[Nick Burton]

Hello all, I am new to this industry; I started a Lawn Care maintenance business about a year ago and I have finally grown to the point that I needed to hire a helper. i was wondering how you all pay your employees, by the hour, by the job, or flat rate for the day? Also do you pay for drive time?

 

[Clay Guinn]

I pay by the hour, from the time you agree/they show up at a meeting point till the time they are dropped off. It is the easiest and less likely to wage the dept. of labor audit you.

You can pay by the day just make sure you aren't paying below minimum wage or overtime laws if they work more than originally planned.

 

[Nick Burton]

Do you pay them for drive time? As if you have several jobs across town from each other and the helper is just riding in the truck or sleeping in the truck while driving to the next job?

 

[Clay Guinn]

Do you pay them for drive time? As if you have several jobs across town from each other and the helper is just riding in the truck or sleeping in the truck while driving to the next job?

Yes, search through some of the older post to see some discussion on it.

 

[MNLawns]

Do you pay them for drive time? As if you have several jobs across town from each other and the helper is just riding in the truck or sleeping in the truck while driving to the next job?

there is a lot of recent posts on that type of situation

 

[TPendagast]

Not trying to be an ass but there were two threads this month literally on this exact topic

They’re not very old at all

Read those

 

[Triptoy2002]

Hello all, I am new to this industry; I started a Lawn Care maintenance business about a year ago and I have finally grown to the point that I needed to hire a helper. i was wondering how you all pay your employees, by the hour, by the job, or flat rate for the day? Also do you pay for drive time?

Hi Nick. I worked for another company for 13 years, they had 1 salaried employee (foreman) and everyone else was hourly. We all came to the shop, punched in, loaded trucks and then drove to the jobs and worked. After the last job we cane back, unloaded the trucks and then punched out, so we were paid for all commute time.

This system worked well, but there were some issues I saw. People would punch in and then milk out the truck loading process. Typically only 3 of us loaded trucks while the others sat around on the clock (12 employees total). This is a huge waste imo. Also, we would take a trip to the gas station every day, on the clock, on the way to the first job. Another huge waste.

I now have a business of my own and have 1 part time employee (my brother who was one of the 3 of us who loaded trucks as that old job). Next year I am offering him $35k salary to work for me full time, and after the business grows I want to bump him up significantly. Right now he works hourly, but when he gets to my house I have the truck loaded, gassed up, running and ready to go. He parks his car and we are gone in less than 5 mins.

My plan is to have crew leaders/foremen come in early, load trucks, fuel up as needed, etc, so everything is ready for my workers (when I have workers). I am debating having the guys meet their crew leader at a park-and-ride or something near the list for that day. We will see. Eliminating downtime for hourly guys is important to me.

On a side note, the company I hsed to work for would often have less work late summer due to droughts. When that happened they would have the guys go out and milk the clock to get 8 hours, to ensure that the guys weren't looking for work elsewhere. I get why they did that, but I chafe at the idea of having them milk the clock, for any reason. I think this promotes laziness. I would rather they bust ass and get it done and then if they didn't make 40 for the week I would just give them 40. And I have some ideas for late summer work which should reduce the need for this type of thing.

If you let your guys be lazy, they will look for more ways to be lazy. If you promote hard work no matter what, I think better results are had.

 

[Triptoy2002]

I forgot to mention, the laziness at the shop plus the gas station trip for snacks each day cost about 1hr per day, not counting commute to the first job. 11 hourly employees wasted 55 hours per week on that alone, and the lazy ones refused to get up and do work when encouraged to do so, unless the boss himself told them to. Part of the problem was the foreman and one owner hanging out and doing nothing during this time, like it was social hour.

These people need to set the example, and if people want gas station snacks in the morning, they should get them when driving to the shop, on their own time.

 

[LawnVeteran]

Pay hourly. They get paid for any drive time. Once an employee clocks in, its work time. No one sits around. It’s always beneficial to promote hard work and urgency in the workplace. I bought their time and effort the second they clock in. 1 stop for fuel in the morning and they can get what they need and that’s it until lunch. I carry 3/5 Gal gas cans and 1/5 Gal mixed so we won’t be stopping again. Some places do make the foreman arrive earlier than the hands to ready the trucks, but my hands can ready everything just as good as me.