Groundie Pay

  • Thread starter Thread starter rskybiz
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About what I thought as a max but I guess I'm looking for the Start out wage, without being disrespectful of the individual!
 
depends on level of knowledge, and drive in the heart

a newby...8
1 season 10-12
2 seasons ropes like a champ , runs chipper without supervision 15

my groundies are getting 15 right now
on days that im working like a psycho and doing really good ill give a bonus

i see it like this if i do under a g..the get a hundy
if i do over a g they get 150
if i do over 1600 they get 200

the 200 dollar days are 10 to 12 hr days few breaks
btw
i have only 1 groundie now and i bury the guy, so i take good care of him
he keeps up with me, ropes for me , chips for me, and runs the mini

jeff even took it upon himself to do a welding repair on the mini on his day off

if theyre smart keep em pay em whatever you can
if theyre dumb pay as little as you can

i tailor pay to the individual and their performance
a guy who hears im losing money and hurries up is golden, where a guy who hears that and keeps working at the same pace because he gets paid regardless....is down the road

good luck
employees suck
 
Start lower with a wage to evaluate them through the honeymoon period. You can go up. You can go up retroactively, too, if deserved. Let them know that the more they produce (not just work hard, but smart, too, which can be lost on some employees), the more that is in it for them, and stick to that.

Experienced means sooo many different things to so many people, which I think most/ all business owners/ et al understand.

Local cost of living will affect things, too.
 
I'd start low too. Easy enough to hand out a raise if they've got what it takes, much harder to cut back the wage if they don't.
 
The last time I worked full time doing ground work ( back in 2004 ) I made $17.00 per hour, plus a nice bonus on the tougher days. The boss knew that without good help on the ground, his day was much more stressful, and he paid accordingly.

He also wouldn't pay anyone under $12.00 per hour. If a guy wasn't worth that, he had to go.
 
Depends on the local I suppose .Tom pays around 12 I think, lead man more ,climber more .

Around here in these local sweat shop small factories and non union construction companies 12 is about average so he's in line .
 
I would start out all ground workers at the same pay level and tell them that there will be an evaluation after the first 2 weeks, at which point they will get a pay raise if they deserve it. It gives them motivation to work harder and makes things a little bit competitive between groundies.
 
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  • #13
Only need one good one and I'd be stoked. Experience vs teaching is my thought but also want the someone who is skilled in the right way to come aboard.
 
You'll go through a bunch of them before you find a keeper. Most of them don't expect much, though. About $10 per hour is going rate. I remember paying $15-$20 per hour ten to fifteen years ago for part time help, I couldn't insult them with less than $100 per day. But that's why I'm not a businessman.

One of the guys on the job today has about 10+ years experience, can run both a Bobcat and a chainsaw well, works hard (as much as I've seen) and he mentioned today that he's getting about $200 per month in food stamps to help make ends meet. I've known him for about 6-7 years and have seen him bounce from crappy tree guy to crappy tree guy. 2 months ago I offered to hook him up with one of the companies I sub for, where he would get decent pay and plenty of hours. He prefers working for the crackheads who only work him 2 days a week. :roll:
 
Wow...over here, a kid would get $15, a man gets closer to $20 starting!
If he can use a saw $25

Cost of living, when a cheap loaf of bread is $5 and a half gallon of milk is $3.50...
 
Wow, I very rarely need ground help, but the least I'd pay just about anyone I'd actually use is $15/hr. Currently all my "groundies" clear $20/hr although I need them very infrequently now. My part time/sub climber (Treesmith) makes substantially more.

You get what you pay for. Minimum wage is $7.25/hour, a $10/hr worker doesn't do me any good.
 
I agree completely, Carl. In the overall scheme of things, an extra $40-$50 per day shouldn't make or break the job unless you're really screwing up on your bids. If I find somebody with brains and a willingness to do this type of work then I'd rather over pay him as an incentive for him to happily show up the next time I call.
 
the last guy i worked for paid my 13/hr when i was just a groundie but i ran the chipper brought my own saws to work and ran jobs for him. i dealt with it b/c he was teaching me to climb. i eventually got up to 16/hr when it got to the point that i was climbing more than half the trees we did. I was getting dogged out pretty bad!! so i used the experience and got on with a really good company that started me out higher than i was making before.

I guess the moral of the story is if you try to get out cheap expect to be a stepping stone to the next better job. thats what i did and if i would have been shown some appreciation from my last boss i would have stayed around for a long time. If you find someone good take care of them like skwerl said it would be better to slightly over pay a really good ground man and him be happy to be there than to under pay and he be disgruntled.
 
.... Okay Joel ... what a great bunch of info from all over ... now two jokes .... Nice Avatar ! ..... what kinda person has lines that large hanging from the ceiling ??? ... I once paid a groundie twenty ... fell in love with her , gave her a key to my house ...ahhhh , yeah maybe hire a dude for less ... all true !!! HaHaHaHa ... (now)
 
Ive always tried to pay my groundmen well. Ive been blessed with some good guys though. I dont like seeing a guy scrape by with 10 bucks an hour. But, most guys are worth only that. The ground men that I kept for more then just a week or 2, got paid $15 an hour. Thats very high in my area. BUT, those were loyal guys that cared about my business. Ive always had a heart for the guys that deal with me each day and dont jump off a cliff. I also always felt that if I needed to take a little food off of my own plate, to make sure that they get enough to eat, than thats how it is. In other words, make sure they are earning enough week to week.
 
The occasional, under the table help, sure you could pay extra for a good hand. Normal, day to day help, comp, bonuses and garnishments (grrr), adds up
 
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