Saving for Your First Home: The Basics for FIFO Workers

Your income as a FIFO heavy diesel mechanic puts you in a strong position to save a deposit, but the roster pattern and how lenders treat your pay structure can change how you set your savings target.

How Much You Actually Need to Save

A 5% deposit is the minimum required under the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, but you still need to save for settlement costs. Consider a scenario where you're buying in regional Queensland. The property price caps under the scheme are $1,000,000 in regional centres and $700,000 in other regional areas. If you're buying an established home at $600,000, your 5% deposit is $30,000. Add conveyancing fees, building and pest inspections, loan application fees, and any adjustments for rates or water, and you're looking at another $8,000 to $12,000. You need genuine savings to cover the deposit and costs, meaning the funds must have been held in your account for at least three months. Gifts from immediate family can make up part of the deposit, but most lenders require at least half the deposit to come from your own savings.

A 10% deposit opens up more lender options and can reduce restrictions on loan features. Some lenders offer offset accounts and full redraw facilities on lower-deposit loans, others don't. The deposit percentage affects what's available to you beyond just the interest rate.

Using the First Home Super Saver Scheme

The FHSS Scheme lets you salary sacrifice up to $15,000 per financial year into your super and withdraw up to $50,000 total toward your deposit. Contributions are taxed at 15% instead of your marginal rate, which for most FIFO heavy diesel mechanics is somewhere between 30% and 37%. On a $15,000 contribution, that's a saving of roughly $2,250 to $3,300 per year compared to saving in a standard bank account after tax. You apply for a determination from the ATO before you sign a purchase contract, then request the release once you have a signed contract. The funds are paid to you, not directly to the lender or seller. Processing can take a few weeks, so factor that into your settlement timeline. We regularly see FIFO workers use this scheme to build the core of their deposit while keeping cash savings separate for costs.

Where State Schemes Fit In

Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory all offer first home buyer grants for new homes. The amounts and caps differ. In Western Australia, the grant is $10,000 for new homes valued up to $800,000 south of the 26th parallel or $1,000,000 north of it. Queensland offers $15,000 for new homes under $750,000. South Australia and the Northern Territory have removed property price caps on their grants, meaning you can claim the full amount regardless of the home's value as long as it's new. Stamp duty concessions vary more. Queensland removed stamp duty entirely on new homes and vacant land for first home buyers from May 2025, with no price cap. Western Australia offers a sliding duty concession up to $800,000 for homes and $550,000 for vacant land, applied statewide from May 2026. South Australia offers stamp duty relief on new homes and vacant land only, with no price cap for contracts from June 2024. The grant and the duty concession can be used together and can be combined with the federal 5% deposit scheme. They can't be combined with Help to Buy, which is a shared equity product where the government takes an equity stake in your home.

What Lenders Actually Look at With FIFO Income

Your total package matters more than your base rate. A FIFO heavy diesel mechanic earning $140,000 to $180,000 per year including allowances will generally see 80% to 100% of allowances counted by most lenders, depending on whether the allowances are guaranteed and appear consistently across multiple pay cycles. Overtime is treated differently. If it's rostered and appears in every pay cycle, most lenders will include it. If it's ad hoc, they might shade it by 20% or exclude it entirely. Living away from home allowance is non-taxable and some lenders won't count it at all, others will count a portion. The structure of your pay and how it's documented on your payslips and tax return determines what a lender will assess. This affects your borrowing capacity and, indirectly, how much deposit you need. If a lender shades your income, your maximum loan amount drops and you may need a larger deposit to hit the purchase price you're targeting.

In our experience, getting a payslip breakdown and a letter from your employer confirming your roster and pay structure upfront saves time once you're ready to apply. Lenders want consistency. If your income fluctuates between pay cycles due to rostered days off or unpaid leave, they'll average it or take a conservative view. Showing six months of consistent pay cycles gives them confidence.

Offset Accounts vs Redraw While You Save

Once you have your loan, where you park your savings makes a difference to the interest you pay. An offset account sits alongside your home loan and reduces the balance on which interest is calculated. If you have a $400,000 loan and $20,000 in your offset, you only pay interest on $380,000. The $20,000 remains accessible. A redraw facility lets you pull back any extra repayments you've made above the minimum, but it's not a separate account and access rules vary by lender. Some lenders let you redraw online instantly, others require a form and take a few days. Some charge a fee per redraw. If you're saving for another goal after buying your first home, like a vehicle or an investment deposit, an offset keeps that money separate and working for you without locking it into the loan.

Not all low-deposit loans come with an offset. Some lenders restrict offsets to borrowers with 10% or 20% deposits. Some lenders offering low deposit loans include offsets at 5%, others don't. It's a feature worth asking about before you lock in a lender, especially if you plan to keep building savings after settlement.

Fixed vs Variable While Interest Rates Move

A fixed rate locks your repayments for one to five years, which makes budgeting easier if you're on a variable FIFO income and want certainty. A variable rate moves with the market and generally comes with offset and redraw features, plus the ability to make extra repayments without penalty. Some lenders offer split loans where you fix part and leave part variable. That gives you partial protection if rates rise and partial flexibility if they fall. In recent years, fixed rates have been lower than variable rates at certain points and higher at others. The decision depends on your view of the market and your cashflow needs, not on trying to pick the bottom. If your roster means big lump sum payments followed by quieter months, a variable loan with an offset lets you park surplus cash and pull it back when you need it. If your expenses are tight and repayment certainty matters more, fixing part or all of the loan makes sense.

Pre-Approval Before You Start Looking

Getting pre-approval before you make an offer tells you what you can borrow and shows sellers you're ready to proceed. Pre-approval is conditional, meaning it's subject to valuation and final checks, but it's based on a full assessment of your income, expenses, debts, and credit file. It's valid for three to six months depending on the lender. For FIFO workers, pre-approval also flushes out any issues with how a lender treats your income structure before you're under contract. If one lender won't count your allowances and another will, you want to know that before you sign anything. The application takes a few days to a couple of weeks depending on how quickly you provide documents. You'll need payslips, tax returns, bank statements, and proof of savings. If you're using a gift, you'll need a statutory declaration from the person giving it.

Pre-approval doesn't lock in your interest rate unless the lender offers a rate lock, which some do for a fee. Rates can move between pre-approval and settlement. If they drop, you can usually reapply or ask for a better rate. If they rise, you're not protected unless you paid for the lock.

What Happens at Settlement

Settlement is the day the property title transfers to you and the seller receives the funds. Your lender pays the purchase price to the seller's solicitor, and any stamp duty, grants, or concessions are processed through your state revenue office. If you're claiming the first home buyer grant, it's usually paid at settlement and offsets the amount your lender needs to fund. In some states, you apply for the grant through your lender, in others you apply directly to the revenue office. Your conveyancer or solicitor coordinates this. You don't attend settlement in most states, it happens between solicitors. You'll receive the keys once settlement is confirmed, usually by early afternoon on the settlement date. If you're on roster, you can arrange for someone to collect keys on your behalf or have them couriered. Most agents and solicitors are used to dealing with FIFO buyers and can work around your roster.

After settlement, your home loan starts and your first repayment is usually due within a month. Your lender will set up the repayment schedule and confirm whether you want repayments weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. Fortnightly repayments aligned with your pay cycle reduce the total interest paid over the life of the loan because you're making 26 repayments per year instead of 12 monthly ones, which equates to one extra monthly repayment annually.

Call one of our team or book an appointment at a time that works for you. We work with FIFO heavy diesel mechanics across every state and know which lenders will count your full income without shading allowances or overtime.

Frequently Asked Questions