{"id":357457,"date":"2026-03-21T07:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/357457\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T07:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:58:12","slug":"with-skilled-tradies-like-gold-dust-room-to-improves-claire-irwin-warns-builders-are-being-crucified-with-some-tradesmen-charging-eye-watering-sums-and-you-wont-believe-what-carpenters-are-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/357457\/","title":{"rendered":"With skilled tradies like gold dust, ROOM TO IMPROVE’S Claire Irwin warns builders are being ‘crucified’ – with some tradesmen charging eye-watering sums… and you won’t believe what CARPENTERS are taking home"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a skills shortage in the construction industry, and not unexpectedly it’s leading to an increase in what tradesmen can charge for their services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the housing crisis well into its second decade, the cost of new build houses is having a real impact on how many are being built.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now prominent quantity surveyors (QS) like Room to Improve’s Claire Irwin saying wages are the ‘biggest killer’ when it comes to high construction costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Wages are just crucifying \u00adbuilders,\u2019 she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The wages are really, really high. And that is something contractors are frequently discussing with me \u2013 the cost of employing an apprentice.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Room <\/p>\n

Room to Improve’s resident QS Claire Irwin alongside host Dermot Bannon. Ms Irwin says builders are being ‘crucified’ on ‘killer’ wages<\/p>\n

Apprentice rates set in the same SEO go from \u20ac7.67 in the first year of study to \u20ac20.70 in the fourth year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Irwin continued: \u2018The contractor also has to pay for holiday pay, PRSI, USC, they have to add on VAT.<\/p>\n

\u2018So the high construction wage rates, plus all of the taxes, plus all of the holiday pay, plus all of the VAT \u2013 it all adds up.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carpenters for example are earning up to \u20ac500 a day as the high cost of tradesmen drives up building costs, according to two of the country\u2019s best\u2013known quantity surveyors.<\/p>\n

But a union representative for the construction sector says wages are fair and simply a response to supply and demand.<\/p>\n

Rates in the sector are set by a Government Sectoral Employment Order (SEO) and see \u00adcraftspeople earn a minimum of \u20ac23 an hour, set to increase by another 74c in August.<\/p>\n

But high demand means many tradespeople are charging up to three times that figure.<\/p>\n

\u2018Influencer\u2019 QS Shay Lally, whose Instagram account is followed by over 70,000 people, said he agreed \u2018100 per cent\u2019 with Ms Irwin.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s a big reason why things are as expensive as they are,\u2019 he told the MoS.<\/p>\n

\u2018And I think the challenge is, let\u2019s just say you\u2019re a contractor and you have a guy working for you, and he might be the best person going, but if you don\u2019t give him the sort of the money he wants or thereabouts, there\u2019s someone else out there who\u2019s just so busy, who just needs somebody, who will give him that money.<\/p>\n

\u2018So the fear for these [contractors] is, they\u2019ll lose good guys and they\u2019ll essentially just have no crew, or the crew that they have won\u2019t be a good crew.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mr Lally said tradespeople \u00adworking on big projects like \u00adhousing estates or apartment blocks often work through RCT \u2013 ie are self\u2013employed \u2013 rather than being paid on a PAYE basis.<\/p>\n

\u2018So they get a fixed price to tile the house or hang the doors or paint the house or whatever, and the rates in that world are getting very, very high as well,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018So you\u2019ll have lads like \u00adcarpenters or whatever, and they could be getting the equivalent of maybe \u20ac500 a day, because the rates are that generous.<\/p>\n

\u2018So if someone\u2019s trying to lure them to do a job in their house or somewhere else, they want higher than what they\u2019re getting where they are, because it\u2019s almost an inconvenience to go and do the other job.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mr Lally said it is often the \u2018lads on the ground\u2019 that are doing best out of construction projects.<\/p>\n

\u2018I know people might find it hard to believe, but you\u2019ll find if you actually went around and reviewed some company accounts for some builders and electricians and all the various different subcontractors, some of them wouldn\u2019t be making as much money as you might think.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Quantity <\/p>\n

Quantity Surveyor Shay Lally says: ‘Carpenters or whatever, and they could be getting the equivalent of maybe \u20ac500 a day’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brian Nolan, assistant general secretary with Connect Trade Union representing tradespeople, told the MoS: \u2018We don\u2019t need to defend high wages \u2013 we need to defend good wages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘None of our members\u00a0are overpaid. They\u2019re paid\u00a0commensurate with their skills.<\/p>\n

\u2018We would argue that craft workers in Ireland are among the most highly skilled and yet not amongst the most highly paid.\u2019<\/p>\n

The union rep said that is proven by the fact that so many Irish tradespeople are working abroad where their skills are sought after and their earning potential is even greater than here.<\/p>\n

He is aware of complaints that tradespeople are charging \u2018exorbitant\u2019 amounts to come and do a day\u2019s work for people, but said: \u2018The market dictates where somebody\u2019s going to go, where they can make a proper earning.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019ll go where the market dictates, and they\u2019ll take the best jobs that give them the most money. That\u2019s understandable.<\/p>\n

\u2018Whether people like it or not, we\u2019ve bought into capitalism. That\u2019s how that one works.<\/p>\n

\u2018We didn\u2019t design it. It\u2019s flawed in many ways, but it\u2019s flawed when you\u2019re the customer and you think you\u2019re paying above the odds.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mr Nolan said that, compared to 20 or 30 years ago, there are \u2018twice as many people sitting in offices, sitting on computers, designing, drawing, planning, and doing all that they do \u2013 and that\u2019s just the way construction has gone\u2019.<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018But if you were to be fair and balanced about it, you\u2019d have to ask the question \u2013 what are all those people getting paid?\u2019<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), which has input in setting the SEO rates, told the MoS: \u2018We want to encourage new entrants into the industry by offering good pay and T&Cs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘CIF is very \u00adsupportive of an SEO being in place in the industry because it sets the rates of pay for all workers. The SEO was introduced by the Minister following a recommendation from the Labour Court.<\/p>\n

\u2018Prior to making a recommendation, the Labour Court conducts a thorough examination of the pay in the sector. The Labour Court also takes into account pay across the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Having set rates of pay ensures that all contractors can tender on a level playing field.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s a skills shortage in the construction industry, and not unexpectedly it’s leading to an increase in what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[539,93,61,542,60,149742,43],"class_list":["post-357457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-dailymail","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-instagram","tag-ireland","tag-m-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}