A laid-black tradie has casually revealed the eyewatering amount of money he can make in just one week.
The tree lopper from Queensland, in a TikTok video interview by job app Getahead, said he’s currently earning $35 an hour but has previously raked in $26,000 cash for a 40 hour week.
Sporting hi-viz, a cap and sunnies, he also joked about what drove him to the unique and somewhat unusual profession.
‘When I was a kid, I bloody fell out of a tree and broke me back in four places,’ he explained.
‘Three compression vertebrae fractures.
‘I should have been paralysed.
‘So it’s kind of ironic I became a tree lopper. I’m getting my revenge.’
However, after a while, the Queenslander said he learnt to ‘love trees’.
A laid-black tradie has casually revealed the eyewatering amount of money he can make in just one week
‘(After a while) you respect them a bit more,’ he said.
‘I love them, I just reckon they’re cool.’
The tradie said he had experienced times when not everyone was happy he was doing his job.
‘We had this tree hugger and he chained himself to this tree,’ he said.
‘Old mate ended up just knocking him out and dragging him on the street.
‘And I was just like “I love this trade”.’
Commenters on video praised the larrikin for his hilarious outlook.
‘Give this bloke a TV show,’ one wrote.
‘He was such a good storyteller I listened twice,’ another said.
‘I could listen to this man recite the phone book,’ one Aussie said.
‘Best Getahead interview so far,’ one wrote.
Another added: ’26k tree lopping – good one bro’.
The recent videos of Aussies revealing their take-home pay, has sparked some backlash with some people wondering if tradies are actually worth the high wages they receive.
In another TikTok video, the tree lopper appears with other tradies revealing their wages, news.com.au reported.
The tradie said to be a tree lopper he had to do an arboriculture qualification (stock image)
A diesel fitter made $130 per hour – or at least $250,000 a year if working a standard 38-hour week.
There was also an auto electrician making a whopping $120,000 annually.
But industry experts want people to know that hard work, skills and education – as well as starting off on low-wages – is the reality for trade jobs.
Carpentry Australia chief executive Jake McArthur and its head of development Nathan Quinn recently went on Sunrise to dispel any mistruths.
‘There’s a bit of a hoo-ha about this particular TikTok,’ Mr McArthur said.
‘But we need to understand what’s behind those pay packets. It’s things like risk, [a variety] of different roles, of responsibilities, [and] skills.’
According to Trade Risk, a tradie’s average gross salary in 2023 was $90,940 – which is an 11 per cent increase from their 2019 data.
Boilermakers were found to have the highest average income of $112,535, with electricians on $96,338.
Plumbers came in third with their average income $95,507.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk