OK, so I’m interviewing for a full time guy to help me. I’m looking for someone with at least several years experience in all phases of remodeling. I expect them to have all their own basic tools, be reliable, have good people skills, and produce a very good quality product. I’m in CT, what do you Southern New Englandahs think I oughta be looking to pay? I’m budgeting 20/hr… think this is reasonable?
PaulB
Replies
sounds about right... if you intend to give any benefits.. i'd back them out
truck ?... deduct
cell phone ? deduct
health care ? .. deduct...
the more benefits you can lock in , the more solid relationship you'll have..
employees can replace wages.. but benefits are harder to come by..
Thanks Mike. Funny, in my old business I had as many as 16 people, but now that I'm hiring my first one in this field I feel like a fish outta water!
i knew that....
you're looking for "my man Friday"
if you remember, he and robinson crusoe had quite a mutually supporting relationshipMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
That would be nice to find Mike. I think (just as in my past business) I'm pretty realistic about my strengths and weaknesses (my wrist being high on that list right now). It would be nice to find someone that dovetails well with that... wish me luck ;)
(Just hope I don't wind up with "Wilson", if you saw Cast Away with Tom Hanks ;) )
Edited 5/16/2005 11:09 am ET by PaulB
At least Wilson always showed up.I found out this morning that our lead decided to help out the competition. He's been with us 4 weeks and was not a stellar catch so no tears are being shed.Paul, I think your pay seems about right, not knowing your local conditions. Good luck, I hope you fare better than we have so far.
Jon Blakemore
Friday and curusoe didn't have too many choices in alternate relationships though
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Hey Hey Hey... I may be desperate for help, but I'm not ready for the whole alternative lifestyle thing yet.
Oh, that's right. You said lead remodelor, not interior designer partner...
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Mike,If you wouldn't mind sharing, how much would you deduct for the items you mentioned? I think we need to be more aggressive with our benefits in order to retain the quality workers.
Jon Blakemore
jon... you can calculate what the benefits are worth in terms of dollars per hour..
then you can afford to be generous in the negotiations.. keeping in mind, that those benefits are expenses to your corporation.. but they are , for the most part, out of pocket cost of living for employees..
so the employee makes less take-home pay... but some of their cost of living gets paid by the corporation..
have a discussion with your accountant as to how to legitimately compensate your employees , expense your corporation, and make the end result win-win
some things don't work.. or they don't work now.. but you can have these discussions with the ones you are trying to retain
one of my guys has health benefits, a truck , a gas card & a cell phone.. he's pretty happy and so are we... others have wives with fully paid health plans, own their own truck... and don't want a cell phone.. different strokes for different folksMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Paul - I'm in real South New England - across the water from you on Long Island. Prices are going up around here. The day laborers from the roadside are getting $15/hour. Anybody that really knows what they are doing (a good mechanic) are getting $200 to $250/day. I don't know how the cost of living is in your part of the state, but you might be a little light depending on what skills you're looking for.
Don
You must be in the swanky part of LI. I grew up in East Meadow, hard to imagine those are East Meadow/Levittown rates ;)
PaulB
Paul - I'm on the South Shore in mid Suffolk County. Those rates are in Bay Shore.
Then again, could you believe that a lot of houses in Levitown are selling for $400K - 500K (and up)? I re-did a family house in Baldwin about three years ago. When I started, the back neighbor wouldn't pay me 60K for the land. House was a tear down on a substandard lot. I took my time rebuilding it over the course of a year. When I got done, I asked 335K, took 329 and the buyer's broker said I could have gotten full price if I wasn't being nice to the kids that bought it. Every time I looked, the prices were going up. I'll bet that house now is in the 400's. Same broker cold called me a month ago to see if I had another one. Prices here are crazy. I try to get help at $100/day and they laugh at me.
When did you leave Nassau ?
Don
Oh many many years ago Don, about 35 ;)
But I have very fond memories of East Meadow...14 Douglas Drive. It was an all immigrant, largely blue collar neighborhood, and there was even an old abandoned barn we kids used to play in. You want to see prices that are jet propelled, come to Fairfield County, CT. My Dad lives there and the realtors must use those gas station signs to post the prices they're rising so fast...
Paul - If you're in the mood to reminice, and can pry your self away from this site, go to the website for the Nassau tax assessor's office and look up the old homestead. I've not done it myself, but I've been told they have pictures of every house in Nassau, with the taxes etc. You might get a bit of sticker shock too. When Nassau almost ran out of money a few years ago, they reassessed all the houses. Don
Wow... literally choked me up to see the place and think of all the memories. That was a great idea Don, thank you. I bet my Dad and brothers will get a kick out of seeing it.
PaulB
Just looked up my boyhood home in Wantagh <sniff>
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.- Fyodor Dostoyevski
$20 per hr.thats a good number. Here in the wild west we pay $10-12 for laborers & $15-20 for skilled people. Some bennys if they stick around.