Millionaire Jim’s Mowing boss reveals tradies’ ‘crazy’ price gouging as demand soars

The outspoken Jim’s Mowing boss has revealed Aussie tradies are jacking up prices by more than 300 per cent as demand soars “beyond belief”.

The Covid pandemic has left Aussie tradies and handymen and women with more work than they can handle – and they’re laughing all the way to the bank.

Service providers across the nation are now jacking up their prices by more than 300 per cent in some cases due to unprecedented demand from customers.

The situation is exacerbated by a lack of trained workers across the board, with the problem only intensifying as more and more are forced into isolation as Omicron tears through the country.

Prices are soaring as a result, with airconditioning technicians, plumbers, electricians and other workers taking advantage of homeowners’ desperation.

That’s according to Jim’s Mowing boss Jim Penman, who told news.com.au it was a “crazy” situation – and that customers needed to be on their toes to avoid being gouged.

“I don’t know how to put it – I’ve never seen anything like this demand for services,” he said.

“We’ve had to knock back 328,000-plus requests for service and in November and December, around half the people who rang, we just couldn’t help as we couldn’t keep up with the demand.

“It has been beyond belief.”

Mr Penman said the government’s decision to pump money into the economy via Covid relief measures meant there were now plenty of cashed-up Aussies, and with lockdowns and closed borders, many of us have been spending on our homes like never before.

“The government has been putting plenty of money into the economy, and we can’t go on a trip, so we tend to spend our cash around the house,” he said.

Jim’s Mowing boss Jim Penman urged customers to ‘protect themselves’ against unreasonable prices.

While some may see the skyrocketing prices as yet another example of price gouging, Mr Penman said there were ways to avoid getting stung, and urged customers to get several quotes upfront, only pay at the end of a job and once you are satisfied, and to only deal with reputable businesses.

“If a quote is excessive, get another one for heaven’s sake, some people are foolish and will accept anything,” he said.

“People have got to protect themselves.”

He said there was little that could be done to prevent rising prices, as they were the result of supply and demand – and said it actually presented a good opportunity for those wanting a career change.

“How do you control a thing like that? The problems with gouging is that there just aren’t enough (workers),” Mr Penman said.

“I think one of the problems is that not enough Australians are going into the trades – a lot of the people we’ve put on are new migrants, which is great, but people spend years training to be a doctor or a lawyer, but actually quite a few people from those backgrounds end up mowing lawns as they can make as much money but with a better lifestyle.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to make a really good income – basic jobs like lawn mowing can be really lucrative, and people can own their own business with flexible hours and be able to see their kids grow up.”

Some tradies are charging more than 300 per cent above their usual rate as demand explodes.

He said one of his franchisees was a high school dropout and former McDonald’s worker in his 20s who was on track to become a “multi-millionaire” by the time he was 30.

Meanwhile, Mr Penman said he believed the trend of prioritising jobs and improvements around the home – which was sparked by the pandemic – was here to stay, although he expected the currently unsustainable level of demand to ease to an extent in the months ahead.

“In my point of view it will drop down because what’s going on now is crazy, but the demand will still be there,” he said.

“The problem is with rich countries it’s common that people don’t want to do the hard, physical tradie work – they want to sit behind a desk and be a journalist or an accountant.”

Price gouging has been a continuous issue over the course of the pandemic, with the toilet paper panic of 2020 seeing customers rush to stockpile the product, with some later attempting to sell loo rolls for eye-watering figures online.

And this week, there have been countless examples of the price gouging of rapid antigen tests, with Australia’s competition watchdog announcing it would “name and shame” retailers which are selling rapid tests at exorbitant prices.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Rod Sims vowed a crackdown on rogue retailers, announcing the ACCC was “on the case” and was monitoring the situation “very closely”.

“If we get a number of reports about excessive pricing from particular outlets, that’s when we can get involved and take whatever we judge to be the appropriate action,” he said.