Tradies break great taboo to reveal salaries up to $300,000: 'Anyone can do it'

Several tradies have revealed how much they're getting paid and it's revealed the enormous salary spectrum in the building, construction and mining industries. Some are pulling in below-average pay as they might have just graduated from their apprenticeships while others are earning the big bucks.

While blue-collar work has previously been overlooked as an area to make money, the tide is slowly turning. Recruitment expert Graham Wynn told Yahoo Finance trades are a highway to retiring early.

“I tell any parents, ‘Get your kids into a trade’. That's where the money is,” Wynn said. "A lot of these guys start their own businesses further down the track and, by the time they are 50, they are retired."

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$1,100 per week working in glass

One of the tradies who spoke to jobs app GetAhead revealed he was pulling in about $1,100 per week as a glass worker, which equates to about $57,200 a year.

To put into perspective, the latest data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) stated the median annual taxable income for workers was $53,041.

The tradie said it can be a fairly stressful job because the main material he's working with day-in and day-out can be very fragile.

"Glass is glass, bro," he said, before being asked what happens if he accidentally cuts himself. "Oh, just keep working. I literally just kept working."

The glass worker said there's a fork in the road if he wants to pursue this line of work, which is doing an apprenticeship to become a glazier, who traditionally handles the installation of glass, or he can go further into the glass cutting side where he'd learn how to work industrial cutting machines.

Do you have a story? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com

Nearly $300,000 in the mines

There is no shortage of stories from people who got into the mining industry and started earning huge amounts of money.

But one bloke revealed how he's managing to pull in nearly $300,000 per year.

The underground coal miner said he "works for himself" and added that "anyone can do it".

He first got into the industry at just 17 years old and revealed his whole family had been working in the mines as well. While he said virtually any Aussie can sign up to the job, he admitted it's not for everyone.

“I don’t get scared but there are other people that have come down for the first time and wanted to get straight back out because they couldn’t handle it,” he said. “It is a dangerous job.”

Minimum $72,800 as a traffic controller

There has been a lot of noise this year about how much traffic controllers get paid.

While there are some who earn a lot, that doesn't apply to everyone.

One tradie said he was pulling in $35 per hour to ensure the roads around the construction site were safe for workers, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

“Anyone who wants a sort of bludge job where you don’t have to do much - traffic control is definitely the way to go,” he said.

“You literally get paid to stand here and apart from that there are definitely worse gigs out there.”

His hourly rate works out to be about $72,800 per year based on an eight-hour daytime shift. The pay can go up substantially if you're working overtime or overnight.

Abseiler earning $4,000 per week

If you're not afraid of heights and are a night owl then you can be earning up to $4,000 per week or about $208,000 per year.

That's what one abseiler said he was pulling in doing overnight shifts in Brisbane.

When he works during the day, his pay is "obviously" less than that staggering amount but it's still very decent.

"I got sick of working in a shed, working on boats and stuff," he said when asked how he got into the job. "Hated it... Going to the same place. [But now] every day you're outside, you get to do what you love."

The tradie said all that was needed to get into the profession was a five-day course and he was able to start going up and down the outside of buildings, where he's responsible for glazing, cladding, concrete work and other tasks.

Crane operator making more than $200,000

While pulling in a healthy $200,000 every year might sound good, a crane operator opened up about the downsides of the job.

To earn that much money, he said he was working between 40 to 70 hours a week.

When asked about the work-life balance, he admitted it was “hard on the family”.

“There’s gotta be a lot of compromise with the family, for sure,” he explained.

Not only that, but the job sounds fairly dangerous as he's had some “pretty close calls” while on a site.

He got into the industry because he “loves being outside” and was interested in cranes, so he followed his passion.

Despite the time away from his family and the risks attached to the job, he encouraged others to consider applying.

“Yeah, it’s worthwhile, definitely worth doing,” he said. “It’s a great industry to be in, especially construction. Yeah, nah, loving it.”

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