Santa, I don't want to be a smarty, but I myself am a tradesman...

Santa, I don't want to be a smarty, but I myself am a tradesman that went through an apprenticeship. But we do know the rampant building industry has left a void for the rest of society, simply because of a lack of available workers and, as a result, their lack of commitment and difficulties in simply getting just one quote. We see the cars tradies are driving, we see the houses, the boats, the lifestyles many are having at the expense of the 'mortgaged to the hilt' economy. What's the hourly rate for an electrician or a plumber, oh that's right, they don't go by the hour they go by the job. Want your toilet replaced - $500 for a new unit and $700 to fit the dam thing. $1000 worth of tiles - $2000 to have them laid. What's going on - it used to be the other way around; $1000 for the tiles and $400 to have them laid.

I know many of these high fees are not working their way down to many of the workers, but the costs are still passed onto the consumer. There's so many market forces going on - push, pull - there's peaks and troughs in every trade sector with boom and bust cycles. The smart ones would ensure they have plenty of liquidity to keep the ball rolling during tough times, whilst those that are leveraged to the eyeballs could find themselves in a very precarious situation.