VICTORIA'S tradesmen are the cheapest on the eastern seaboard, a new report has discovered.
The state's tradies were given the rating by the Trade and Household Services Pricing Guide at ServiceSeeking.com.au, which examined the average hourly prices of tradesmen in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, the Herald Sun reports.
On average, Victorians were 4.6 per cent cheaper than those in NSW and 5.2 per cent friendlier to your wallet than Queenslanders, which was great news for consumers, according to the website's co-founder, Jeremy Levitt.
Gardeners were Victoria's cheapest tradesmen, costing on average almost $35 an hour, the report found.
The report also reveals Victorian home owners can expect to pay about $42 an hour for carpenters and cabinet-makers, $44 for building renovators and about $48 for bricklayers.
Concreters were more expensive, costing more than $56 an hour on average.
"We know that compared to Sydney, Melbourne is the cheaper city when it comes to the cost of living, with lower housing and petrol costs, but thanks to this unique data we now have proof this trend spills over to the household and trade service sectors too," Mr Levitt said.
Tony Gray, 47, a carpenter with Melbourne Extensions and Designs, said the tried and true way of getting a good tradie for the right price was word of mouth.
"The best way is to get word of mouth. Just ask people who get something done what the carpenter was like," Mr Gray said.
Consumer Affairs Victoria said that price shouldn't be people's only motivation.
"It's important both parties are fully informed and do their research before any agreements are made," a CAV spokesperson said.
And CAV warned consumers not to be complacent - just because the price sounds right, doesn't mean the work will be.
The guides producers based the information on more than 70,000 quotes nationwide submitted between October 2007 and March 2010.
The price guide is available at serviceseeking.com.au, a website that allows customers to describe what they need done and wait for businesses to submit quotes to them to win their business.
Read more on the Herald Sun.
