Looking for hard working laborers (Pittsburgh: houses, neighborhood, buy)

[Hopes]

Maybe you'll get a better response if you change your adveritsement to differentiate yourself from another homeowner. It might be possible that everyone who is willing to do this type of work is confusing your ads with another person's ads. There's a crazy woman who lives in the northern suburbs who advertises for hard labor yard work and pays well under the table. The people who show up are put through the ringer and can't put up with her. It's hard enough work to dig huge holes to plant bushes and trees, but the condescending treatment makes it cruel and unusual punishment. Only the truly desperate stick it out, but she manages drive them away too. Anyone with self respect won't work for her. And it seems that most Pittsburghers have self respect. Nobody wants to be treated like a slave.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Maybe you'll get a better response if you change your adveritsement to differentiate yourself from another homeowner. It might be possible that everyone who is willing to do this type of work is confusing your ads with another person's ads. There's a crazy woman who lives in the northern suburbs who advertises for hard labor yard work and pays well under the table. The people who show up are put through the ringer and can't put up with her. It's hard enough work to dig huge holes to plant bushes and trees, but the condescending treatment makes it cruel and unusual punishment. Only the truly desperate stick it out, but she manages drive them away too. Anyone with self respect won't work for her. And it seems that most Pittsburghers have self respect. Nobody wants to be treated like a slave.

True that and it also seems like a lot of Pittsburghers like to DIY and not get help from random strangers.

[johnnytang24]

I too wish there were more day laborers.

[Copanut]

Well, I went to a Mexican restaurant last night, I know, not really PC. Asked the manager if any of the employees were looking for extra work. He took my name and number and said he'd give a call today. He said he has a lot of people looking for work when the restaurant gets slow.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by COPANUT

How does 15 bucks under the table sound. No takers, it's amazing.

LOL, just fifteen dollars period?

No wonder you can't get some one to do it.

[Copanut]

15 bucks PER hour. That seems fair to me. Also, I contacted a guy through Cragslist who does side jobs. He came out, we negotiated an hourly rate, shook hands, and he never came back.

[fleetiebelle]

He came out, we negotiated an hourly rate, shook hands, and he never came back.

I get this a lot, too. You'd think that in this economy people would be glad to have some work, but I think that a lot of these guys are just waiting for the really huge expensive jobs and unwilling to take on any less.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by COPANUT

15 bucks PER hour. That seems fair to me. Also, I contacted a guy through Cragslist who does side jobs. He came out, we negotiated an hourly rate, shook hands, and he never came back.

oh well in that case hell i would i would do it. that's pretty good.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

oh well in that case hell i would i would do it. that's pretty good.

You'd think, but the last time I had some teenagers doing that work, every time I turned around they were texting. The American Work Ethic, the immigrants have it.

[RoughCollie]

Originally Posted by COPANUT

You'd think, but the last time I had some teenagers doing that work, every time I turned around they were texting. The American Work Ethic, the immigrants have it.

I would point out, firmly, that when I am paying someone to work, I own their time. Unless I choose to use their time by allowing them to text, they cannot do it. If they spend their time (now *my* time) on personal pursuits, it had better be during a scheduled break or with permission. Otherwise, they are stealing their time from me.

If they don't like it, they don't have to take the job.

In the Boston area, you would pay around $20/hr. under the table for laborers, unless has gone up over the past three years. I was once offered the opportunity to hire a group of illegal immigrants, at the grand price of $900. That was for raking and removing the leaves in my 1/2-acre yard. When I remarked on the price, they lowered it to $600 and offered to sweep the driveway for free, too. Naturally, I did not hire them. Note that here it is not called "raking" -- it is called spring or fall clean-up. More words in the job title, more pay, I guess. People who are here legally charge from $300-$400 to rake (actually, to blow) the leaves. I pay my kids $100, total, but they are too lazy to make money doing yard work for others.

One thing you can do, if you hire texters, is to put their cell phones in a safe place while they are working. Just tell them they can make and receive personal calls or texts during their breaks.