Going Rate for Skilled Day Laborer? (Fairfax, Windsor: health insurance, unemployment, to buy)

[Carlingtonian]

What are people paying a skilled day laborer per hour? This is for helping me build a shed (mostly hammering, driving screws, and roofing).

Gotta go help him, but I'll check back in a minute. Thanks for any replies!

[TyroneBiggums]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

What are people paying a skilled day laborer per hour? This is for helping me build a shed (mostly hammering, driving screws, and roofing).

Gotta go help him, but I'll check back in a minute. Thanks for any replies!

This response will probably elicit a lot of negativity, but the guy I hire gets $20/hour, for a minimum of 4 hours, plus a meal. Usually though, their rate is something they negotiate in advance.

[johnsonkk]

Hope you have lights because your post at 7pm means it's practically dark these days in Fairfax county. I don't know anyone that would work first, then figure out salary except someone that really loves to construction sheds.

[Carlingtonian]

Thanks for the replies. Tyrone--wow, that does seem generous. I think that would break down to $40K/year based on 8 hours/day, 5 days/week. Good for you. I don't think we could swing that much, though.

I'd heard $10 as sort of a baseline but paid ended up paying him $14. We've used him before, so there's mutual trust. I think we used to pay him about $12.

Johnson, we wrapped up about 30 minutes after I first posted.

Thanks again!

[saganista]

Originally Posted by TyroneBiggums

This response will probably elicit a lot of negativity, but the guy I hire gets $20/hour, for a minimum of 4 hours, plus a meal. Usually though, their rate is something they negotiate in advance.

That all sounds about right. Negotiate in advance, but after the guy(s) have had a chance to see and ask questions about the job. Include both an hourly rate and a minimum sum. Offer to buy lunch and/or dinner. Restroom privileges are a good idea as well. $15 to $20 an hour would be an appropriate rate with competent English-speakers toward the higher end.

Still, driving nails and screws and tacking down asphalt shingles aren't really such skills. If the shed were constructed of wood, and the guy was doing framing and trim work, installing soffit vents, cutting boards to spec for fitting doors or windows, keeping everything square and plumb, and maybe applying some sort of finish, those sorts of things would be more toward the skilled end, I would think.

[boyd888]

If you are referring to the guys around the 7-11s I think it's $10-12 an hour depending on the job plus it is nice to provide them with a lunch or meal of some sort and drinks. I agree that the leader that speaks the best english would command a higher rate.

[Carlingtonian]

I would call this semi-skilled labor. The shed came in a kit, ready to assemble--so the job is mostly just driving nails and screws and measuring/leveling. We do feed him lunch and let him use the restroom, which I think is just basic decency. He speaks broken English, but we can understand each other.

Part of the basis for payment on this job is that a US citizen (native English speaker) offered to do it for a flat $400 (shingles included), so I didn't really think I should go over that amount with what I pay this guy. (I would have hired the other guy, because he said he could do it in a day and has built the same kit many times before--but he wanted to use nails instead of screws and basically throw it up super fast.)

Thanks to all.

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

To be fair, with the number of Americans out of work I would never, ever think of giving a job
to a non-citizen, regardless of my feelings on whether or not day laborers are here legally (I know that's not this forum.)

It's not something I could have peace with, with the news that is on every single day about our unemployment and our economy.
(And knowing that day laborers are not stimulating our economy but their own;
a person can do what they want with their money, of course, but we should be doing all we can to avoid that.)

If you feel comfortable with it, which you seem to, it's a moot point of course.

[Carlingtonian]

All...taken: Thank you for derailing my thread with your political viewpoint.

But since you brought it up: I offered a US citizen a shot--and he clearly wanted to do a quick, sloppy job. (And by the way, that guy was fully employed already, in a salaried fed job.) So I said no.

And yes, there are many Americans out of work--but I don't know of any personally, much less any who are willing and able to do this kind of labor. It's not like I drove past a huddle of American citizens clamoring for manual labor, to seek out the illegal immigrants.

Besides: If I were in their shoes (no hope of a job in my native country--just abject poverty), I'd do just as they are doing. And you may deny it, but so would you. Starvation is a strong motivator.

(Likewise, if I were a US citizen in Detroit, couldn't find work for months, and then found out there's work to be had across the border in Windsor, Ontario, if only I would sneak over, you bet your boots I'd do it.)

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Thanks for the replies. Tyrone--wow, that does seem generous. I think that would break down to $40K/year based on 8 hours/day, 5 days/week. Good for you. I don't think we could swing that much, though.

Ive never been a day laborer, but I have worked as an independent contractor, and from what I recall in setting your rate you have to allow for the fact that you wont have work all the time/must spend some time looking for it (necessary unbillable time) plus that you are responsible for ALL your own benefits/fringes - you are getting nothing towards health insurance, retirement, etc. So you are supposed to take what you think your salary would be in a full time position, double it, and then divide by the number of hours in a year, as a rough rule of thumb. So think of it as more like $20k for a regular FT job with benefits.

Of course that means the unskilled guys taking $10 an hour for day labor are really in a bad way. Which they are.