Hiring..

[White Collar]

I got a call from a guy this week, he has been working for sears for a few years and has 25 years experience in carpet cleaning. Im a solo operator and would love to have help. I'm just not sure what the best way to pay him would be.

He has all his own carpet repair and restreching equipment and I have none and I'm not trained yet. I was thinking to pay him 20% of all carpet jobs he does, and 60% for repair and strecthing.

I've never had employees so I'm not sure if this is reasonable or if there is a better way. I want him to feel apart of the business and give him incentives to work hard and do a good job.

I don't advertise repair and restreching, should I just include it in my advertisements or should it be seperate?

I'm thankful for any help.

 

[Ed]

I've never hired an "experienced" cleaner that worked out. I'd much rather hire a great personality that's not afraid to work. Experienced in our industry is latin for bad habits.

 

[B&BGaryC]

I get paid 25% if I clean something somebody else priced and sold
I get paid 35% if I clean something I priced and sold
I get paid 50% if I clean something I cold called priced and sold, if I can prove it was not in response to advertising.

Other than the 15% bonus for cold calls I think my wages are right on par. I have heard of a breakdown of 35% for just cleaning and an extra 5% for the bid... I have also heard of 30% for just cleaning and an extra 5% for the bid.

If you only want to pay him 20% for cleaning, I think you would be better off to offer him a good hourly rate or salary and take it in the shorts during the slow season.

However, nobody really takes me seriously on this board, so take it with a grain of salt. The usually riff-raff should be in her shortly to tell you I'm wrong....

 

[B&BGaryC]

I've never hired an "experienced" cleaner that worked out. I'd much rather hire a great personality that's not afraid to work. Experienced in our industry is latin for bad habits.

You are very correct on that sir.

After 2 months of being trained the wrong way to clean carpets, it took Micah and Micah's Dad almost two years to straighten me out...

BTW, I worked with them for less than a year... They just cared enough to keep in touch. It didn't hurt that they started working for my distributor.

 

[Fred Homan]

Pay him 60% and you 40%. All you are doing is lining up the work and he is using all his equipment/chems/gas and doing all the work. Some guys want to pay even less. He would be better off working for an hourly wage. I would not take that shit!

 

[nickreal]

60% seems really high for the repair stuff. I don't think you could even break even paying him that much. Remember even though he's using his own hand tools doing repairs your cleaning machine is sitting idle while he's doing repairs. That machine could be making money somewhere else so you need to make sure you're charging enough to cover that loss of that revenue.

 

[Rob Lyon]

Unfortunatly, EXPERIENCED techs tend to have alot of baggage that comes with them,pay what you can afford to sustain a FAIR profit margin.Be upfront with what is expected and what you are prepared to do for him if the effort is put forward.
WRITE IT OUT, and give him a copy of what you expect as a job desription.

Please call or PM me if you should have any more quetions!

All The Best, Rob

 

[White Collar]

The only equipment that he would be using that is his is repair and stretching. I have the company, the van and all carpet cleaning needs.

 

[SteamBon]

20% sounds low unless you are running more than 1K daily.

60% is high (I have never paid more than 30%)but if he is going to train you.......hello, the classes are great but hands on will give you the confidence and experience. Plus....when you do make a class....you will not be totally green.

they are right about the baggage with experienced techs, just do a through background and if that is ok........your custys should love you fixing those wrinkles and tears at the same time as cleaning. My favorite up sell.

RandyG