anyone do any scaffolding work?

has anyone done any scaffolding work or know much about it? particularly in the mines? i have a couple of mates with very little experience that have got jobs at some mine up north through someone they know. They are claiming they can make 300K + and want me to go up there with them. im no stranger to hard labour but dont know much else about scaffolding in the mines or scaffolding in general....

1> Got to have an in... could be covered if your mates are up there already
2> You ok with heights?
3> Great coin to be had if you can get in. My cousin un educated as but making more than most doctors. House paid off and all the toys.
$> Generally not work you'll find old men doing. Get in get out.

heights is the only concern. im not too bad with them but i imagine it''l be a bit different when your hanging of a 10 story ledge. One of the guys going up is iffy on heights and they started this week and he's doing ok. I'd only plan to do it a few years, maybe 5 max to try and get ahead a bit then return back to what im doing now

CaT_SPeW said:

has anyone done any scaffolding work or know much about it? particularly in the mines? i have a couple of mates with very little experience that have got jobs at some mine up north through someone they know. They are claiming they can make 300K + and want me to go up there with them.

im no stranger to hard labour but dont know much else about scaffolding in the mines or scaffolding in general....

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You have some very retarded mates.

unless they own thousands of tonnes of scaff not a hope in hell of clearing 300k a year. Maybe, just maybe if they were on a really good job, skipped their rotation home every week for a year and were 10+ year advanced scaffies, running the crew! then they might pull 150 k a year.

my cousin is on pretty much the best site in qld and works 10's, 6 days a week on a 3:1 roster and pulls 2000 net/pw but only on working weeks. Good dough but not 300k a year lol.

If you're a goer you could do alright but you need tickets and most sites want intermediate as a minimum which means 2k worth of courses, if your going to do that your better becoming a rigger/doggie IMO. Plus you need all your other bullshit coal board cert, work at heights, height rescue, Ewp, blah blah

shutdowns are the best money, got a mate at work on 3 weeks annual leave and working a shutdown it's 12's 7 days straight for 3 weeks at 50/hr with 20% uplift on the night shift! which'll be half the swing.

but the shutdown shit is not a full time gig, just fill in shit, most guys do it between jobs or on their holidays.

i just did my intermediate ticket, was flirting with the idea of having a go at it when the job I'm on finishes in 9 months. I think if your going to do blue collar work your best off getting all your tickets and be multi skilled.

Brick said:

You have some very retarded mates.

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yeah these two are pretty retarded hence the reason i turned down the offer of going with them to wait and see how they go first.

Is the flooring business going quiet catspew? Or just looking to make more?

yeah it is a bit quiet at the moment. some weeks im flat out doing 14 days straight but then i might have up to a weeks gap before the next job starts. Im happy to keep doing what im doing but some quick cash would be nice plus i reckon a change of scenery would be nice.

You'll get 4/1 construction in WA that will yield 150-200 easily due to the time you're working. 7 days a week, 10 hour days for 4 weeks with an RDO thrown in there.

Construction you'll also get big payouts when the job is completed. My cousin was rigging for a while, would regularly get 30-50k payouts on completion of sites.

Scaf is one thing but working away, particularly long swings is another issue all together. After working away for a long time, I'm over long swings and will take my cushy week on, week off deal thanks!

CaT_SPeW said:

yeah it is a bit quiet at the moment. some weeks im flat out doing 14 days straight but then i might have up to a weeks gap before the next job starts. Im happy to keep doing what im doing but some quick cash would be nice plus i reckon a change of scenery would be nice.

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If you wanted to do something different give it a go, I'd just get a job around town as a nun ticketed labourer do it for a few weeks see if you like it, most of them pay untucked 30/hr, ticketed 32-35, leading hand 40.

Dont worry about heights either, all lifts are 2m now by law, which means you are working from a 2 board deck (450mm wide) with a full deck 1m below that and handrail installed on live edge before you lift again. Really the only way to fall is have a seizure & somehow shake yourself through the 300mm gap between the toe board and mid rail.

your up high but it's no different to been on a balcony. Need steady hands though, it's a fine of a carton every time you drop somethingsomething

it doesnt have to be earning 300k to get me up there but it would need to be a substantial increase over what i get now as i'll be away from home so much. i'll give these guys a few weeks and see if its worth it. they only did their red/white card which i already have and some 1 day scaffold course. they did bullshit a bit about their experience though....

Brick said:

If you wanted to do something different give it a go, I'd just get a job around town as a nun ticketed labourer do it for a few weeks see if you like it, most of them pay untucked 30/hr, ticketed 32-35, leading hand 40.

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just checked out some ads on gumtree:

Immediate Start !
Must have experience, transport and White Card, various work sites.
With Scaffold Ticket $27.50 +superannuation
Without Scaffold Ticket $22.50 +superannuation
Please ring Statewide Scaffolds : ******** 827 + click to reveal

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$22.50 an hour, ouch! but i'd do it for a bit of experience

CaT_SPeW said:

just checked out some ads on gumtree:



$22.50 an hour, ouch! but i'd do it for a bit of experience

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Yeah stay away from aluminiu, roof protection guys and resi work the pay is shit. Just hit the phone book and ring the big boys doing kwik stage or cup lock basically commercial work. I'd just say I was a tradie looking for a change. I meet heaps of brickies & chipies putting up Scaff just cause they want something different for a bit

I have a scaffolding and rigging ticket, did it for a few years as I hated accounting…interesting change of pace, good money, I used to work shut downs in oil refineries back in 1990, was clearing $1500-1700 per week when average worker was lucky to make $700 per week, work was pretty easy really, but you must be OK with heights, especially when building drop scaffolds and the like.

Not sure about 300K per year, but money is definitely good.

Did you pay cash for the ticket?

Big Mick said:

I have a scaffolding and rigging ticket, did it for a few years as I hated accounting…interesting change of pace, good money, I used to work shut downs in oil refineries back in 1990, was clearing $1500-1700 per week when average worker was lucky to make $700 per week, work was pretty easy really, but you must be OK with heights, especially when building drop scaffolds and the like.

Not sure about 300K per year, but money is definitely good.

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thanks. yeah im starting to find the 300k is going to be a fair stretch

a bit of an update:

spoke to my mate yesterday and they are two days into the work and one of them wants to call it quits already! due to lack of experience they werent given the "300k mines job" instead they have landed a $25-30 an hour job scaffolding at some local high rise apartments, something they could have just as easily done here in melbourne. looks like scaffolding wont be on my radar just for now ha ha!

lol
Serves them right for bullshitting

CaT_SPeW said:

a bit of an update:

spoke to my mate yesterday and they are two days into the work and one of them wants to call it quits already! due to lack of experience they werent given the "300k mines job" instead they have landed a $25-30 an hour job scaffolding at some local high rise apartments, something they could have just as easily done here in melbourne. looks like scaffolding wont be on my radar just for now ha ha!

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Probably the best decision IMO.

Mine work at the moment is so volatile. Contracts get drawn and torn up every day here. Basing your lifestyle on such work is gonna end in disaster no matter how many potential $$$'s are attached to it

Darkoz said:

Did you pay cash for the ticket?

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Jealousy is a curse, enjoy your debt and wasting your $$ on making the banks rich.

Headley said:

Probably the best decision IMO.

Mine work at the moment is so volatile. Contracts get drawn and torn up every day here. Basing your lifestyle on such work is gonna end in disaster no matter how many potential $$$'s are attached to it

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Mine work is OK and it's well worth doing for the big $$ to be had, if you are good at what you do and reliable work will find you anyway, sometimes you have to take a cut to gain experience, you can't expect to get a scaffolding ticket and land a 300K job the next week, you will have to prove yourself first in most cases, I have changed jobs and careers several times and initially take a bit of a hit when first starting out but very soon if you know your stuff the $$ will come.

Missus finished off at her job on Monday, and when she come home word got around town that she did not have a job and she got offered a good position at the local school the same day (they came looking for her)….no interview required, she starts in two weeks. Good thing is she will be working school hours at the same school our kids go to, will make life even easier.

If you are interested in Scaffolding money can be pretty good, but don't expect big $$$ straight up, about $22-28 per hour to start off with is probably average, which is not bad money considering they are paying you to learn, a scaffolder with experience that knows his shit can easily make between $80-140K a year, depending on how hard you go and how lucky you get.