Worker Wages??

[BCLS]

I wanted ask a few of you what you charge for your help. I'm in the process of hiring a worker, but I'm not sure what I should pay them. I was thinking about $6-7 to start. However, I don't know if this too low.
Currently, I have a family member who works for me but is quickly becoming a nightmare and a very heavy burden on our business. He gets paid good for his work, but expects a lot more not considering that he eats breakfast, lunch and showers at our home after work.

Anyway, I wanted to get a feel for what the norm is out there. Do you pay by the hour and how much? Or do you pay by yards cutper day or a percentage of charged price for the job. I would appreciate you inputs so I can quickly relieve my current worker.

I know that this was a bad idea hiring him, but it was all I had when I first started up, but things have changed!!

Thanks,
Eduardo
Bayou City Lawn Services

[Cutting Edge Lawn]

lol i just fired my uncle today i know what you mean bro!
fair wages i think!!!! any other imput from you other guys would help

7$ for someone that dont know the trade "weedeater "
8$ for someone that treats youre equipment good and know soo soo about mowing.
9$ for some one that you can trust to mow youre acounts without you watching over them and if you need to run away from the crue for a bit

10-12$ for a good forman CREW LEADER or such somone you can trust if you would want to go on vacation for a week or too!
thats a bit of my thought!
this is based on you charging roughly 30-$ a man hour! and no huge overhead

[anderson_lawns]

I think that those wages are pretty darn good compared what some people get working as groundskeepers. I have a friends that works as a groundskeeper for the hospital and I think he may be making just barely 5.25 a hour. He is a good worker, he helped me cut a yard once and i didn't have to say a word to him he trimmed like he has done it his whole life. If I ever get the business off of it feet I will surely hire him at 7 a hour. It is really hard to find good help and when people do they don't pay them well.

[Drewaustin]

I don't have a fulltime employee, but twice a week i have a friend help and pay them 10 per hour. they are good and i can more than double my productivity. if you do the math and have enough work for a fulltime employee that you can trust, at 10 per hour its a bargin.

my 2 cents.

[RRS]

I have a full time man at $15/hr that has been with me for 3 years that I can leave alone anytime I need to. More than likely he'll be running the maintenance side of the business next year. I have another full time guy that's been with me for two years that makes $12/hr that I have complete trust in. And, I have a partime guy that started the beginning of this season at $10/hr. He'd been working for a contractor for two years before starting with me and is effecient at all aspects of mowing and basic landscaping.

[Stephan Schwebke]

I'm only 18, and I began working for a college guy (2yrs ahead of me. has 20 accounts) He started me out at $9/hr when he found out I had been in the biz for that season. This year he raised me to $11/hr... and man do I deserve it!! I work my butt off for him- edging, trimming, & clean-up all day long! When he has doctors appts, he lets me take the rig out and knock out a few jobs while he's down. I'm happy with my wage! I'd expect another raise next year, but I don't know if I'll need to work with him next year though.

[Phil Nilsson]

It's not what you pay hourly but what the worker produces hourly in production sales. If you pay let's say $10 an hour, is an hours worth of work being done in an hour and if the average is $35 an hour this is 29% of gross sales per hour ... or do you have a situation where you pay $7 an hour and your employee takes 1 1/2 hours to complete the $35 hour, payroll is $10.50 but produced per hour is $23 and change. Then perhaps because the $7 employee didn't produce the work, forces you into paying overtime to get the job done. By the same token, a $10 man might be producing the $35 per hour work in only 45 minutes thus pushing a higher return per hour.

You could pay $100 an hour if an employee could produce $300 an hour couldn't you and still keep the cost ratios in line?

At the end of each workday divide billable sales by production hours to see what your production return $$ are. If you don't assign a full days work, some employees detect this and slow down to "make a day of it" otherwise return to the shop early and be penalized with less than a full days pay.

Phil

[BCLS]

I appreciate eveyone taking the time to read and answer to my post. I have a little better understanding of what to do. Thanks Phil for your explanation it brought things into a better view. I wish you all the Best!!

Eduardo
Bayou City Lawn Services

[sharp]

Phil that was a great answer, the only thing to add is money is not a motivator, good company culture is, good tools, friend at work, feeling they are needed and some pats on the back, don't get fooled into thinking that a person in a basically dead end job will work harder for more money,and if money is the big thing on their mind when they are at the interview, let them walk.....hard lessons learned

[joeslawncare]

Amen Sharpe.

I have a guy that helps me part time and I only pay him $7 an hour.
I let him know that he is appreciated and I always pay for his lunch, snacks, and drinks throughout the days that he helps me. I also swap out with him and let him get on the ZTR to rest from trimming and edging because I dont mind and kinda enjoy trimming and edging. He always does a great job for me and I know he treats my equipment like it belongs to him and takes care of it.
I hope to get enough businness this year to get a full time helper and pay about $8 an hour if he will work with me full time.

Joe