What a boilermaker is paid in Australia: the legal minimum under the award, the classification ladder either side of it, and what the market actually pays. Every figure sourced and dated.
Award floor
$29.45
The classification we quote is described in the ladder below. Award, Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award MA000010. Effective 1 July 2026.
Market band
$100,000 to $120,000
National advertised range, SEEK, refreshed 1 July 2026. Indicative day rate ~$500.
Every rung of the award, not just the one this role usually sits on. The highlighted row is the classification we quote as the floor for boilermaker.
| Classification | Hourly minimum | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| C13 engineering/manufacturing employee level II | $26.44 | |
| C11 level IV | $27.97 | |
| C10 tradesperson level I | $29.45 | |
| C9 tradesperson level II | $30.38 | |
| C8 tradesperson special class level I | $31.30 | |
| C7 tradesperson special class level II | $32.13 | |
| C6 advanced engineering tradesperson level I | $33.77 | |
| C5 advanced engineering tradesperson level II | $34.46 |
The award gives a boilermaker the same C10 classification and the same legal minimum as a welder. The interesting fact about this role is therefore not the floor but the distance between the floor and the market, which is wider here than on almost any other trade we hold.
The floor is the law and the market is what roles actually close at. On this role the distance between them is $41,807 a year at the bottom of the band, which is the number worth knowing before you set an offer. Ordinary hours only: no overtime, no penalty rates, no superannuation.
No occupational licence. What an employer should be asking about instead is fabrication capability: reading and setting out from drawings, template and pattern development, marking off, and the ability to take a plate or section from a shop detail through to a finished assembly that fits. Pressure equipment work carries its own certification regime again. Rigging and dogging tickets, issued by the state work health and safety regulator, come up constantly on heavy fabrication because the work involves lifting what has just been built. Confined space and working at heights are site requirements, and a white card applies on construction.
The 2025 Occupation Shortage List rates 322311 Metal Fabricator as in shortage nationally and in every state and territory. The Australian Bureau of Statistics lists boilermaker and welder as a specialisation of the metal fabricator occupation. That list is the official assessment, published by Jobs and Skills Australia, and it is the only shortage figure we will quote. Source, checked 27 July 2026.
Heavy fabrication demand arrives in lumps rather than smoothly, because it is tied to mining, resources and infrastructure project cycles and to shutdown windows. When a large project or a shutdown starts nearby, the available pool empties within weeks and does not refill until the work finishes. An employer competing against a shutdown is competing against overtime and away allowances, not against another workshop rate.
Setting the offer off the award. A boilermaker who sees a rate anywhere near the C10 floor concludes the employer does not understand the trade and does not apply. The second is using boilermaker and welder interchangeably in the advertisement when the fabrication content of the role is what actually decides who is suitable. The third is underestimating how much shutdown and project work competes for the same people.
C10 tradesperson level I under the Manufacturing Award, which is the same classification as a welder. It is a base rate, so allowances are paid on top.
Heavy fabrication demand concentrates around projects and shutdowns, and the qualified pool is small. That gap between the legal floor and the market is the largest we hold on any trade.
In the official occupation classification, boilermaker is listed as a specialisation of metal fabricator. In practice, employers use the terms to mean somewhat different things, which is why the advertisement needs to describe the work.
Award rates are the adult full-time minimum for the classification named, effective the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, from the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guides. Casual loading of 25 per cent sits on top. This award publishes base rates, so allowances are paid on top of the hourly figures shown. Market bands are the national advertised ranges published on SEEK salary pages, refreshed 1 July 2026, quoted as published. Annual conversions use 38 ordinary hours a week over 52 weeks and exclude overtime, penalty rates and superannuation. Award minimums are national, so these figures do not vary by state. Checked 27 July 2026. The award that applies to any individual is decided by the work actually performed and by the employer's industry: see our award finder, or ask the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94.