We look at how much tradesmen are charging these days with our labour costs in Ireland 2024 analysis.
In this article we cover:
- Average labour costs in Ireland 2024
- Minimum labour rates
- What impacts labour costs
- Where labour costs are heading
Labour costs are really high, is there a way to find out the average rate I should be paying tradesmen, both specialised and general labour?
Keith Says: Upwards of €/£200 per day but the difficulty with average rates is that they are just that, the average. They do not generally give a clear indication as to what someone should pay for a service.
In ROI, by way of example, the construction industry and the labour rates payable are governed by minimum rates approved by a minister. SEOs or Sectoral Employment Orders set the rates payable to all classes of those working in the industry.
From the 5th of August 2024, those rates were set at €22.24 per hour for craftspersons (block layers, carpenters, painters, plasterers, tiles and the likes), €21.59 per hour for Category A workers (scaffolders, banks operatives, steel fixers, crane drivers and the likes) and €20.03 for Category B workers (general operatives).
The SEO sets the minimum hourly rates for workers, but this does not prevent an employer paying a higher rate of pay than defined in the SEO. In addition, employers are required to pay pension contributions, death in service contributions and sick pay. The rates do not include PSRI, insurance, overheads, profits or other tax costs that an employer will pay on an hour worked by an employee.
Taking a standard eight-hour day therefore, (the rates in the SEO based on a 39-hour week) and assuming a working is operating in the legal employment market, a carpenter should receive a gross payment based on house of €177.92 per day.
That figure includes no employer add-on costs of hiring labour or any aspect of cost contribution to the running on the business. When those costs are added, it is not unusual to see costs for a carpenter getting charged out by a business at €35 to €40 per hour to cover the costs of the employment, insurances and to allow the business to employ the carpenter to make a profit.
This equates to a carpenter cost of €280 to €360 per day. Obviously the smaller the business, the smaller the overhead and the lower the rate. General Labour and other categories of workers will be at levels lower than that of craftsperson’s like a carpenter and will generally run from €220 to €240 per day. These are the rates that employers must pay in the marketplace, however like all aspects of an open market, it does not mean you won’t find cheaper rates.
The one thing that is clear, is that with the cost of living increasing, these rates are only going to nudge upward each year that passes, and a lot of businesses have to pay well in excess of these rates to maintain good staffing levels and also to hold on to good staff.
