Storms have raised the demands for tradies
Australia is being battered by storms and tradie repair demand is going up.
There has reportedly been 2400% hike in tradie requests for the past weeks. The storm has damaged a lot of homes and many are calling for roof repairs. In fact, requests on the roof alone increased by more than 1000% already.
According to Sydney Morning Herald, NSW saw the biggest increase specifically in Parramatta where job requests reached up to 2400% within three days from June 3 to June 6.
However, despite the surge in demands, NSW Fair Trading has issued a warning to consumers about being careful when engaging tradies.
NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe advises people to steer clear of cold calls and work only with licensed contractors when projects require more than $5,000.
“We’ve had issues in the past when we’ve had very significant disasters where there have been shortages of material and tradespeople and we have seen costs escalate,” he said.
Watch out for door-to-door knocking tradies
“What we do see is people frequently turning up in the disaster areas going door-to-door indicating they’re able to do repairs and many of them aren’t properly qualified or licensed to do the works.”
According to Stowe, people should be aware of the “warning signs” for unlicensed tradies like asking for up-front pay or money transfer and setting only a specific day for work.
“I know people are desperate when there’s a shortage. It’s not worth it, often when they do the work, it’s done so poorly you’ll need to get it redone, and you may compromise your insurance policy.”
Jobs which topped the most requests recently following the storm include gutter cleaning, waterproofing, roofing and roof repairs. Stowe did clarify that the organisation cannot control the prices of the tradies but it is up to the people hiring to set how much their projects should really cost. Insurance is one of the best ways to go when your home is damaged by natural disasters like the storm.
“If you’ve got a home insurance policy, the first thing to do is to contact your insurer and let them know what’s occurred,” Stowe advised.
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