Compare
Find a tradie near you
Find a local tradie in Australia: hipages, ServiceSeeking, Airtasker, Google Maps and word of mouth compared on cost and catches, plus how to check them.
For homeowners
Most tradies are honest and good at what they do. The problems usually come from a handful who aren't licensed, aren't insured, or take a big deposit and disappear. A few minutes of checking before you sign anything sorts most of that out.
Start with our guide to choosing and checking a tradie, which links to the official licence search for every state and territory.
Guides in this section
Hiring and checking a tradie
Guide
How to check a tradie
Before you hire a builder, plumber or sparky: official licence check links for every state and territory, insurance and deposit rules, and red flags.
Guide
Reading a builder's quote
How to read and compare a builder's quote in Victoria: inclusions, prime cost and provisional sums, deposits, stage payments, insurance and red flags.
What things cost
Cost guide
Electrician costs in Melbourne
What Melbourne electricians charge: call-out fees, hourly rates, common job prices, why quotes differ, and the electrical safety certificate you must get.
Cost guide
Plumber costs in Melbourne
What Melbourne plumbers charge: call-out fees, hourly and emergency rates, common job prices, and the compliance certificate needed on work over $750.
Cost guide
Carpenter and builder rates
What carpenters and builders charge in Melbourne: published hourly rates, common carpentry job prices, Victorian registration rules and deposit limits.
Coming up
Guides we are working on now. Suggest a topic.
- How to compare quotes from tradies
- Questions to ask a builder before you sign
- What a fair deposit looks like in each state
- Plumber call-out fees: what is normal