we are seeing businesses that bleed into the weekends and evenings, they’re not necessarily making any more money,” Steckler said.
The company’s latest data shows plumbers leapfrogged electricians on earnings last year with plumbing and gas businesses averaging $801,654 in revenue while the average electrical businesses on the platform notched $735,562 in revenue.
But sitting above them was HVAC and refrigeration companies that averaged more than a $1 million in annual turnover, and residential renovation companies at $964,000.
Tradies are in high demand, but there is a disparity of pay in the industry. (Source: Getty)
Those figures incorporated everyone, from sole traders to small and larger businesses. When it comes to the sole trader level, electricians were averaging $282,520 in revenue while plumbers were pulling in a bit more at $333,781.
Bithel said for sole traders those type of revenue numbers – around $200,000 to $300,00 – are “easily” achievable, adding that the cost of materials and other expenses bump that figure up a bit.
“It just depends how well you quote and how hard you work.”
The first year as a sole trader he earned a taxable income of about $140,000 and was close to hitting $200,000 in taxable income in his second year, he told Yahoo Finance.
“A lot of people get caught up on that big figure, but you look at actually how many hours you put in outside of a physical part of work, and it’s probably not that great,” he said.
“I’ve done eight hours at work today, but then I’ll spend another four on the computer at home, invoicing, scheduling, doing all the rest.”
Bithel says he routinely does as much as 20 hours a week on the computer, on top of the 40 hours a week on the tools.
Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.