Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: TomCrowther on January 04, 2013, 02:28:01 pm
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Hi All,
I am going to employ in the near future and am keen to know how those who employ, pay their staff. I don't want to be too tight but neither do I want to pay over the odds. Thinking of offering a "trial" salary of basic pay £6.19 per hour plus bonus for a decent days work of maybe £30 so for eight hours they would get around £80. is this enough to get a decent worker or should I be looking to pay a bit more?
This is for a worker/WC not driving duties as well. When I need a driver would look to pay them basic wage again plus £50 a day for doing the targetted work level. I do a mix of domestic and large residential.
Any advice as always, really appreciated.
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i wish i knew the right answer i pay £7 per hour at min
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Hi Richy, don't you have two man teams? So you pay the same rate for both. Do they get any bonus?
Cheers, Tom.
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Tom work out 25% of whatthey do and work it out to an hourly rate. Or just simply pay 25% of what is done. Putting them on a price gets more done in the long run.
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gets more done but i found also work drops standards i find most are happy to earn approx 280-350 a week take home for window cleaning
ive basically got them all on same rate for simplicity, i wouldnt go in too high tho dont forget you have to pay there taxes etc and employer nat insurance on top
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Tom
What area do you cover ?
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We pay £7:50 per hour plus a bonus every three months based on the whole teams performances which is measured daily. They generally end up with about. £400 every quarter
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Thanks for the advice so far. Dave, I cover South Manchester for domestics and the general Manchester area for blocks of flats/commercial.
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£10.00 an hour.
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Richy, how can they take home £350 a week if you only pay them £7.00 an hour?
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i pay £7 per hour . i used to pay £8 when i first employed but i got messed about something rotten as they thought they were rich playboys!,
7 is about right
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Richy, how can they take home £350 a week if you only pay them £7.00 an hour?
just saying in general from previous employees the type of people who have worked for me are happy to earn in that bracket.
we do work on saturdays etc too or collecting and canvassing to up there wages not just 8-5 everyday but when they get paid less than 280 they begin to moan
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So my lads should be happy at £70/day then? They are subs so pay their own tax and NI.
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£12.00 Per hour plus performance bonus, pay peanuts you get monkeys.
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the staff in all restaurants and cafes and chain shops etc all get paid minimum wage. minimum wage works for the majority of businesses.
i dont think paying above that will 'bribe' the staff into being good workers all the time. i think the only difference a higher wage will make to an employee is if they are considering quitting the job. if they are a bad worker/lazy/lying/stealing/always late etc then paying an extra pound an hour wont make any difference.
this is not a difficult job at all, so would only pay above minimum wage to reward my staff. never to prompt them to work well.
(these are all opinions, i have not employed anyone yet)
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You use the word bribe and reward to describe the same thing, remuneration.
Most companies according to the last post pay minimum wage, most companies can't get the staff. Is there a link?
I pay the chap who I employ £10 an hour. He's worth that. He's worth more actually but we don't need to go there just yet. I pay reasonable I consider, I don't think £10 an hour is anything special. I like to think anyone I employ regards me as a fair employer. If they don't, that is their tough luck cos they'll probably talk themselves out of a job. Have you noticed people who pay low level wage are the ones who can't get the best staff. There's getting staff and there's getting staff.
I also pay him for his hours lunch, or whatever we have, 30 mins some days. We stopped yesterday for lunch I had sarnies he had a pie. After he finished his pie he cracked on whilst I finished my sarnies and had a coffee. Must be doing something right.
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My son has worked for me for 2 years and I pay him £10 an hour now. I think he's well worth paying him that, he's good with the customers and he knows exactly what to do when we turn up at jobs etc. He also knows what to do when we get problems with gear etc.
Like someone else said, pay peanuts get monkeys.
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I really don't think that's necessarily the case. I'm not saying I think paying minimum wage is fair, or that I would like to work for it.
What I'm saying is that paying above minim wage has very little reflection in my opinion on the quality of the staff you are employing.
Whether you pay £6.19 or £10, most people that apply for the job consider it a stop gap until they find something better.
I'm just a strong advocate of raising wages to reflect the quality of work, not paying high wages to start with and expecting the quality of work to be great from the start, as that's where complacency becomes a big issue
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the staff in all restaurants and cafes and chain shops etc all get paid minimum wage. minimum wage works for the majority of businesses.
i dont think paying above that will 'bribe' the staff into being good workers all the time. i think the only difference a higher wage will make to an employee is if they are considering quitting the job. if they are a bad worker/lazy/lying/stealing/always late etc then paying an extra pound an hour wont make any difference.
this is not a difficult job at all, so would only pay above minimum wage to reward my staff. never to prompt them to work well.
(these are all opinions, i have not employed anyone yet)
Most are eastern Europeans or Asians and will work for a low wage. We have very good guys that work for us and we work alongside them, treat people how you wish to be treated and you find it will work in yours and your business favor.
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I really don't think that's necessarily the case. I'm not saying I think paying minimum wage is fair, or that I would like to work for it.
What I'm saying is that paying above minim wage has very little reflection in my opinion on the quality of the staff you are employing.
Whether you pay £6.19 or £10, most people that apply for the job consider it a stop gap until they find something better.
I'm just a strong advocate of raising wages to reflect the quality of work, not paying high wages to start with and expecting the quality of work to be great from the start, as that's where complacency becomes a big issue
Absolutely not the case our guys have only been window cleaners, it sounds like you have had a bad experience.
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£10/12 per hour is madness
Trained electrician are struggling to get this if they can get work !!
£12 If I paid £12 a hour they would have to do a lot ore than just clean windows
What you guys are paying them is more than trained and qualified tradesman ect
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Its what is paid local to your area.
Im afraid its the rate is for good people round here.
I have just had a electrician round to price work, his rate is £75.00 per hour, and he is so far the cheapest.
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I DEPENDS WHAT PART OF THE U.K YOUR BUSINESS OPPERATES FROM
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£10/12 per hour is madness
Trained electrician are struggling to get this if they can get work !!
£12 If I paid £12 a hour they would have to do a lot ore than just clean windows
What you guys are paying them is more than trained and qualified tradesman ect
6 years ago we employed a sparky. He charged £170 a day. Id imagine its fair to say hes on £200 a day now. That's dramatically more than £10 an hour.
Ronnie everyone in Manchester is on a pittance. The rest of the country isn't. I'm glad I don't pay anyone the minimum, minimum wage is for those who don't have much to offer.
Perhaps you have difficulty in getting the best out of your men. It doesn't come naturally to everyone :-)
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£75 a hour firstly he is not employee and secondly you will a dramatic change now, for example a full rewire on a semi can be done for £1500-£2000 which includes materials and when done correctly will never be £75 per hour not even £50 per hour maybe more like £17-25 and that's self employed /businesses
We need to also understand an employee is different then a self employed/ business rate please rise and shine and joe.
Finally I don't just work in Manchester and I see these rate all over the country, maybe some areas wages are higher but can cost 250k for a terrace in them areas too
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Driver/window cleaner £10 per hour,window cleaner £8 per hour.
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It's an unskilled trade. People work hard all there lives for 6.50 an hour in a factory happily. You just need to find the right person. 7 per hour is a fair price for a window cleaner as they get other benefits like holiday pay. Sick pay. It makes me laugh when people say why would they work hard for 7 pound ahhour when they see what you takings are, what about people in mac Donalds do they moan about how much they take and only get min wage no. It's business at the end of the day. You need to make a profit simples
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people in mcdonalds do moan, and they have a extremely high turnover of staff!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rich dad poor dad springs to mind.It is well worth the read
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Tom work out 25% of whatthey do and work it out to an hourly rate. Or just simply pay 25% of what is done. Putting them on a price gets more done in the long run.
25% of what they do ? LOL !!! At that rate they could undercut you by 50% and double their wage !! Hang on, maybe i'm wrong and its possible to sit at home earning 75% of what an employee takes.
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How short sighted are you you would not 75 percent as you have to pay holiday pay and all the other bills like van fuel insurance. I wonder how some can even get dressed in the morning
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Clean clear your wrong!
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Agree with Ronnie on this one
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Clean clear your wrong!
I intimated that in my post above. If you could expand further that would be good.
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How short sighted are you you would not 75 percent as you have to pay holiday pay and all the other bills like van fuel insurance. I wonder how some can even get dressed in the morning
Pretty much the only cost not fixed would be the fuel (thats assuming we're still talking about paying an employee 25% and of course you're providing a van). So yes the figure of 75% will not be accurate as it will depend upon the amount of work done and the fuel used and a few other factors. It could be higher or lower. So i just used a ballpark figure.
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If you need another person to help you, but only need them for say 10 days per month initially, would it not be easier to get them to set themselves up as self-employed and invoice you for the hours they work and pay them this way. Would this not be an easier way, rather than having to go through all the employment requirements for a company if you can only offer (initially) a part time number of hours.
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This should of been on another thread, oops :)
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If you need another person to help you, but only need them for say 10 days per month initially, would it not be easier to get them to set themselves up as self-employed and invoice you for the hours they work and pay them this way. Would this not be an easier way, rather than having to go through all the employment requirements for a company if you can only offer (initially) a part time number of hours.
I'd say that seems to be a fine way to start off Trev. The OP's question is what to pay them though?
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My longest serving employee is on between £19 and £32 an hour depending on what job his on. Before you all start, if you had him working for you, you too would pay him this!
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Yeah, sorry, was meant to be on the part time worker thread, doh :)
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This should of been on another thread, oops :)
Sorry Trev, i already went and replied. What thread did you mean to post on , was it the how to employ staff on a nil hours contract or something else?
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Tom work out 25% of whatthey do and work it out to an hourly rate. Or just simply pay 25% of what is done. Putting them on a price gets more done in the long run.
25% of what they do ? LOL !!! At that rate they could undercut you by 50% and double their wage !! Hang on, maybe i'm wrong and its possible to sit at home earning 75% of what an employee takes.
Why?? It works out between £8-10 an hour. If any of them tried to undercut me of screw me over id simply knock ten tonnes of poope out of them however this hasnt happened so i must be doing something right hey??.
I take it you would spend years building up a good reliable business, employ someone and pay 75% and mug yourself off.
Get real man 25% is more than reasonable.
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Tom work out 25% of whatthey do and work it out to an hourly rate. Or just simply pay 25% of what is done. Putting them on a price gets more done in the long run.
25% of what they do ? LOL !!! At that rate they could undercut you by 50% and double their wage !! Hang on, maybe i'm wrong and its possible to sit at home earning 75% of what an employee takes.
Why?? It works out between £8-10 an hour. If any of them tried to undercut me of screw me over id simply knock ten tonnes of poope out of them however this hasnt happened so i must be doing something right hey??.
I take it you would spend years building up a good reliable business, employ someone and pay 75% and mug yourself off.
Get real man 25% is more than reasonable.
I've no idea of any certainty Mick, i'm like you i'm here for answers and questions. But i gather from what you have said if they won't work for 25% and they want to compete with you then you're prepared to 'knock ten tonnes of poope' out of them. That speaks volumes itself. A lot of people arn't phased by window cleaners, as that just what they are....window cleaners !!! Luckily for me my gaffer pays me a good bit more than 25% . Also at your quoted rates some one who 'operated' these cleaners would be making near or £30 a hour off them.You also sound like one of them hard nut cockney gangsters!!! Next you'll be telling me they're all CRB checked !!!
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Tom work out 25% of whatthey do and work it out to an hourly rate. Or just simply pay 25% of what is done. Putting them on a price gets more done in the long run.
25% of what they do ? LOL !!! At that rate they could undercut you by 50% and double their wage !! Hang on, maybe i'm wrong and its possible to sit at home earning 75% of what an employee takes.
Why?? It works out between £8-10 an hour. If any of them tried to undercut me of screw me over id simply knock ten tonnes of poope out of them however this hasnt happened so i must be doing something right hey??.
I take it you would spend years building up a good reliable business, employ someone and pay 75% and mug yourself off.
Get real man 25% is more than reasonable.
I've no idea of any certainty Mick, i'm like you i'm here for answers and questions. But i gather from what you have said if they won't work for 25% and they want to compete with you then you're prepared to 'knock ten tonnes of poope' out of them. That speaks volumes itself. A lot of people arn't phased by window cleaners, as that just what they are....window cleaners !!! Luckily for me my gaffer pays me a good bit more than 25% . Also at your quoted rates some one who 'operated' these cleaners would be making near or £30 a hour off them.You also sound like one of them hard nut cockney gangsters!!! Next you'll be telling me they're all CRB checked !!!
Your verey quick to judge arnt you, i dont make out im anything that im not im just honest.
Why would i go to all the hassle of building my waterfall to only get a drip out of it as a return???. I want to get soaked!!!.
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Tom work out 25% of whatthey do and work it out to an hourly rate. Or just simply pay 25% of what is done. Putting them on a price gets more done in the long run.
25% of what they do ? LOL !!! At that rate they could undercut you by 50% and double their wage !! Hang on, maybe i'm wrong and its possible to sit at home earning 75% of what an employee takes.
Why?? It works out between £8-10 an hour. If any of them tried to undercut me of screw me over id simply knock ten tonnes of poope out of them however this hasnt happened so i must be doing something right hey??.
I take it you would spend years building up a good reliable business, employ someone and pay 75% and mug yourself off.
Get real man 25% is more than reasonable.
I've no idea of any certainty Mick, i'm like you i'm here for answers and questions. But i gather from what you have said if they won't work for 25% and they want to compete with you then you're prepared to 'knock ten tonnes of poope' out of them. That speaks volumes itself. A lot of people arn't phased by window cleaners, as that just what they are....window cleaners !!! Luckily for me my gaffer pays me a good bit more than 25% . Also at your quoted rates some one who 'operated' these cleaners would be making near or £30 a hour off them.You also sound like one of them hard nut cockney gangsters!!! Next you'll be telling me they're all CRB checked !!!
Your verey quick to judge arnt you, i dont make out im anything that im not im just honest.
Why would i go to all the hassle of building my waterfall to only get a drip out of it as a return???. I want to get soaked!!!.
I apologise if you think i was quick to judge but i can assure you that i can only go as fast as the posts come over to me and i can comprehend them. I also accept the notion that you are not a drip and that infact you are getting ped on.
But it appears to me that from this thread most want to pay minimum wage or some sort of peacework type wage. The guys who actually do pay a wage worth earning seem to be few and far between.
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So, just for my own peace of mind, I usually pick my lads up at 8am. They are usually back home by 3:30pm and have a full hour for lunch. They are paid £70 a day. Is that a good deal for them or not? Just a yes or no will be fine. Thank you! :)
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So, just for my own peace of mind, I usually pick my lads up at 8am. They are usually back home by 3:30pm and have a full hour for lunch. They are paid £70 a day. Is that a good deal for them or not? Just a yes or no will be fine. Thank you! :)
Yes.
John
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So, just for my own peace of mind, I usually pick my lads up at 8am. They are usually back home by 3:30pm and have a full hour for lunch. They are paid £70 a day. Is that a good deal for them or not? Just a yes or no will be fine. Thank you! :)
Yes
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Depends how much work they so for you,
5 houses = yes
50 houses= no
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£10/12 per hour is madness
Trained electrician are struggling to get this if they can get work !!
£12 If I paid £12 a hour they would have to do a lot ore than just clean windows
What you guys are paying them is more than trained and qualified tradesman ect
I know a firm local to me and it took them 3 months to find an electrician.
3 had interviews and turned the job down.
At £16 per hour
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So, just for my own peace of mind, I usually pick my lads up at 8am. They are usually back home by 3:30pm and have a full hour for lunch. They are paid £70 a day. Is that a good deal for them or not? Just a yes or no will be fine. Thank you! :)
that is a very good rate with those conditions...
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£75 a hour firstly he is not employee and secondly you will a dramatic change now, for example a full rewire on a semi can be done for £1500-£2000 which includes materials and when done correctly will never be £75 per hour not even £50 per hour maybe more like £17-25 and that's self employed /businesses
We need to also understand an employee is different then a self employed/ business rate please rise and shine and joe.
Finally I don't just work in Manchester and I see these rate all over the country, maybe some areas wages are higher but can cost 250k for a terrace in them areas too
Not really Ron we are having a house renovated, its what a electrical company charge round here, I take some of your points a valued we need the work done and they are cheaper than our local supplier.
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So, just for my own peace of mind, I usually pick my lads up at 8am. They are usually back home by 3:30pm and have a full hour for lunch. They are paid £70 a day. Is that a good deal for them or not? Just a yes or no will be fine. Thank you! :)
Yes.
John
Thanks John.
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So, just for my own peace of mind, I usually pick my lads up at 8am. They are usually back home by 3:30pm and have a full hour for lunch. They are paid £70 a day. Is that a good deal for them or not? Just a yes or no will be fine. Thank you! :)
Yes
Thanks mick.
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Depends how much work they so for you,
5 houses = yes
50 houses= no
3 of us took nearly 3 days to do 1 house inside and out before Christmas, but it still worked out a good deal for all of us.
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So, just for my own peace of mind, I usually pick my lads up at 8am. They are usually back home by 3:30pm and have a full hour for lunch. They are paid £70 a day. Is that a good deal for them or not? Just a yes or no will be fine. Thank you! :)
that is a very good rate with those conditions...
Thanks anderclean. Anytime they whine, which they havent done so far, I'm gonna show them this thread, even if its 2023!!!
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£10/12 per hour is madness
Trained electrician are struggling to get this if they can get work !!
£12 If I paid £12 a hour they would have to do a lot ore than just clean windows
What you guys are paying them is more than trained and qualified tradesman ect
I know a firm local to me and it took them 3 months to find an electrician.
3 had interviews and turned the job down.
At £16 per hour
bet they are kicking themselves now. The sparky I just employed is getting £15 an hour from me (self employed) greed can cloud judgment sometimes there are not enough jobs and to many people to do them the good old days have since gone