Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award: Pay Rates, Classifications, and Obligations

As of 23 January 2026, the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award includes updates to definitions, superannuation, and workplace delegates’ rights. Also, from 1 July 2025, the Annual Wage Review increased the Award’s minimum pay rates and allowances by 3.5%.

In this guide, we cover who the Award applies to, how to classify roles, and the key pay and hours rules to follow.

The Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award: A Quick Summary for Busy Managers 

The Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award [MA000036] sets minimum pay rates and conditions for employees doing plumbing and mechanical services work, fire sprinkler fitting, and related duties in businesses that provide these services by contract.

To stay compliant, managers must consider:

• Award coverage: Whether the employee is covered by this Award rather than a different award that could apply based on the main duties (e.g., the Building and Construction General On-site Award, or the Electrical Award).
• Employee type: Whether the employee is a daily hire, weekly (full-time/part-time), or casual.
• Employee classification: Whether the employee falls under the Plumbing and Mechanical Services stream or the Sprinkler Fitting stream, and the correct level (including tradesperson and advanced tradesperson levels where relevant).
• Hours and timing of work: Whether the employee works outside ordinary hours, especially weekends, public holidays, or overtime.

A common “gotcha” in this Award is that some classifications have built-in all-purpose allowances in the Award pay guide, which affects overtime and penalty calculations.

Most mistakes arise from incorrect award coverage, incorrect classification, misclassification of penalties and overtime, or missing required allowances.

Coming up: Award dates and deadlines you need to know

Award Basics

The Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020 [MA000036] sets the minimum pay rates and key working conditions for many employees working in Australia’s plumbing and fire protection services sector. It typically applies to roles like plumbers and gasfitters, roof plumbers, drainers, irrigation installers, sprinkler fitters, and sprinkler fitters’ assistants. 

It covers the practical minimum rules employers rely on, including types of employment, ordinary hours and breaks, minimum rates, penalty rates, overtime, and allowances. 

The Award operates alongside the National Employment Standards (NES) (the minimum standards that apply to most Australian employees). Under the Award, the NES and the Award together contain the minimum conditions of employment for covered employees.

Who’s covered under the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award?

You’re likely covered if your business does plumbing work or fire sprinkler fitting work (or you employ people to do that work, even if your main business is something else).

Businesses covered

Plumbing services typically include:

• Plumbing
• Roof plumbing
• Gas fitting 
• Drainage/irrigation work/installation
• Heating, air-conditioning, or ventilation plumbing 
• Pipe-fitting 

Fire sprinkler fitting services typically include:

• Installing, testing, inspecting, maintaining, retrofitting, and overhauling automatic fire sprinklers and other fire protection systems.
• Repairing the pipes and fittings in or around buildings, structures, or ships.

Employees covered

Examples of employees the Award typically covers include:

• Plumber’s labourers and sprinkler fitters’ assistants
• Apprentice plumbers and gasfitters
• Qualified plumbers and gasfitters
• Irrigation installers
• Fire technicians
• Sprinkler fitter tradespersons

The Award can also cover labour hire businesses and their employees when they’re placed with an organisation that provides plumbing and fire sprinkler services, and the labour hire employer isn’t covered by another award that covers this work. 

Who isn’t covered under the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award?

This Award generally isn’t the right fit for:

• Air-conditioning mechanics on a building project.
• Insulation installers on a building project.

These roles are often better covered by the Building and Construction General On-site Award (depending on the business and the duties).

Coverage self-check: Does the Plumbing Industry Award apply?

Check whether the following statements match your business and the position you’re assessing:

• I operate a business that provides plumbing and/or fire sprinkler fitting services (e.g., plumbing, gas fitting, or fire sprinkler fitting).
• The employee’s day-to-day duties are mainly plumbing or fire sprinkler fitting work (e.g., a plumber’s labourer, fire technician, or sprinkler fitter).
• The employee isn’t covered by a more specific award (e.g., if their main duties are general building and construction work, such as constructing, altering, repairing, or demolishing structures, they may be better covered by the Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020.
• There’s no enterprise agreement (or other enterprise instrument) covering the employee.

If most of these apply, the employee is likely covered by the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020.

If you’re still unsure, check the coverage section in the Award.

Determining Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award [MA000036] Requirements

Under the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020, employees are grouped in 2 main ways:

• By employment type (daily hire, weekly hire, and casual)
• By classification (based on the work they do and the skills/training the role needs)

Employment types 

This Award uses 3 main employment types: daily hire (plumbing and mechanical services only), weekly hire (full-time and part-time), and casual.

Daily hire

This means the employee is hired on a day-to-day basis (only for plumbing and mechanical services roles), and either party can end the job with 1 day’s notice (or 1 day’s pay instead).

Daily-hire employees are paid an hourly rate plus a 3.17% lost time loading (also called a follow-the-job allowance).

Weekly hire 

This means the employee is hired on an ongoing basis (not day-to-day), they can be full-time or part-time, and are usually paid week to week.

• Full-time: They work an average of 38 ordinary hours per week, averaged over a 4-week cycle. 
• Part-time: They work an average of less than 38 hours per week and have reasonably predictable hours. 

Ordinary hours are set across a 20-day cycle over 4 weeks (Monday to Friday) and are usually worked between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm (or ​​from 6:00 am or any time between 6:00 am and 8:00 am by agreement).

Weekly hires get the usual permanent entitlements (like paid annual leave), and part-time weekly hires get those entitlements on a pro rata basis, i.e., based on the hours they work. 

Casual

Casual employees are paid an hourly rate plus a 25% casual loading (rather than paid leave entitlements such as annual leave and paid personal/carer’s leave). Each time a casual is called to work, they must be paid for at least 3 hours (even if they work less).

Streams, classifications, and levels

The Award uses 2 work streams: Plumbing and Mechanical Services and Sprinkler Fitting.

Across both streams, employees fall into 4 classification categories: 

• Worker levels (Level 1(a)–1(d) and Level 2): Entry and developing workers (often assistants or labourers) whose pay level steps up as they gain experience and skills (e.g., a new starter plumbing offsider at Level 1(a) will progress to Level 1(b) after 3 months, then Level 1(c) after 12 months).
• Tradesperson levels (Level 1 and Level 2): Qualified tradespeople doing trade work (with Level 2 being the higher step).
• Tradesperson—special class (Level 1 and Level 2): Tradespeople with extra training and higher technical skills beyond standard tradesperson levels.
• Advanced tradesperson (Level 1 and Level 2): Highly skilled specialists at the top end, usually handling the most complex work and responsibilities.

The classification categories and level structure (and how employees progress through them) are the same across both streams. The main difference is the type of work and role titles (plumbing and mechanical services versus sprinkler fitting). 

Here’s how it looks in practice using Worker Level 1(a) and Worker Level 1(b) in both streams:

Plumbing and Mechanical Services—Worker levels

Sprinkler Fitting—Worker levels

For the detailed definitions of each classification and level, refer to Schedule A in the Award.

Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Industry Award Pay Rates and Entitlements Overview 

Under the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020, the minimum pay rates and conditions are the baseline you need to meet for covered employees, including the main rules for ordinary hours, overtime and penalties, allowances, and leave.

Minimum base rates

For this Award, you must add the mandatory all-purpose allowances for the relevant stream and classification (e.g., Industry, Special Fixed, and any other all-purpose allowances that apply) before calculating casual loading, overtime/penalties, daily hire rates, and leave payments. (See the allowances section below.)

Let’s look at the Level 1 minimum base rates (not including any all-purpose allowances) for all classification categories across both streams (Plumbing and Mechanical Services and Sprinkler Fitting).

Here’s a quick, practical example of how the Award minimum rates apply to Worker Level 1(a) across both streams.

• If they’re daily hires (plumbing and mechanical services stream only), you pay the base hourly rate plus the all-purpose allowances (Industry allowance and Special Fixed allowance), then apply the 3.17% lost time loading on top. 

So it would look like this:

• Hourly rate, including all relevant all-purpose allowances, is $26.70/hour (base rate $25.46 + Industry allowance $1.04/hour + Special Fixed allowance $0.20/hour). Lost time loading 3.17% of $26.70 = $0.85, so the daily hire hourly rate is $27.55/hour ($26.70 + $0.85). Over 20 hours, they’d earn $551 (20 × $27.55).
• If they’re weekly hires (full-time), you pay at least the minimum weekly rate of $967.60.
• If they’re weekly hires (part-time), you pay the minimum hourly rate of $25.46 for the hours worked. For example, if they work 20 hours per week, their weekly pay is $509.20 (20 × $25.46).
• If they’re casual, you pay the same base hourly rate as full-time and part-time, plus 25% casual loading. 25% of $25.46 is $6.37, so the casual rate is $31.83 per hour ($25.46 + $6.37). Over 20 hours, they’d earn $636.60 (20 × $31.83).

For the full list of Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award pay rates (including rates that reflect built-in all-purpose allowances where applicable), download the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award Pay Guide.

Penalty rates

Penalty rates are extra pay (a higher rate than the base rate) for working certain times, like weekends, public holidays, early starts, or late shifts.

Let’s understand how this works in practice. Say a Tradesperson Level 1 earns $28.12 per ordinary hour.

• For daily hires, the ordinary hourly rate used ($31.16) includes the relevant all-purpose allowances, with the 3.17% lost time loading applied once.
  • If they work on a Saturday, the first 2 hours are paid at 150%, which is $46.74/hour ($31.16 × 1.5).
• For weekly hires (full-time/part-time), if they work on a Saturday, they’re paid 150% for the first 2 hours, which is $42.18/hour ($28.12 × 1.5).
• For casuals, their ordinary hourly rate already includes the 25% casual loading, so you don’t stack loading on top. That means Saturday (first 2 hours) is 150% of the casual ordinary hourly rate, which is $52.73/hour ($35.15 × 1.5).

For all other penalty rates (including shiftwork and any penalties tied to early starts, late finishes, or specific roster patterns), refer to the Award.

Overtime rules and rates

Under the Fire Sprinklers and Plumbing Award, ordinary hours are Monday to Friday (averaged over the 4-week work cycle), so work outside those ordinary hours can trigger overtime, including Saturday or Sunday work in some cases (e.g., where the hours aren’t ordinary hours under the roster).

Here are the overtime rates, which apply to all employees: 

Note: If the shift is overtime, overtime rates apply instead of (not on top of) penalties.

Here’s a simple example to put it into practice. Say you have a Tradesperson—special class Level 1 employee whose minimum base rate is $29.88 per hour.

• If they’re daily hires, work out their ordinary hourly rate first (including the all-purpose allowances and 3.17% lost time loading), then apply the overtime rate to that figure.
• If they’re full-time or part-time (weekly hire) and work 2 hours of overtime on a Monday, those overtime hours are paid at 150%.
  • That means their overtime rate is $44.82/hour ($29.88 × 1.5). For 2 hours, they’d earn $89.64.
• Casual overtime rates include 25% casual loading, so you don’t add loading again on top of overtime. 

For rules on other work type/stream rates, Time Off Instead of Overtime (TOIL), call-back, and overtime meal/rest breaks, refer to the Award.

Breaks

Breaks under the Fire Sprinklers and Plumbing Award are set times when employees may stop work to eat, rest, and clean up.

For all other break rules (including minimum breaks between working days), refer to the Award.

Allowances

Allowances are extra amounts paid on top of an employee’s base pay to cover things like specific work conditions, extra skills or responsibilities, or work-related costs.

The Award lists 2 types of allowances: wage-related and expense-related. For this guide, we’ll focus on all-purpose allowances, which sit under wage-related allowances.

Wage-related allowances (all-purpose)

The table below shows common examples of all-purpose allowances (which form part of the employee’s regular wage and are included when calculating penalties, overtime, leave, and termination pay).

For the full list of wage-related and expense-related allowances, it’s worth checking the Award.

Leave entitlements

Most leave entitlements come from the NES, which applies regardless of the award that covers the employee. The Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020 then adds extra rules for certain leave arrangements.

Annual leave

• Who gets annual leave: Full-time employees get 4 weeks of paid annual leave each year under the NES. Part-time employees get the same entitlement on a pro rata basis based on hours worked. Casual employees don’t get paid annual leave (they’re paid casual loading instead).
• Extra annual leave (weekend/on-call): In addition to the NES, employees who work (or are required to be on-call) for any part of 26 weekends or more in a year are entitled to an extra week of annual leave, on the same terms and conditions. 
• Annual leave loading: Annual leave is paid with 17.5% leave loading (on top of the NES annual leave payment), calculated on the rates, loadings, or allowances listed in the Award.
• Annual leave in advance: Annual leave can be taken before it accrues if there’s a written agreement that sets out the amount of leave and the start date (and it must be signed).
• Cashing out annual leave: Leave can only be cashed out by written agreement each time. The employee must keep at least 4 weeks of accrued annual leave and can cash out up to 2 weeks in any 12-month period.
• Excessive leave accruals: The Award has extra rules for managing large leave balances. “Excessive” annual leave is more than 8 weeks (or 10 weeks for shiftworkers). 

For full details (including the excessive leave process and shutdown rules), refer to the Award.

Other NES leave

The usual NES leave in Australia applies under this Award as well. These include:

• Personal/carer’s leave and compassionate leave.
• Parental leave and related entitlements.
• Community service leave (e.g., jury duty or eligible emergency management activities).
• Family and domestic violence leave (the Award also notes confidentiality expectations around handling this information).

How To Determine Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award Coverage

Once you confirm this Award applies, you can match the role to the right classification, pay the correct minimum rate, and apply the right allowances and penalties or overtime. This helps reduce the risk of underpayments later.

Let’s look at a real-world example to see how it works:

Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award [MA000036]: A practical, real-world example

A 30-year-old weekly hire (full-time) Advanced tradesperson employee doing installation, maintenance, and repair of plumbing and mechanical services on a commercial site:

• Is rostered on Saturday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm (10 hours), then stays back 2 extra hours (6:00 pm–8:00 pm).

How the Award applies:

• Classification and base rate: Advanced tradesperson Level 1 (Plumbing and Mechanical Services stream) is $31.56/hour.
• Using the base rate of $31.56, plus all-purpose allowances (converted to hourly):
  • Industry allowance: $39.53 per week ÷ 38 = $1.0426/hour.
  • Special fixed allowance: $7.70 per week ÷ 38 = $0.2026/hour.
  • Plumbing trade allowance: $32.05 per week ÷ 38 = $0.8434/hour.
  • Registration allowance (if registered): $42.74 per week ÷ 38 = $1.1242/hour.
• Ordinary hourly rate used for the example: $31.56 + $1.0426 + $0.2026 + $0.8434 + $1.1242 = which rounds to $34.77/hour. 
• Saturday (ordinary hours) is 150% for the first 2 hours, then 200% thereafter.
• The extra 2 hours (6:00 pm–8:00 pm) fall outside the rostered ordinary hours and are overtime. For Plumbing and Mechanical Services employees, Saturday overtime after 12 noon is 200%.

We’ll apply penalties to the ordinary-hours portion and overtime to the overtime portion, and we won’t stack penalties and overtime on the same hours.

Pay summary:

Common scenarios and compliance tips

Use these key checks to work through common scenarios you might face:

1. Plumbing business pays a “flat hourly rate” and skips allowances

Key checks:

• Confirm the role is covered by the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020 (not a different industry award).
• Classify the employee based on the work they actually do (plumbing and mechanical services vs. sprinkler fitting) and the correct level.
• Make sure the correct all-purpose allowances are included in the ordinary hourly rate (where the Award builds them in for the stream/classification).
• Check that weekend and public holiday rates are applied when required.

2. Saturday job runs long, and the employer is unsure if penalties or overtime apply

Key checks:

• Identify whether the Saturday hours are treated as ordinary hours under the roster or overtime hours.
• Apply the correct Saturday rates for the first 2 hours and after 2 hours (don’t stack penalty rates on top of overtime).
• For casuals, confirm the weekend/overtime percentages already include the 25% casual loading (don’t add it again).
• Keep clear time records showing start/finish times and total hours worked.

3. Employer uses daily hire for short projects and is unsure what rate to pay

Key checks:

• Confirm that the employee is a genuine daily hire (not casual or weekly).
• Use the daily hire ordinary hourly rate, which includes the 3.17% lost time loading.
• Apply overtime rates to the daily hire ordinary hourly rate when overtime is worked.
• Check any call-back, TOIL, and overtime break rules in the Award for the full conditions.

Common employer mistakes to avoid

Here are a few easy-to-miss things to watch out for under the Fire Sprinklers and Plumbing Award:

• Misclassifying employees (using job titles instead of matching duties, skills, and the correct stream/level under the Award).
• Missing the “built-in” all-purpose allowances in the Plumbing and Mechanical Services stream (and any other all-purpose allowances that apply for the classification).
• Mixing up penalties and overtime (if overtime is payable, you don’t add penalty rates on top).
• Treating extra hours as ordinary time instead of checking whether the shift has crossed into overtime.
• Getting casual rules wrong, such as stacking the 25% casual loading on top of rates that already include it.

Glossary

Accrued leave

When an employee has built up leave over time and can take it later (e.g., annual leave).

All-purpose allowance

An allowance that is treated like part of an employee’s ordinary pay, so it’s included when calculating things like leave payments, overtime, and similar rates.

Loading

An extra percentage paid on top of the base rate (e.g., 25% casual loading instead of paid leave or 3.17% daily hire lost time loading for daily hire plumbing and mechanical services employees, paid to cover “lost time” between jobs).

Ordinary hours

The standard hours an employee is rostered to work at their minimum/base rate (before overtime applies).

Pro-rata

A proportional amount based on hours worked (e.g., part-time leave and pay are calculated based on the hours worked).

Roster

A work schedule that sets an employee’s shifts, including start and finish times and days of work (within the Award’s ordinary hours rules).

Time off instead of overtime (TOIL)

An employer and employee can agree to swap overtime pay for paid time off later, instead of being paid overtime rates.

Resources and Links

For official details and templates, see:

• Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020 [MA000036]: Full Award text.
• Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS): Summary of key workplace rights and employer obligations under the NES. 
• Fair Work Record-Keeping Guidance: What to keep for pay records and payslips, plus templates. 
• Protections at Work: Learn about workplace rights and protections against unfair treatment.
• Annual Leave Cash-Out Agreement: Template for recording an agreement to cash out annual leave. 
• Annual Leave In Advance Agreement: Template for agreeing to annual leave in advance.

FAQs

1) What is the average hourly rate for a plumber in Australia?

The Award doesn’t publish an “average” market rate. It sets minimums. Under the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award, a plumbing/mechanical tradesperson Level 1 has a minimum base rate of $28.12/hour (as of 1 July 2025).

2) How much do sprinkler fitters get paid in Australia?

In the Award’s Schedule D summary (ordinary hourly rate) for sprinkler fitter tradesperson Level 1 (weekly hire), it’s $31.31/hour (this figure is correct as of 1 July 2025, and reflects the stream’s built-in all-purpose allowances).

3) What is the award rate for a qualified plumber?

As of 1 July 2025, a qualified plumber is typically a plumbing and mechanical services tradesperson, Level 1. The minimum base rate is $28.12/hour.

Disclaimer

The information provided here is a summary only and does not constitute legal advice. While we have made every effort to ensure the information provided is up to date and reliable, we cannot guarantee its completeness, accuracy, or applicability to your specific situation. Laws change frequently, and outcomes may vary depending on your business circumstances. We recommend consulting a qualified employment lawyer before making decisions related to workforce management. Please note that we cannot be held liable for any actions taken or not taken based on the information presented on this website.