Cali Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Hello. My name is Juan (john), Im from Argentina, and we are planning on moving to Launceston this July, or maybe next January. My wife (Roxanne) is going to study Architecture in UTAS, for at leas 3 years, after that maybe 2 years more for the master, we will see when the moment comes. My main profession is Handyman, i can fix almost anything, yes, including spaceships (?) , what i need to know, is: do i have any chance to survive in Launceston ? how much a handyman charges ?, are they needed ?, etc etc. I was planning to maybe open a repair shop, to fix home appliances to, do Tassies, or better said, Aussies repair their home appliances or just buy new ones ? If anyone could help me to clear these doubts in my mind, i would be very grateful. Sorry for my crappy english, and thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest16631 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 ..........there are some in Tasmania on here.........hopefully they can help............I wish you and yours all the best for your future journey...............tink x .........( me I'm a fixer........or get it fixed.............) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Hello Juan, You have no need to apologise for your "crappy" english...it is very good (much better than many of the native English speakers! :biggrin:) Handyman in this country is generally used as a word for a person who does small building jobs. For electrical type work he would be called a repair man. I'm not sure about setting up your own business in this type of work. There are lots of regulations you have to pass to set up a business here and I expect you would have to have passed some sort of electrical trade qualification in Australia. Large electrical items like washing machines do get repaired here but often the manufacturers have special arrangements with a repair shop to be the specialist repair place for that brand of machine. Vivien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest 47403 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Hello Juan, You have no need to apologise for your "crappy" english...it is very good (much better than many of the native English speakers! :biggrin:) Handyman in this country is generally used as a word for a person who does small building jobs. For electrical type work he would be called a repair man. I'm not sure about setting up your own business in this type of work. There are lots of regulations you have to pass to set up a business here and I expect you would have to have passed some sort of electrical trade qualification in Australia. Large electrical items like washing machines do get repaired here but often the manufacturers have special arrangements with a repair shop to be the specialist repair place for that brand of machine. Vivien How strictly is that enforced regarding licences? For instance I'm getting the kitchen skimmed by some plasterers on Monday I use the term plasterers loosely I'm sure they don't have proper qualifications but I know they do a decent job as we've used them before it's always cash in hand and TBH they work to drink.........question is are there tradies like that in Tas? Or anywhere else in Oz for that matter? Do people work without the licences? Just interested to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cali Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Hi all, thanks for your replies, info and suggestions. I allready know that to do most of professional work i will need a certification, i will stick to the work i can do with out certification, at least at first, maybe if things go well i will take courses and get certified, but in the mean time i would like to make some money to help with the expenses we will have, i have properties back here in Argentina and they give us a monthly rent but i cant rely 100% on that thanks to our third country minded goverment and population (right now we are unable to buy dollars for example, we can only use dollars with a credit card and the goverment charges you a 15% tax that you never get back ...) i´m counting with about 2 k AUD per month for sure, and maybe 3 k with some luck, that plus some work i can do i think we will be ok, but the main question is, will i have work About the repair shop, now i can almost discard it thanks to your info skani , but maybe i can still fix some things like lawn movers, etc ... but not opening a shop On the other hand, i know a handyman makes most small building work, we build slightly different right here but im used to work with wood, bricks, cement, and steel, right now im finishing building 3 departments to rent them. So my main fear is that my profession is in no need, or that i will enter an over crowded profession. what can you tell me guys ? its easy to find someone to fix your things at home ? i have read a handyman charges between 20 and 50 dollars per hour, depending on the work, is this true ? Thanks all in advance, sorry for the long post and crappy english , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 How strictly is that enforced regarding licences? For instance I'm getting the kitchen skimmed by some plasterers on Monday I use the term plasterers loosely I'm sure they don't have proper qualifications but I know they do a decent job as we've used them before it's always cash in hand and TBH they work to drink.........question is are there tradies like that in Tas? Or anywhere else in Oz for that matter? Do people work without the licences? Just interested to know. Oh yes, you can find those everywhere...except for electrical trades. It is actually illegal to do electrical work without being a licenced tradesman here so I was thinking of that specifically in relation to Juan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 On the other hand, i know a handyman makes most small building work, we build slightly different right here but im used to work with wood, bricks, cement, and steel, right now im finishing building 3 departments to rent them. So my main fear is that my profession is in no need, or that i will enter an over crowded profession. what can you tell me guys ? its easy to find someone to fix your things at home ? i have read a handyman charges between 20 and 50 dollars per hour, depending on the work, is this true ? Yes, 20 - 50 per hour would be correct. I'm sorry I really don't know how overcrowded the profession is, especially in Launceston (I live in Hobart). Any handyman type work we've needed has been done by our next door neighbour who runs a landscaping business but is also very handy with carpentry etc. :biggrin: There has been a decrease in building work in the last 12 months or so which would normally mean that there are lots of tradespeople around. However I know that many have gone to the large mining sites on the mainland where they can earn big money...so that may mean there's a reasonable amount of work for someone like yourself. But I can't say I'm speaking with any real knowledge. :no: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cali Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 thanks skani, you may not believe me, but you helped me a lot. Just yesterday i was swearing about the speed bumps that we have over here, even in hi speed main roads, and i was surfing a lot lately with google earth street view over Australia, specially tasmania/Launceston, and i noticed, better said, i didn´t noticed any speed bumps, and we were wondering with my wife, do they exist at all over there ? here, ppl don´t respect speed limits, so instead of enforcing to respect it, they lay down dozens of speed bumps, in some cases you can find up to 5 speed bumps per block (100 meters). Another thing that has us wondering, is about the neighborhoods, i have read in a th. in this forum, that Ravenswood was not a nice place, due to the amount of crime..., is this true ? is it that bad ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Just yesterday i was swearing about the speed bumps that we have over here, even in hi speed main roads, and i was surfing a lot lately with google earth street view over Australia, specially tasmania/Launceston, and i noticed, better said, i didn´t noticed any speed bumps, and we were wondering with my wife, do they exist at all over there ? Yes, speed bumps do exist but certainly NOT on hi speed main roads. They are installed only on suburban residential streets if there has been a problem with cars speeding on that street. I can think of only one street with speed bumps within a 5 km radius of where I live. Another thing that has us wondering, is about the neighborhoods, i have read in a th. in this forum, that Ravenswood was not a nice place, due to the amount of crime..., is this true ? is it that bad ? There are suburbs which were originally built by the state government as subsidised housing for low income earners and they have gained a reputation for the most troublesome spots. Part of Ravenswood was one of these "Housing Commission" areas and it seems to have gained the worst reputation in Launceston. However I recently heard a radio program from Ravenswood and there were people who had lived there for 50+ years and said they loved it. Bear in mind that in small communities (and Launceston is not a large city) any trouble is reported in the newspapers whereas in larger cities only major crimes make it to the newspaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cali Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 Thank you very much Skani, for taking your time to clear my doubts. I guess once we get the confirmation from UTAS i will be posting again with some more questions. In the mean time i will be wondering the forum to learn as much as we can from Aussie culture . Thanks all for caring . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Thank you very much Skani, for taking your time to clear my doubts. I guess once we get the confirmation from UTAS i will be posting again with some more questions. In the mean time i will be wondering the forum to learn as much as we can from Aussie culture . Thanks all for caring . No problem, Juan! Feel free to ask away! By the way, my son-in-law gained his Architecture degree at UTAS in Launceston.:biggrin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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