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Most Brisbane employers budget the salary and stop there. Then the offer gets knocked back and nobody can work out why.
Two things are going on. The advertised salary is only about three quarters of what the person actually costs you. And the number you think is competitive in Brisbane is well behind what the same ticket earns in Melbourne and Perth.
Here are the current figures.
Seek's salary data, refreshed 1 September 2026:
Read that table twice. Brisbane is the only one of those numbers that starts with a seven. The top of the Brisbane range is below the bottom of the Melbourne range, and Perth pays roughly forty per cent more for a technician holding the same RAC01 licence.
That gap is not a rounding error and it does not stay theoretical. A refrigeration mechanic is one of the most portable trades in the country. The ticket works in every state, the work exists everywhere, and the FIFO market actively recruits out of South East Queensland.
Take a Brisbane technician on $85,000 - the middle of the range. Here is what leaves the business.
Before workers comp, you are at roughly $100,400 for an $85,000 technician. Call it a 1.18x multiplier on base, and higher once WorkCover and any vehicle, phone, tools or allowances go on top.
Two notes on that table. Queensland's payroll tax threshold is $1.3 million in annual Australian wages at a 4.75% rate for 2026-27, so a small crew may sit under it entirely - check where you land before you budget it. And WorkCover Queensland has now held its target premium rate steady for a second consecutive year, which is good news, but your actual premium depends on your industry classification and claims history rather than any published average.
A service vehicle is frequently the deciding factor, and employers routinely under-price it.
To the technician, a fully maintained ute with fuel and tolls covered, that goes home with him, is worth thousands a year in avoided running costs plus the commute he no longer pays for. To you it is a lease line, a fuel card and an FBT question.
The mistake is treating it as a perk. In a market where Melbourne pays $15,000 to $25,000 more in base, the vehicle is often the only lever a Brisbane employer has that closes a real gap without moving the salary.
If you are advertising an HVAC role in Brisbane at $80,000, your competition is not only the mechanical services company down the road.
It is a Melbourne employer at $105,000. It is a Pilbara roster paying $145,000. It is the fact that a technician with an RAC01 licence can be earning that money inside a month with no retraining.
That does not mean Brisbane employers must match Perth. It means an $80,000 offer needs something else attached to it, and "good team culture" in a job ad is not that something.
What actually moves the needle in this market:
Budget the full cost, not the salary. Roughly 1.18 times base before vehicle and workers comp is a reasonable planning figure for Queensland.
Then check your number against the Melbourne and Perth columns rather than against what you paid the last bloke in 2023. If you are at the bottom of the Brisbane band, expect a slow process and a high knockback rate, and decide in advance what you will offer that is not money.
HJ Recruitment places permanent HVAC and refrigeration, electrical, plumbing, fire and solar tradespeople with Australian employers, from our base in Brisbane. If you want a read on what your specific role should be paying before you advertise it, ask us - we will tell you even if you are not hiring through us.
Sources- SEEK - Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician salary, Brisbane- SEEK - Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician salary, Melbourne- SEEK - Refrigeration Mechanic salary, Australia- WorkCover Queensland - premiums held steady for a second year
