Off the tiles: Far North builders and developers desperately searching for skilled tradies

A lack of qualified workers in one specialist trade is holding back building projects across the Far North, with construction times blowing out while developers scour the state for skilled labourers.

A national tiling shortage, combined with an increase in work following the Far North flood in December 2023, is causing significant delays on commercial and private building projects, industry experts say.

A lack of qualified workers in one specialist trade is holding back building projects across the Far North, with construction times blowing out while developers scour the state for skilled labourers.

Tilers often play a critical role in commercial and private works with flooring typically done before painters and other tradespeople complete the finer details within homes and buildings.

But a spike in flood repairs following Tropical Cyclone Jasper had compounded an already dire shortage of the skilled professionals in the region, Bridgewater Builders owner Peter Bridgewater said.

“You just can’t get tilers at the moment,” the industry veteran said.

“We’ve even gone to laying vinyl floors, instead of tiles. But that creates other problems because there are only so many vinyl layers in town as well.

“There are probably a dozen good ones in town at the moment.”

State regulations meant the skill shortage wouldn’t be easy to solve, Mr Bridgewater said.

“You’ve still got to be licensed and authorised by the (Queensland Building and Construction Commission) to be a tiler in Queensland,” he said.

“So you can’t bring in skilled workers from overseas to fix the problem.

“Insurance companies are offering them crazy money (for flood repair work) and there’s just so much there for them.

“There are no new tilers coming into town and there aren’t any new apprentices. We still need to lay tiles though.

“It’s why a lot of people’s timelines have blown out.”

Urban Development Institute of Australia Cairns branch president Nathan Lee Long is concerned with the critically low level of serviced residential land available in Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

Last year, the Urban Development Institute of Australia estimated that just 3500 lots with access to water and sewer services remain within the Cairns region.

More trunk infrastructure was desperately needed to keep pace with the city’s projected growth and keep tradies working, UDIA Cairns branch president Nathan Lee Long said.

“There’s a dire need for increasing land supply in a way that keeps Cairns liveable and affordable and keep it a special place,” Mr Lee Long said.

“We have extremely low rental vacancies, increasing rents and community housing shortages.”

Mr Bridgewater said young people who took up tiling as a vocation in the near future could play a key role in addressing the region’s housing shortage.

“It’s not glamorous. It is hard work but you make a lot of money and it’s clean and under cover,” he said.

“It just seems like no kid wants to lug a 10kg box of tiles these days, so I’m not sure what the answer is.

“Carpenters, concreters, block layers, I can get no problem. There are plenty of those around, it’s just tiling. I don’t know why, or where they’ve gone.”

Originally published as Off the tiles: Far North builders and developers desperately searching for skilled tradies