Pay Scale

I got a kid coming in this morning as a helper, NO experience, probably drug free as he just got out of boot camp with a current DL, to fill out a hiring packet. Thing is I have no clue what to start these kids out at nowadays. I'm figuring $10 an hour up to eleven in three months??

Hello Jed $ 15.00 an hour to start I think is good.

My way is a little bit different; certainly not better and not something I advise others to try. I run one crew and I am a working part of that crew. A raw recruit starts at $23 per hour. Everyone, especially he, knows he is not worth that much. He is treated well, given a ton of respect and gratitude for helping any way he can. He is watched carefully and made part of the family. If we encounter problems, the work gets thin as we attempt to work it out. If he sticks, he gets raises from there. If he doesn't, we part company. As friends.

He's got court record .That's roofing material right there .

Seven oc'lock. No show. No phone call. Seven thirty, phone call, apologies, excuses, court date today at nine, totally forgot. F'kin kids. We'll see...

$10 is what I pay to start.

$15/hr is not near where it ought to be by today's living expenses....I wish we could pay more and stay competitive....Yeah, it's a couple bucks more than our competitors pay, but we expect a bit more....I think a guy ought to get $25/hr minn. for labor position....

:woohoo: For a labourer!??........times have changed!

$15 to start here

Thanks Robert.

Alba Said: Pitch roof .It brings back so many fond memories of new hires on their first day .leaving for lunch and never saw them again.

lol, you can say that again

Pitch roof .It brings back so many fond memories of new hires on their first day .leaving for lunch and never saw them again.

Go to love that pitch its all over Baton Rouge

Thats great money for a labor here jed,more then fair.

Minimum wage is $7.25 an hour according to the poster in my office, as of July last year. I'll start him at $11 an hour on monday, he will spend the day moving gravel on a 400sq built up (pitch)so I'll be mightily impressed if he shows up on Tues morning. I got hired at $10 an hour cash when I first came over in 93 but already had ten yrs roofing overseas so I don't know how it all relates really. Oh well.

Very well put.

Jed, geographically I don'tthink I am too far from Mike-but apparently we operate in an entirely different enviornment.

It's fairly urban here with a rough immediate population of 220,000. we have an un-employment rate of 11-12%-and in the construction trades certainley much higher than that. The last few years- if I was to run an ad-within 1 day I will have nearly 80 applicants-and with 2-3 days probably upwards of 120 applicants.

I don't think you are under paying the new hire- if anything I think you are slightly OVER paying- but not by much.

here is what we do assume the new hire has ZERO experience- new hire MUST have 1)Drivers license 2)dependable vehicle 3) NO visible Tats or piercings( I don't wanna see 'em-and neither do my customers. If you have them- I better never see them-and Tats or no Tats- employees wear shirts at ALL times 4)New guy MUST have tool belt, hammer or hatchet, tape measure, chalk line with BLUE chalk, straight knife, hook knife, 4/1 screw driver, channel locks, crescent wrench, and a flat bar-preferably the Estwing bar.- New guy shows me these tools several days BEFORE his start day. These tools cost less than $200 and he will be using them every day throughout his career-and if the new guy isn't willing to invest $200 in his own future- well then I am not willing to invest WAAAAAY more than that training him 5) physical ability- it's a given- if he physically can't handle the work-well then we don't have a job for him

Make the kid invest in HIMSELF- . He starts at $9/hour.

by the end of the his first week he WILL be able to unload my truck, set up basic equipment in the yard, assist with tear off, know more about shoveling debris in a dump trailer than he ever wants to know, identify and fetch titanium UDL, Grace, wintergaurd,Drip edge, step flashing, Geocel, WSF,slant backs, dimensional shingles,starters, hip and ridge and pack my truck up at the end of the day. after a week-THEN he earns $10/hour- if he CAN't do those things he needs to re-evaluate his future because If he can't do them after week 2 he is gonna have to leave

After a month he should be fully able to do a SMALL side job for a friend or a neighbor-say over the week end tear off a garage roof, replace minimal sheeting, dry in and shingle( no vents, no flashing, no waste stacks)- it isn't rocket science-and I wouldn't expect him to be anything resembling fast- but he SHOULD be able to do it and he SHOULD be Earning $11/hour or so

by the end of the year he SHOULD be earning $14/hour or so and capable of doing a side job like a simple 4/12 bungalow-no valleys, minimal vents. He will also be able to do some VERY basic slate and tile work.

in the past, I can't tell you how many times I have lent new hires a starter set of tools with the understanding that they are gonna gear up on their own- they never do- because if they can use Stephens tools for free- why spend their own money? Many times after a week or so i would take a new guy out and BUY him his own gear after a week or so if he looked like he was working out- invariably he is GONE soon after

however- if they are responsible for gearing up BEFORE day one, as a condition of employment,- they work out MUCH better. Frankly, I dont want to spend my days with,or invest my efforts in a person so low on the food chain they can't organize $200 for the tools required to learn an extremely lucrative trade. roofing isn't rocket science- but it IS a lot of effort and work.

Very best wishes to all, stephen