What do you pay your techs?

[PTMatt]

Just curious what you pay your techs? hourly or commision and how much? I have a really good tech working for me now and I want to make sure he's getting paid a fair wage.

 

[Chris A]

10% of the day's gross.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I have a really good tech working for me now and I want to make sure he's getting paid a fair wage.

if you have a good person and want to keep them "long term", you need to pay them a "livable" wage.
example, if he can go fill bags of cement for $15 bukz and hour, don't expect to keep him long term if you're paying $11

..L.T.A.

 

[Ken Snow]

Like Larry said a living wage is important to us to get long term employees looking to make a career out of cleaning. Enough to buy a home and raise a family with health benefits, vacation pay etc. are all things that we feel make us an attractive employer. One of the most important and often overlooked things is an enjoyable and fiullfilling work experience, giving them the ability to grow & excercise their initiative for the better of the customer and the business.

I read somewhere that most employees (and customers by theway) leave not due to wage/price but becuase they do not feel appreciated. Appreciate your employees AND customers. We need them far more than they need us.

Ken
Ps Off my soapbox now :-) We pay commission and anyone who wants a copy email me (not PM) at kensnow@originalhagopian.com and put in the subject line Commission Matrix and I will be happy to email it to you.

 

[Chads]

I pay them in gum.

 

[Brian R]

Hey Chad, whereyabeen?

I pay in commission only. If you own all the equipment and supply chems and fuel then usually in the 20% to 25% range....like said, depending on living wage.

I believe if you can pay your Techs more than anyone else, they won't go anywhere else AND they will work harder for you, be more dedicated and you will make more money at the end of the day.

It's a win win.

 

[Askal]

Another thing to consider is how much do they make a year. It's great to make 25% and be taking home 250 a day but if you are dead in the winter or rely on sporatic work like WDR thenit is important to make sure your people make enough to live in the winter.
Al

 

[Brian R]

Yeah, I tell all my guys to save their money while the making's good.

We've done really well in the "slow" season, but you never know.

 

[Curtis Pennington]

10% of the day's gross.

LMAO!!....I would quit.

 

[amazingcleansc]

I pay them in gum.

no one ever pays me in gum.

 

[Hoody]

[quote="Chris Adkins":3pe4cc01]10% of the day's gross.

LMAO!!....I would quit.[/quote:3pe4cc01]

I think Chris means to pull hoses around... I wish I would have even made that much when I was just a hose puller. I made 8.00 an hour.

 

[Brian R]

I thought he meant the entire company gross...but that would be too much....depending.


You have to pay them enough to keep them "happy" and not pay them so much that the company suffers.
Each side should understand that.

 

[joeynbgky]

Companies here like service master and chemwho pay about 8 bucks an hour.. I pay between 10-12.. Remember the wages and cost of living are really low here

 

[PTMatt]

Companies here like service master and chemwho pay about 8 bucks an hour.. I pay between 10-12.. Remember the wages and cost of living are really low here

I was paying my assistants between 10-12 an hr, but for techs driving my vans I'm currently paying them between 25-30% commission on the jobs they do.

 

[Jeremy]

I start techs at $10.00 an hour.
After 3 months I move them up to $10.50.
After 6 months $11.00 an hour.
After a year 12.00 an hour.
After 2 years 13.50 an hour.

Techs also are partially responsible for sales... Sales gets 15% of the job (minimum $25) after fuel, labor & materials on the first service and 7% on each additional service plus they work the jobs they bring in...

 

[Doug Cox]

Hey Chad, whereyabeen?

I pay in commission only. If you own all the equipment and supply chems and fuel then usually in the 20% to 25% range....like said, depending on living wage.

I believe if you can pay your Techs more than anyone else, they won't go anywhere else AND they will work harder for you, be more dedicated and you will make more money at the end of the day.

It's a win win.

Are you ******* kidding me? 20-25% for them to do all the work? I'd fire you.

 

[Brian R]

Are you ******* kidding me? 20-25% for them to do all the work? I'd fire you.

Cleaning carpets is not "all the work".
I said it depends on the living wage. If you are doing $1000 jobs then $250.00 is pretty good for not having an investment...try getting that at Mcdonalds for the same hours worked.

What do you pay your Techs Doug?

 

[Ken Snow]

why do most posts have to turn into an insultfest? A man asks a question and we can all answer in our own way without needing to resort to insults. KMA all of ya :-)

 

[Doug Cox]

Brian- I don't have any techs but I will tell you that if my son helps me on a job, I will pay him what you pay your subs, and he doesn't own shit. So what does that tell you. If someone provides the equipment, gas, chems, I would expect them to get more than 50% of the bill. Tell me where I'm wrong.

 

[joeynbgky]

If a local cleaners truck breaks down, he calls me and we do a 50/50.. now if someone did jobs for me on a regular basis. they would get 60 and myself 40 cause they are doign the work. So what if someone does 3 rooms and a hall for 79 bucks? the contractor would only get 40 bucks?

 

[PTMatt]

I've done the #'s and my tech's commission have been averaging out to about $20 an hr. I provide the van, chems, etc.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Brian- I don't have any techs but I will tell you that if my son helps me on a job, I will pay him what you pay your subs, and he doesn't own shit. So what does that tell you. If someone provides the equipment, gas, chems, I would expect them to get more than 50% of the bill. Tell me where I'm wrong.

someone has to clarify things here.

cause here's what i understand;

Mary doesn't have any "techs"
he uses subs.
Mary doesn't have any equipment
he counts on his subs to have and use their own equipment.

50% seems like a GREAT deal............................


for Mary...

2nd point, and Mary is the only one that can clarify
But if I understand his original "20-25% pay", he's referring to an owner that owns the equipment and his tech (IF he had any..which he don't) that 25% would be a fair wage .
It would be a fair wage for an employee I think.
(provided he's busy enough and cleaning for "normal to high price" and not a low ball $19.95 a room schmo )
Though from my experience, a good hourly rate + some incentive$ is more conducive to higher quality work.
The tech that makes his dough on commission only is more about "production" (and/or strong arm up sales) than quality


..L.T.A.

 

[Brian R]

Doug, your not wrong...just broke. :mrgreen: J/k because you might be doing $2000.00 jobs...just like you don't know what I'm doing.
What Ken said.

Larry, 25% to a Tech that just shows up for work and uses the owners everything.
That's a good wage if you provide good jobs.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Why is this so complicated?

Lead tech: 15 percent
Assisstant: 10 percent
Both clean and stock truck at the end of the day.
Add 5 percent to each for after hours or overtime work.
If the tech or assistant finds a job then add 20 percent to their pay.

Lead tech goes solo: 25 percent

Owner operator with a good helper: 15 percent jobs you are on and 25 percent if they go solo.
If the help sucks, has no drivers license, and just pulls hose, then the best deal imo would be to work 5-6 days a week, pay a weekly salary (300 etc.), make them clean the truck, help clean carpets, drum up business, etc. Pay extra for night work. That seems like a reliable system to me.

All this notion about people working harder if they earn more is bs. My friend owns a restaurant and his best helpers have been with him for close to 15 years. They make minimum wage. I am not saying it is right, but they work hard and cheap.

 

[Mikey P]

Like Larry said a living wage is important to us to get long term employees looking to make a career out of cleaning. Enough to buy a home and raise a family with health benefits, vacation pay etc. are all things that we feel make us an attractive employer.

In Detroit that equals $6.96 per hour.


Ken's cost.





My guy gets 30% and gives 10% of it to his helper some days.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Like Larry said a living wage is important to us to get long term employees looking to make a career out of cleaning. Enough to buy a home and raise a family with health benefits, vacation pay etc. are all things that we feel make us an attractive employer.

In Detroit that equals $6.96 per hour.


Ken's cost.





My guy gets 30% and gives 10% of it to his helper some days.

I guess what you pay depends on how good your tech is. If they are making you money, then they deserve to be paid well. So Mikey is paying the lead tech 20 percent and the helper 10 percent. If the cleaner goes solo then he gets the full 30 percent. That is fair. I would do what I said and after the tech has been with you for some time and proven his/her worth, then a raise would be in order. In this case it would be 5 percent. I guess the helper is fooked no matter what. Either they learn or stay at 10 percent.

 

[Brian R]

When I was a Chem-Dry hack we gave 30% to the van. If two guys were "equal" they split it.
I had 3 crews (employees...yes I've been there) and I would clean part time.
Two good guys could do 2 or three more jobs a day.
If there was a lead tech, he got more of the percentage.

Even with a crappy helper you could do at least one more job a day.
If it was a $200.00 job, the van made an extra $60.00
That hour job made a 6 hour day for a regular wager.


I believe that commission produces better work...in a vacuum (no pun intended).
All things equal.
Because if a commission based Tech does a bad job, he goes back for free.
He will do the job right AND in a timely manner.

That's not to say you can't have a good hourly wage Tech...I'm just comparing the differences.

 

[tmdry]

I got the impression that for someone on commission they would want to do the job as fast as possible so they can do as many jobs as possible in a day, better for them but thus this will decrease quality. :?:

If you pay them hourly, how do you keep them from staying too long @ the job?

 

[Hoody]

Some people here get it, some still don't....

 

[Brian R]

Some people here get it, some still don't....

I'm going to cut and paste that into about 100 other threads. :mrgreen: :wink: