Preparing for year-end number crunching. Interested to see what people are paying their full-time technicians annually. Gross pay, no perks, bonuses, etc. please. Window cleaning ONLY please, no pressure washing or glass restoration or other services.
Our guys make $25K - $40K gross per year; working about 1500-1700 hours. The ones who don’t call out, volunteer for extra work, and so on are at the upper range. The ones content making less, getting “sick” a lot, and so on are at the lower range.
Thats likely what separates your franchise from those here. An employer who pays a respectful wage does often get results in the field.
Many bash your franchise as a overall brand but you do pay better than Fish recommends. They do recommend lower employee pay for greater franchise profit.
I know two local franchise owners that dont pay their supervisors or managers that annual pay.
Our main guys are paid similar but work 10 months a year. With the same benefits and health many companies offer. Started at less but quickly learned the benefits of offering a stronger wage and package.
@anon46335951 I’ll take that as a compliment I guess Jeff. I’d love to offer health benefits at some point but it’s just cost prohibitive at this stage.
@Bruce your math is correct. We definitely have quality down, no question. An occasional bump here and there but overall excellent quality. I like your outlook of doubling their pay… problem I see is most guys don’t see the long-term. A lot of them want to make $50K… NOW. The longer we are around the higher our prices get and the more efficient the guys are at cleaning windows. Bruce, any advice on how to get the point across to everyone that the longer they stick with us the more they will make?
We have some guys that can definitely produce $1000 per day. Not consistently I don’t think but certainly some of the time. But again the problem I see is no one wants to work more to get paid more… most guys just want to get paid more for the same amount of work.
I have found part timers are very very keen on making their time count, they want the most bang for the buck because they want the other time for other pursuits
you are definitely filtering for a mentality
problem is its a double edge sword, I have seen the ones that really get it end up being super ambitious and wanting to start their own gig to keep making more or if not, they blaze thru stuff and then you end up policing quality etc.
you kind of want a postal worker (likes routine day in and day out and is rock solid steady) but you want that mixed with some fire, self motivation and creativity for improved efficiency
oh, and they have to have some sort of people skills for the homes, too good of people skills and you end up with a personality that doesn’t really like to do field work all that much
I think that’s why it always ends up the big commercial outfits doing big commercial buildings end up being the best suited for many employees, they don’t need such a high degree of people skills and they all work together so theirs some “tribal” mentality on the training, watching out for each other and positive peer pressure
these may help zero in on which personality types you’re seeking, I think there’s 2.0 versions of each:
Thank you @Bruce. I’ll look into those books, put them on my list for this winter.
I get exactly what you are saying. We’ve been fortunate that all of our guys have incredible people skills for the most part. But like I said… I keep seeing the mentality of wanting more but not wanting to do more.
This is why all the “real” window cleaning companies go into that sector of the market I suppose. It’s just a natural fit.
I pay my employee $22/hour. He is six months in and he is a very good and reliable worker. If he sticks around for a whole year I will give him $24/hour. I have thought about increasing his wage by $2/hour every year thereafter but time will tell.
Discussing these numbers really reminds me of how much inflation has happened in the last 20 years since I started w/cleaning. I started out at $13/hour for a resi company in '97 and increased to $15/hour after my first year. They maxed out at $16/hour even for vets and I only lasted there so long. They had a bunch of hard working East Coaster’s working there and they all eventually left for commercial outfits where they could make $20/hour plus.
Thank you for all the replies. I’d like to ask everyone who is replying to please state ACTUAL ANNUAL gross wages. It’s nice to see people paying $20/hour and all but I am interested in annual numbers.
When I sat down to review some numbers with our Operations Manager we had 2 full-time technicians with 20-25 days called out. That means they each left $2000-$3000 on the table instead of in their pocket this year.
@royalpane830 I am sure many people on here will benefit from seeing your reply. Thanks for that.
The way you have structured your business (based on what I’ve read on the forum) is what I would like to imitate. You also carry yourself very well under some harsh criticism on your franchise and for that I commend you. I have a quick question for you. I’ve kind got the pay scale figured out for Crew leaders and techs, but what are your suggestions on pay for sales positions?
