How much to pay for physical labor

[mattpegher]

anybody out there working unskilled construction or landscaping as an employee? How much do you make an hour. I want to hire a few college kid to help with some landscaping around the house. I want to pay them a fair wage equal or more than some potbellied contractor would, taking his own cut just to employ them. I beleive that noone should have to work for less than it would take to support themselves with a full time job. Around here i figure thats about $15/hr.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I don't agree with your train of thought, but won't argue that and hope others won't because you've made your opinion clear.

I'd say that $10-$15/hour would be great, especially because most are unlikely to pay taxes on it.

 

[ponyo]

Going rate for unskilled day labor in my area is around $10/hr.

 

[mrrman]

I guess it all depends where you live and what type of work...in my area $12/hr and up

 

[BoomerD]

Be aware that in MOST STATES, if they get hurt working on your property, YOU are liable for their medical costs/loss of wages, etc. Sometimes, when you factor in things like that, it makes more sense to hire a licenced contractor with his own work comp policy for his employees. Saves you lots of aggravation (and money) in case someone gets hurt or if something goes wrong with the job.

 

[S Freud]

How long should the job take? If only a few hours maybe pay them a flat amount. If it will be enough hours to earn something, then go with something hourly of around $15.

I think most college kids would appreciate that. I make around half that working in a grocery store listening to people complain, crying babies and waiting for some old guy to take 15 minutes to write a check.

 

[mattpegher]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I don't agree with your train of thought, but won't argue that and hope others won't because you've made your opinion clear.

I'd say that $10-$15/hour would be great, especially because most are unlikely to pay taxes on it.

What part don't you agree with? The fair minimum wage or hiring them directly? Just curious.

 

[mattpegher]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Be aware that in MOST STATES, if they get hurt working on your property, YOU are liable for their medical costs/loss of wages, etc. Sometimes, when you factor in things like that, it makes more sense to hire a licenced contractor with his own work comp policy for his employees. Saves you lots of aggravation (and money) in case someone gets hurt or if something goes wrong with the job.

You are correct. You have to be very carefull about the type of work to avoid injuries and even then it can happen.

 

[Greenman]

Originally posted by: mattpegher
anybody out there working unskilled construction or landscaping as an employee? How much do you make an hour. I want to hire a few college kid to help with some landscaping around the house. I want to pay them a fair wage equal or more than some potbellied contractor would, taking his own cut just to employ them. I beleive that noone should have to work for less than it would take to support themselves with a full time job. Around here i figure thats about $15/hr.

You think it's wrong for a contractor to make a profit on his employees?

 

[Ruptga]

10-15/hour is good money, I mean GOOD money for a college student, at least around here it is, I bet you'll be able to pick and choose who you want to work because you'll have several bite on the offer.

I don't agree that you need to pay a living wage, I mean who does odd jobs for a living? That said, (depending on the work, obviously) I don't think anything below 8/hour would be fair.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: mattpegher

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I don't agree with your train of thought, but won't argue that and hope others won't because you've made your opinion clear.

I'd say that $10-$15/hour would be great, especially because most are unlikely to pay taxes on it.

What part don't you agree with? The fair minimum wage or hiring them directly? Just curious.

I don't agree with the fact that you want to pay them more than you need to.

For them, opportunity cost. Are these a group of people very busy and flooded with work? Probably not, and chances are that they'll take anything they can get. If they can get a weekend job at $8/hour in cash, they'll probably take it. Remember, they don't have all the expenses as most people (talking about general college students, not the 2% of you who all post here).

They'd either be sitting around, or working for you. If you've got a 10 hour project, hire them at $8/hour, be nice and give each $90, or something like that. I don't think you need to be paying these kids $15/hour. Like I said, if you don't hire them, they'll probably sit around. Supply is definitely greater than demand in this area, college kids are *always* looking for ways to make money. I would use this to my advantage.

I'm not saying find illegal immigrants and ask these kids to match their wage, but rather just pay them based on the economy, their skills, etc. and not just $15/hour because they're college kids who need to support themselves.

A friend of mine ran a large landscaping business for a while and would often tell his brother in college to grab a bunch of his buddies and come work for him. They were all paid based on the amount of work they got done. If they worked hard, $10-$11 was possible, however $7 was as well, per hour. Make some incentive for them to do a good job, and not spend all day. The issue with an hourly wage is that they might start to think that they might as well take their sweet time, the longer it takes, the more they make.

I've probably described both sides of this a little or just tossed out a lot of detail.

What do you need them to do? Spread mulch? Pay them by how many square yards they can lay. Paint? Show the level of quality needed, and then pay a certain amount based on area that they get painted.

My advice to you outside of this - get all the materials in advance, get extras, and let them work without needing to make runs to the store. This will save a lot of time, gas, etc. In the end, return what was left over to the store. I think every project I work on, this is what happens. The stores don't care either as far as I can tell. If I need a pallet of a laminate floor, I'll buy a pallet plus a few extras boxes. I'll have to make a return for sure, but it's better than stopping in the middle of work to drive all the way back.

If you feel $8/hour isn't enough, maybe throw in lunch or something?

 

[BarneyFife]

Depends how good they and how much you will rely on them. $15 is a bit steep.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Can independent people use Labor Ready?

 

[tatteredpotato]

I'm a collage student and I think that $10/hr would be a great amount to earn, and $15 would be awesome (although where I live the cost of living is pretty low too).

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: BlameCanada
I'm a collage student and I think that $10/hr would be a great amount to earn, and $15 would be awesome (although where I live the cost of living is pretty low too).

Yeah, I didn't think about cost of living and things. I suppose that if you're in California or some other expensive place, $15/hour might be different, but that's probably the same as $20/hour taxed and at least in Indiana, that won't be easy to come by unless it's a skilled job. Most anyone who graduated from middle school can cut wood, paint walls, etc.

 

[panipoori]

Be cheaper to hire some illegals if you happen to be in the south. They always hang around gas stations or under bridges around here looking for work.

 

[jackace]

Where I live unskilled labor is about $8-9/hour maybe even less depending on the work. I made $9/hour working in a call center.