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Guides for share house living

Finding a room, hosting a housemate, avoiding scams and making a share house work between swings.

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FIFO life

FIFO salary: what workers really take home

There is no single FIFO salary, because FIFO is a way of working, not a job. Official figures put full-time mining pay well above the national average. After income tax and the Medicare levy, a worker on the mining average keeps about 72 cents of each dollar.

Kipmates team

1 October 202612 min read
View from a plane window over the red earth of the Pilbara
FIFO life

What does FIFO mean? FIFO, DIDO, swings and camp life explained

FIFO means fly-in fly-out. Your employer flies you to a remote site, you live in a camp for your swing, then you fly home for your days off. DIDO is the same arrangement by road. Here is what the words mean and what the life looks like.

Kipmates team

1 October 202610 min read
Work duffel bags lined up by empty seats in an airport departures hall at dawn
FIFO life

FIFO jobs in Perth: who hires and where to look

A FIFO job in Perth is hired in Perth and worked somewhere else. Three kinds of employer do the hiring: mining companies, the service companies that run the camps, and recruitment agencies. Here is what each one says on its own careers page, and where to search.

Kipmates team

1 October 202611 min read
Steel-cap work boots, a folded hi-vis shirt and a packed duffel bag by a front door
FIFO life

How to get a FIFO job with no experience

You can get a FIFO job with no mining experience, but not by buying a bundle of tickets first. Entry-level roles exist in camp services, traineeships and new-to-industry intakes. Read real job ads, get only the tickets they name, pass the medical and apply direct.

Kipmates team

1 October 202613 min read
Quiet Perth suburban street at dawn with a plane climbing in the distance
FIFO life

Where to live in Perth as a FIFO worker: suburbs near the airport

The best suburb in Perth for a FIFO worker depends on one thing first, the terminal you fly from. Terminals 1 and 2 have a train station. Terminals 3 and 4 do not. Here is how the suburbs around the airport and along the Airport Line line up, with nothing invented.

Kipmates team

1 October 202610 min read
Laptop, notebook and house keys on a desk, ready to write a room ad
Renting in Perth

Where to advertise a room for rent in Perth: Facebook, Gumtree, Flatmates and Kipmates compared

Four places cover most rooms advertised in Perth: Facebook groups and Marketplace, Gumtree, Flatmates.com.au and, from launch, Kipmates. This is a dated, factual comparison taken from each site's own help pages: what is free, what is paid, how people contact you and what checks each site describes.

Kipmates team

1 October 202612 min read
Hallway of a share house with closed bedroom doors and a key in one lock
Renting in Perth

Rooming house, boarder or housemate: what's the difference in WA?

In WA, "housemate" is not a legal category. You are a co-tenant, a sub-tenant, a tenant with your own agreement, or a boarder or lodger, and only the first three are covered by the Residential Tenancies Act. A lodging house is something else again, a building registered with the council.

Kipmates team

1 October 202612 min read
Shared living room in a Perth flatshare with a couch, two mugs and a bicycle
Renting in Perth

Finding flatmates in Perth: the complete guide

Finding flatmates in Perth takes six steps: decide what you need, look in more than one place, write a first message that gets a reply, inspect in person, check what kind of agreement you are signing, and only then pay. Here is each step, with the WA rules that apply.

Kipmates team

1 October 202611 min read
Bright spare bedroom with a made bed and an open door, ready for a housemate
Renting in Perth

How to find a housemate in Perth (and how to pick the right one)

Finding a housemate in Perth is rarely the hard part. Picking the right one is. Check you are allowed to rent the room, write an ad that filters for you, ask every person the same questions, meet them at the house, and put the agreement in writing before any money moves.

Kipmates team

1 October 202610 min read
Clean shared kitchen with a handwritten cleaning roster on the fridge
Renting in Perth

Share house rules that actually work

Share house rules work when there are few of them, each one is specific, and everyone agrees to them before move-in. Seven topics cover almost every argument: money, cleaning, kitchen, guests, noise, shared space and leaving.

Kipmates team

1 October 202610 min read
Suitcase, duffel bag and house keys on the floor of an empty sunlit bedroom
FIFO life

Moving to Perth for FIFO work: the complete checklist

Moving to Perth for FIFO work comes down to five jobs: confirm your roster and terminal, find a room you have inspected, pay bond and rent the legal way, sort your licence and car, and set the house up for your first swing.

Kipmates team

1 October 202610 min read
Tidy bedroom in a share house with a packed duffel bag and work boots by the door
FIFO life

FIFO rosters explained: 2:1, 8:6, 2:2 and what they mean for your home life

A FIFO roster is written as time on site, then time off. Here is what 2:1, 8:6 and 2:2 mean in real days, how much of the year you are actually home, and what that changes when you rent a room in Perth.

Kipmates team

1 October 202610 min read
House keys lying on a printed rental agreement on a kitchen bench
Renting in Perth

Rental scams in Perth: how to spot them before you pay

Almost every rental scam in Perth follows one script: a room or house priced below the market, an owner who cannot show you inside, and a request to pay bond and rent first. If you only remember one rule, never pay before you have been inside.

Kipmates team

1 October 20269 min read

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