Building up a few dollars
If you think you are being charged too much by tradesmen now might be a good time to negotiate a better rate.
Australia's largest-ever survey of home renovation prices shows they have dropped in eight out of 10 building trades.
Australia's largest quote comparison website, Service Seeking, analysed 26,000 home renovation quotes over the past year to obtain the benchmark prices for all sorts of jobs.
Their finding: Tradies' prices dropped 4.6 per cent on average in NSW.
Service Seeking CEO Jeremy Levitt said: “The benchmark prices that we have analyzed over the past year have shown for building, painting, plumbing, plastering, tiling and flooring, that across Australia you are getting a much better deal than you were last year."
In Sydney, biggest price drops were recorded in tiling, which was $62.40 per square metre, and is now $41, down 34 per cent.
House painting was $41.40 per hour now $39.80 average, down four per cent.
Gyprock and plastering was $44.30, now $43.3, cheaper by 2.2 per cent.
Mr Levitt added: “There are just more tradies available to do the work, which means that they have got to be a lot sharper in terms of pricing which is why consumers are getting a better deal now than they were last year."
But prices in some building trades have increased: concreting by 12.3 per cent, carpentry 6.5 per cent and electrical services rose 3.4 per cent.
Whatever the benchmark price, the best way to get value for money is by comparing quotes because prices can vary enormously between tradies.
