In our previous article, A Deeper Dive into Fair Work Construction Industry Award Rates in 2025, we discussed minimum award pay rates across construction trades. Now, in this next instalment, we’re exploring what carpenters actually earn in real-world scenarios — from workshop joiners to site-based framers, finish carpenters and even formwork specialists working on remote projects. We’ll review average and top-end earnings and examine how different pay structures (hourly vs production-based) influence incomes, particularly during Australia's ongoing housing shortage.
Bench joiners (often simply called joiners or cabinet makers) typically work in factories or workshops, crafting timber components like cabinetry, furniture, windows, and stairs which are later installed on-site. Unlike on-site carpenters, bench joiners usually work regular hours in warehouse settings near cities (for small-to-medium enterprises making furniture and joinery for builders or retail clients).
Average Earnings: Joiners tend to earn a solid wage, though generally a bit lower than some site-based carpenters. Typical salaries range from around $65,000 up to $85,000 per year for experienced joiners. This works out to roughly $30–$40 per hour. One salary survey puts the average joiner’s pay at about $77,500 a year (about $39.7/hour), with entry-level roles around $69k and seasoned joiners reaching about $90k. This aligns with many job ads – for example, a full-time factory joiner position in Sydney was recently advertised at $80–$90k plus bonuses for a qualified tradesperson.
Top Earners: Highly skilled joiners who take on complex, bespoke projects or supervisory roles can earn at the upper end of the scale (>$85k). Those who work overtime or specialize in high-end custom furniture/cabinetry can push into the low $90k+ range in metro areas. However, it’s less common for workshop joiners to have the massive overtime hours that on-site construction carpenters sometimes do, so their annual earnings tend to top out lower than some site-based counterparts. On the flip side, bench joinery jobs often offer steadier hours (e.g. a standard 38-40 hour week) and indoor working conditions, which many find preferable even if the overtime opportunities are fewer.
First fix carpenters are the folks who put up the skeleton of buildings – erecting timber wall frames, roof structures, and other structural elements in residential and light commercial construction. In residential home building, these framing carpenters (in some states known as rough carpenters or roof carpenters) are in extremely high demand right now due to Australia’s housing construction boom and shortage of skilled tradies. In fact, Australia faces an estimated shortfall of 80,000 construction workers while trying to ramp up home building targets. This demand has boosted what framing chippies can command in the market.
Average Earnings: Experienced framing carpenters commonly charge or earn anywhere from about $40 to $60 per hour in busy markets. In wage terms, that’s roughly $75,000 to $120,000+ per year if full-time. For example, the average qualified carpenter across all specialties in Australia makes roughly $45-46 per hour in 2025, and framing specialists often hit the upper end of that range. It’s not uncommon to see residential builders paying framing subcontractors around $50/hr for reliable, skilled crews. Some job listings in metro areas reflect this: e.g. framing carpenters in Brisbane were being offered $50–$55 per hour on a contract basis for long-term house building projects.
Top Earners: Under the pressure of the housing shortage, top-notch framers can earn well above these averages. Many first-fix carpenters work as subcontractors on a per-project or piece-rate basis (rather than a fixed hourly wage). This means if they can complete a house frame faster, their effective hourly rate goes up. In the current climate, some highly experienced framing crews are reportedly securing rates of $70–$90 per hour for fast, quality work in high-demand areas. (One Western Australia builder noted paying around $90/hr for excellent “chippys” to keep projects on schedule – an admittedly high-end figure, but illustrative of what’s possible when demand is red-hot and skills are scarce.) There are even mentions that exceptional framing contractors charge over $100/hr for complex or rush jobs, though that tends to include those running their own businesses with higher overhead.
Such high hourly rates mean that a stellar framing carpenter or small crew can potentially clear six-figure incomes well above $120k by cranking out houses during a boom. However, to achieve this they’re often working very long hours (50+ hour weeks, lots of early starts, and weekend work when needed). The housing shortage has many of these carpenters stretched thin – there’s no shortage of frames to build, and builders are racing to finish homes. The upside is plenty of work and the ability to negotiate better pay; the downside can be burnout and physical strain. It’s a feast-or-famine industry: when the market eventually cools, these piece rates may come back to earth, so many are making hay while the sun shines.
Second fix (or finish carpenters) come in after the basic structure is up, to install all the interior timber elements that make a house a home. This includes hanging doors, fitting door jambs and handles, installing skirting boards and architraves, fitting cabinetry, and other detailed finishing touches. These carpenters need a fine eye for detail – their work is highly visible in the final product. In some regions (like WA), the trade is even split, with dedicated “fixing carpenters” who only do this interior finishing, separate from the “roof carpenters” who do the framing.
Average Earnings: Finish carpenters generally earn on par with (and sometimes slightly less than) framing carpenters, depending on the amount of work available per house. A typical range is around $65,000 to $85,000 per year for many full-time finish carpenters. That’s roughly $30–$45 per hour in wage terms. Many finish carpenters are employees of building companies or subcontractors who get paid per linear meter of trim or per door hung, etc. – so their earnings can depend on how much work each project has. In a simple project home with plain finishes, there may be relatively fewer hours of work (some volume builders these days omit detailed features like window sills or extensive skirting to cut costs). In those cases, a fixing carpenter might have to zip through many houses to earn a good living, especially if the pay is a flat rate per house. By contrast, high-end custom homes or extensive renovation projects provide far more work (and billable hours) for finish carpenters, and thus higher earnings.
Commercial finish carpentry and shopfitting is another lucrative area. Shopfitters (carpenters who install interiors for shops, offices, restaurants, etc.) are often included in this category and tend to earn well due to the specialized nature of the work. Typical shopfitter earnings in Australia range from about $75k up to $95k per year on average, overlapping with or even exceeding residential finish carpentry. In fact, some mid-career interior carpenters in cities report wages around $50/hr on commercial fit-out jobs, especially if there’s night shift or tight deadlines involved.
Top Earners: The top end for second-fix carpenters can reach similar heights to framing carpenters if the conditions are right. A very experienced finish carpenter running their own business (taking on bespoke cabinetry installs, custom renovations, etc.) can clear over $100k annually, especially if they have a small team. Within the residential tract home context, however, finish carpenters’ earnings are sometimes constrained by how much builders are willing to pay per house for trim-outs. There have been instances of volume builders squeezing rates so low that the fix carpenters rely on high volume (completing lots of houses quickly) rather than high per-unit pay. On the other hand, when working for premium builders or in renovation markets, many finish carpenters can command premium hourly rates more comparable to framing carpenters. In short, a meticulous finish carpenter who is in demand can definitely earn as much as a framer, especially given the strong demand for quality workmanship in both new builds and the booming renovation market.
When it comes to the highest earning carpenters, you’ll often find them on large-scale commercial or infrastructure projects, and particularly in remote or industrial regions where allowances are high. Formwork carpenters are a prime example – these are the tradies who build the temporary wooden forms and moulds into which concrete is poured on projects like mines, bridges, high-rises and industrial plants. In mining regions like Western Australia’s Pilbara, formwork carpenters are worth their weight in gold (or iron, as it were).
Average Earnings: Formwork carpentry already tends to pay more than general residential carpentry due to the heavy-duty nature of the work. A typical formwork carpenter in an urban area might earn about $70k to $95k per year in wages. But in remote regions and major infrastructure jobs, the figures jump significantly. It’s common to see Fly-In Fly-Out (FIFO) formwork carpenters in WA earning $50–$60 per hour, plus superannuation and often additional site uplifts. For example, one recent job ad for FIFO carpenters on a mining camp project in the Pilbara offered $60–$65 per hour + super, on a 2/1 roster of 12-hour days. Over a year, that kind of rate (with long shifts) can equate to well into the $120k+ range even before counting any bonuses or allowances (and many remote projects also include site allowances, tool allowances, and paid travel).
It’s telling that job aggregators show very high averages for carpentry roles in WA. In fact, across all carpentry job listings in Western Australia (many of which are remote FIFO roles), the average advertised salary is around $113,000 per year – substantially higher than the national average, boosted by those mining-region payouts. Formwork carpenters on union enterprise agreements for major projects can also earn sizable overtime – often working 10-12 hour days, 6 days a week on shutdowns or big pours. It’s not unheard of for an experienced formwork carpenter on a big FIFO project to gross $3,500 in a week during intensive work periods, which could annualize to ~$180k if sustained.
Top Earners: The sky is the limit when conditions are right. A formwork carpenter who takes on a supervisory role or moves into a leading hand/foreman position on remote projects can earn even more (often over $120k easily, as noted in industry surveys). But even without climbing the ranks, an in-demand formwork specialist willing to travel can do exceptionally well. During the recent construction resources surge, some formwork carpenters reportedly pulled in over $180,000 a year thanks to back-to-back projects and lots of overtime. The trade-off, of course is being away from home (FIFO lifestyle) and the physically demanding, sometimes hazardous nature of the work - let's not mention the flies. These roles are often project-based, too – when a project winds up, you might have a gap before the next – so the high pay compensates for that uncertainty and the remote living conditions.
It’s worth noting that the demand for these skills has led to creative efforts to attract talent, which brings us to a unique case study in Western Australia…
Before we look at the WA incentive program, let’s discuss how carpenters get paid and how it affects real earnings and work hours. In the Australian construction industry, pay structures for carpenters generally fall into two camps: hourly wages (or salaries) versus production-based pay (piece rates or fixed project prices). The structure can significantly impact a carpenter’s income, especially in the residential sector under high demand.
Impact on Income and Hours: Under production pay, a fast crew can significantly out-earn their hourly-paid peers – but they’re essentially trading off labour efficiency and often working longer hours to do so. We’ve heard of framing chippies starting at daybreak and pushing long days to get a house up in 2-3 days, then immediately onto the next. Their per-house pay might effectively net them $60-$80/hour or more for the hours they actually put in, whereas if they were on wages they’d simply get overtime (and possibly be limited by work-hour policies). In contrast, an hourly-paid carpenter has less incentive to rush – they’ll get paid for the time regardless, which can sometimes mean a steadier pace and likely a bit less stress about “cracking it out.”
For finish carpenters, the dynamic is similar: a subcontract fix carpenter might get, say, a few hundred dollars per house for installing all the doors and trim. If one house has minimal finish carpentry (as some cheap project homes do), that pay might not be great, and they have to do many houses per week to earn well. It can lead to very long hours or lots of travel between sites to keep busy. On the other hand, a high-end custom home done on a quote will include ample time (and thus money) for detailed finish work – possibly making that job more profitable per hour of work.
In summary, hourly vs production pay can be the difference between a comfortable 40-hour work week or a 60-hour scramble. Many carpenters actually do a mix – they’ll have an hourly rate for certain jobs and a contract price for others. Especially in today’s market, skilled carpenters hold the negotiating power to choose the arrangement that pays them best. Just keep in mind that with Australia’s ever-evolving construction demand, flexibility is key; when the market is hot, hustling on piece rates can yield big rewards, and when it slows, having a stable hourly gig can be a safety net.
In Western Australia (WA), the construction labour crunch has been so acute that the state government rolled out a special incentive program to lure carpenters and other tradies from afar. As covered in our earlier article Western Australia’s $10,000 Incentive to Attract Tradies: A Golden Opportunity for Skilled Workers, WA made a bold push to attract skilled tradespeople by offering up to $10,000 in relocation incentives to those willing to move west. This was part of the “Build a Life in WA” initiative aimed at bolstering the construction workforce (particularly residential construction) at a time when demand for housing was at all-time highs.
Originally Open to Overseas Workers: When first launched (in 2023), WA’s $10k incentive was available to overseas skilled workers to help cover visa, relocation, and settlement costs – essentially a subsidy to halve the cost of bringing in a tradie from abroad. The program was very successful in its initial year. By mid-2024, it had 1100 successful applicants for the visa subsidy, with around 230 overseas tradies already arriving in WA and another 120 on the way shortly. These workers came largely from countries like the UK, Philippines, Ireland, and Italy to fill critical skill gaps. In fact, so many employers took up the offer that the WA government extended the program by another year due to its success. While it was active for offshore applicants, this scheme provided a huge boost in carpentry manpower for WA.
Now Focused on Interstate Recruits: As of early 2025, the situation has evolved. The **$10k incentive is no longer open to new overseas applicants (outside of New Zealand). Instead, WA has redirected the incentive to attract workers from interstate Australia and NZ. From January 2025, the Build a Life in WA relocation payment offers $10k to Australian residents from other states and eligible New Zealand citizens who move to WA for construction jobs. The payment is split into $5,000 on arrival and another $5,000 after 6 months of continuous work in WA. This pivot was partly because the overseas-focused subsidy stream had its run (and also because immigration settings are now allowing more direct skilled migration through other programs).
So, to clarify the question: Is the $10k program still available for overseas workers? – Not in its original form. As of 2025, the incentive is primarily for interstate (and NZ) movers. WA is now marketing its great lifestyle and high wages to folks in Sydney, Melbourne, etc., saying “come west for a $10k sweetener.” And it’s seeing strong interest – within just the first few weeks of 2025, more than 800 skilled workers from interstate and NZ registered interest in the $10k relocation bonus. This domestic-focused incentive should help ease the crunch in the housing sector by redistributing some of Australia’s construction workforce to where it’s needed most.
How Many Foreign Workers Benefited? During the period it was open to overseas candidates, the program enabled over a thousand foreign tradies to either move or start the process of moving to WA. We know 1100+ workers were added to WA’s construction labour force via this scheme in its first 12 months. Of those, a few hundred were actually on the ground by late 2024, with others in the pipeline (given visa processing times). While WA is not currently handing out new $10k grants to workers directly from, say, Europe or Asia, it’s likely many of those 1100 overseas applicants are still arriving through 2025 under the arrangements already made. The program was a one-time window that significantly boosted the ranks of carpenters, bricklayers and other trades on WA building sites.
It’s also worth noting that federally, there are proposals (as of the 2025 election campaign) to introduce similar bonuses for apprentices nationwide – all aiming to train or attract more people into construction. The shortage of skilled carpenters is everybody’s problem, not just WA’s, but WA’s $10k incentive was a unique and attention-grabbing solution.
Whether you’re a bench joiner crafting cabinets in Melbourne, a house-framer hustling to meet deadlines in Sydney, a fix-out carpenter hanging doors in Brisbane, or a formwork carpenter flying into the Pilbara for a big gig – the real wages you can earn as a carpenter in Australia go well beyond the basic award rates. Specialisation, location, and how you structure your work (employee vs contractor, hourly vs piecework) all make a huge difference.
In 2025, carpenters are earning more than ever in many cases: average wages have climbed (often $35–$45/hr or higher for experienced tradies, versus mid-$20s award base rates), and top performers are securing truly impressive pay. It’s not unheard of for a skilled carpenter to crack into the mid six-figures income-wise, especially by taking advantage of the high demand in the housing market or the lucrative remote project circuit. The ongoing housing shortage and construction boom mean ample opportunities to boost earnings, whether by logging extra hours or by negotiating better contracts.
At the same time, it’s a physically tough job, and the feast-and-famine nature of construction means one should save for a rainy day when the overtime isn’t flowing. The industry is cyclical – but right now, we are in a peak where carpenters hold a lot of cards. If you’re considering where to focus your carpentry career, it pays (literally) to look at these different paths. A bit of wanderlust can land you that Pilbara gig with big paychecks, or a bit of networking might get you on a high-end building crew in the city with steady work and good money. And if you’re from outside WA, well, there’s a $10,000 carrot dangling to entice you westward, which certainly doesn’t hurt!
In our next instalment, we’ll continue our deep dive into construction earnings – stay tuned. And in the meantime, keep that hammer swinging and know your worth! Your skills are in demand, and as we’ve seen, carpenters across Australia are truly earning their due – and then some.