What would you pay some young dudes to clean and paint for you?

[fastfredracing]

We are talking cash, and guys with little to no experience. We have to shuttle them to the site, and home, and all the supplies are ours ?
We used to pay 10 cash. but that was a 5 years ago.
Guy looked at me like I was nuts when I told him 10 . Said he can make that at burger king.
I said his take home will be about 6 and he will have to wear that funny uniform, and clean toilets .

[LWJ]

10 for day labor is what I paid in years past. They were adults with limited English.

Haven't hired similar in a long while.

[GH85Carrera]

20 years when I put in my sprinkler system I did it myself. For some of the shoveling necessary I went to a local alcohol rehab facility that requires the residents to have some source of income. I hired two guys to come shovel dirt. Places where the trencher would not fit, had to be dug by hand. One hole needed to be dug up for a manifold of valves.

I handed them shovels and told them what to dig, and I got back to my tasks. I paid them 5 bucks per hour, and bought them lunch and that was the only real breaks we took. I had to go pick them up, and take them back to the facility. It was 100+ degrees and the digging was in pure sun baked clay. Like digging through adobe bricks. They did manage to break on shovel. I welded it back up and handed them a pickax to break up the clay first. I bet they slept real well that night.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I have no clue on current $, however, in 2010, I hired a neighbor to help paint a rental property I had. Nice enough guy. He was a friend and was unemployed at the time.

That dumba$$ sat in my closet with a 2 inch brush and painted forever only to have a small swatch done. Worse than that, what he did reeked of brush marks. It was not smooth roller type painting.

After a while, I was taken aback at how little he accomplished, and how poorly he accomplished it. There was no trim work. It was drywall on the inside of a closet. The job called for acreage covered, nothing more.

We had a discussion on what a roller was, I showed him, and I promptly redid everything he did and finished the entire closet in about 30 seconds.

Basically, I paid him so he could watch me have the privilege of painting my own closet.

Now, I understand why he was unemployed, however, with me paying him (well... actually me paying me) by the hour, I was the dumba$$. Surprised he didn't use a 1 inch brush to wait out the clock a little better. After a while, I demoted him to beer buyer/drinker, and sent him to go get a case or two.

[Craig T]

Two or three times a year I need day labor help. My aging rotator cuffs are past digging out a tree stump or spreading wood chips and mulch on a steep slope.

There's an area built for them at the local Civic and Human Services Center. They're mostly illegal. Those guy won't even climb in your truck for less than $150 per day, or $20 per hour if it's a small job. In my experience, most work really hard. I've never had one that I regretted paying.

[nota]

current roof project two neighbor guys are paid $12 foreman 25

home depo lot hangers want more so NOT used

[wdfifteen]

I've been starting them at $10 and give generous raises based on their performance.
I gave a guy a $2 raise at the end of the first day because of his work style and attitude. By the end of the week he was making $15. I've told guys not to come back after the first week and never raised them above $10. It helps weed out the slackers.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

I have no clue on current $, however, in 2010, I hired a neighbor to help paint a rental property I had. Nice enough guy. He was a friend and was unemployed at the time.

That dumba$$ sat in my closet with a 2 inch brush and painted forever only to have a small swatch done. Worse than that, what he did reeked of brush marks. It was not smooth roller type painting.

I hired a retired contractor friend to paint my rental... it was about a weeks job... he took two months and wanted more $$ that we agreed on.

Never again, next time I will hire a painter off craigslist or something similar.

[ckcarr]

Depends on the local economy.


My company can't get and keep employees for $15 an hour these days.


Under or over the table, I don't think kids differentiate.


Cleaning (scraping too?) and painting is work I deem that sucks... I wouldn't do it for less than $25 an hour...

[fastfredracing]

Last pro painter we hired was on the lamb from the law. he got caught in Texas with a trunk full of cocaine .
he painted 2 houses in 4 days , excellent work , and he charged us very fairly cash. ( we supplied materials ) . I wish I knew when he was getting out
I've had a hard time getting young ones to get 2 rooms done in a day .

[stomachmonkey]

$15-20 would cut it around here depending on the skill required.

You'll also supply food, water, maybe a beer at the end of the day, access to lavatories.

Had a local woman post on our community FB page looking for some leaf raking.

She was paying $100.00 and was estimating it was 10 hours work.

I have one of the larger plots and unless my yard was 6 feet deep in leaves it would not take 10 hours.

The average yard around here at that time of year was maybe a half hour, an hour would be generous.

So I asked if she was paying $100.00 flat regardless of how long it took or was she saying she'd pay $10 per hour and she thinks it will be 10 hours.

No reply.

I think she was just looking to scam some local teens into taking the gig.

[flatbutt]

I pay skilled labor (CARPENTERS, PLUMBERS, ELECTRICIANS) who are picking up work during slack times $200 per 8 hr day cash plus food and I provide materials. If I need unskilled labor I call the local teenagers and pay 15 per hour but I supervise closely.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by ckcarr

Depends on the local economy.


My company can't get and keep employees for $15 an hour these days.

Yeah, I guess so.

Reading some of these posts, the heartland seems like a different country. And it is, in a lot of ways. Paying people people $5 an hour to dig a ditch is really fk'ed up, that was the wage in about 1976. It shows how little economic opportunity there must be there.

As others have said, the going rate for getting anyone to get off the couch around here is $15-20 an hour. I paid people $15 cash as extra labor 10 years ago. Anyone not worth $15 an hour, I don't want around me or some job I'm doing.

I also never hire random strangers for anything, ever. When I was doing high-end painting and refinishing, I worked in houses where there was a painting on the wall that was worth more than the house. And the house was worth several million.

The key to success in business is to have the best people working for you. You have to pay them well and expect a lot. Even if they are painting closets, you don't want some jerk-off on your site. I'm about to possibly enter into a new enterprise and we are going to pay someone really well to leave a job where they do not feel adequately compensated to come work for us. We want the best.

[Cajundaddy]

Unskilled teens need a lot of direct supervision. Most of the time I have been bitten by not supervising closely enough and had to go back and clean up the mess. For painting I hire a pro on good recommendations from others and never look back.

If you must...
$10/hr on day one to prove their worth.
$12/hr afterwards for the ones who make the cut.
$15/hr to the best of the bunch to act as team leader and keep things moving forward.

[Zeke]

$25/hr here for lot lizards.

[john70t]

Like some here I did the $2.35+tips which was min wage for waiters back then.
Then twenty years ago I was finally a master mechanic breaking myself at $16/hr.
Now the burger flippers want that.

Inflation is the rust to past labor.

[Crowbob]

I used to give them a roof, three hots and a cot and let them call me dad in my presence. Didn’t care what they called me not in my presence.

[berettafan]

Don't do it! This is how so many home invasion/murder/rape stories begin!

Not to mention painting is a skill and anyone good at it should be making decent money already, not listening to offers of $10/hr.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Not to mention painting is a skill and anyone good at it should be making decent money already, not listening to offers of $10/hr.

^^^This! Pay $10hr and be prepared to go back over everything to touch up.

I am also surrounded by contractors I can use when they have down time, $100/$120 for a six hour day.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

^^^This! Pay $10hr and be prepared to go back over everything to touch up.

Who would hire a $10 employee and expect him to know how to do anything? Cheap labor takes close supervision and training.