Flooring contractor pay in NZ?

[88Lance]

I am 30 and have 13 years experience in flooring installation in the US. With the building projects going on I think I could get work and moved pretty easily, but am curious about the cost of living compared to pay for this type of trade. I assume to begin with I would have to work as a general labor position which is probably lower pay than what I make currently. Having been to NZ I know cost of living is much higher compared to Texas, so how much does this position typically make? I guess what I'm mainly interested in knowing, do these types of jobs just barely scrape you by each month there, without much spending money or money to adventure with, or is pay decent for this type of work, allowing me to go places and do some things? I would definitely be interested in hearing from some people that are in similar fields and how lifestyle turned out financially, or just somebody that knows about this.

[JandM]

While waiting to see if anyone in that line of work is reading this, you could look on NZ job advertisement listings to see the pay on offer.

[88Lance]

While waiting to see if anyone in that line of work is reading this, you could look on NZ job advertisement listings to see the pay on offer.

Good idea. I did some searching, but most places do not have the pay rate listed. I did find a page though that shows average income for the positions, which gives an idea of what type of lifestyle you could have. Of course some of this depends on what part of the country you live in because housing and rent varies by a lot in some areas, but it still helps

[sks]

You'll get $20 an hour, which is not going to get you much of a "lifestyle" in Auckland (or any other NZ city where there's enough flooring work to keep you working steadily). Many carpetlayers are employed as "independent contractors" and paid by the square metre, but as you'd be on a work visa and can't work for yourself on such a visa (not legally, anyway) that's not an option for you.

Sorry if that's not what you'd hoped to know.