What is the going rate to pay window cleaning employees? I have recently inherited a window cleaning business with one other employee and wondered what people pay their employees? Thanks
If he/she’s worth it, you should pay them whatever they were making for the previous company, provided you want to keep them. There’s enough cuts goin’ on already.
Plus, I can tell you from experience that if you lowball em after they’ve been the one serving the customers, they’re not gonna be happy, and you might see yourself with a lot less of those inherited customers and a brand new competitor.
A noob, or someone coming back into the industry after personal problems, would get $10/hr from me, with an evaluation in 4-6 weeks. If that person is experienced, they may get a $2/hr bump after that evaluation period.
If they’re a journeyman WCer, you might start em close to what they made before, with an evaluation in a few weeks, for a raise, pending production. This could be anywhere from $12-$20/hr. Salary works too, if you’re busy every week, somewhere between $350-$600/week, depending on what you have coming in.
If they service a commercial route, however, you might opt for a percentage, reached through agreement with them. Most guys around here pay 20-40% tops, which I consider very low, personally, but then, I’m used to bein’ at the top of the ladder, not the bottom, and have always moved up quickly or moved on.
$10/hr to start. $12/hr that seems to be the rate here in Mi, although I’ve heard of $8/hr. My last commission job paid me, using my vehicle at 39% commission if I did over $2500 in a six day work week(avg 8-10 hrs a day) and then if you did less than $2500 they had a sliding scale. We got 29% if we used a company truck. They had two or three company trucks.
Man, I miss using those company trucks…sigh…those were the good old times.
I pay my only full-time employee 42% which for him seems to be about $20/hr. I’ll probably raise him to 45% by august and 50% by next year, but it’s my little brother and he’s a good worker…
My first part-time employee is at $8/hr. I’ll probably raise him to $9 on his next paycheck and $10 in another month after that. If he’s around by June, his wages will go up considerably.
I also give mileage reimbursements. That actually makes my wages REALLY high for most window cleaners, but I sure enjoy not doing the work! So I’m willing to pay for it.
We pay pretty good $14.00 hour.
$10-12 if there’s 2 employees, closer to $15 for one
But I almost always pay a percentage versus actual hourly
Strictly commission base pay. I wont ramble on. Look up my threads on the subject. Good luck.
I took the guys from hourly to percentage a few years ago. It has been one of the best things I ever did. They are up selling and getting more done in a day. Two man crews went from $600 per day to $1k. Large commercial jobs that used to take 2 1/2 days can now be done in a little over 1 day. They know any callbacks are not paid so they do their job well and notify the customer of any stains or problems they might call us back for.
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[QUOTE=biodieselDave;66843]I took the guys from hourly to percentage a few years ago. It has been one of the best things I ever did. They are up selling and getting more done in a day. Two man crews went from $600 per day to $1k. Large commercial jobs that used to take 2 1/2 days can now be done in a little over 1 day. [B][I]They know any callbacks are not paid[/I][/B] so they do their job well and notify the customer of any stains or problems they might call us back for.[/QUOTE
I wonder if this can be done legally if you have hourly employees.
I pay $15 per hour but that was last year. I ran numbers really hard this off season and you would be shocked how much you can save from just a little difference in pay. Pay someone $12.50 per hour and that’s $500 per week. Pay someone $15 and that’s an additional $100 per week. $12.50 per hour is not bad pay to start and it can save your company $400 per month or $4800 per year compared to $15. $8800 a year in savings at $10 per hour. Run your numbers hard cause it can make a big difference.
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Exactly what I did years ago! Screw playing tug of war with your jobs and employees hours. Crazy things happen when they can write their own paychecks. It funny to see them ASK to work saturdays instead of me having to BEG them. More money in my bank account because if the slack, its on them. Production through the roof!
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You guys who pay a percentage - how do you compensate employees on multi-day jobs when they aren’t there for the whole job?
For example, you have a large job that takes 300 man hours for $15,000. Employee A works 100 hours. Employee B works 150 hours. And you work the other 50. Let’s say you pay them 30% for any job they work alone, 20% for any job they work with another, and 10% for any job they work with two others.
- How do you keep track of all the time they are working with various combinations of other employees?
- What if you have different employees at different percentages because of different speed/skill levels?
- Even after you figure all this out, do you then only give them a percentage based on the amount of time on the job? Because if you do, they’ll realize you just reverted to an hourly cut instead of a production cut and that’ll be sure to demotivate them in the future.
Can you tell I’ve got a big job coming up? 
I have a question about percentage pay also.
How do you pay for misc. things like returning screens to a customer, cleaning up around the shop, or washing the trucks?
Average hourly pay?
i think it depends… if you average out what their hourly pay is and they are making $30/$40 an hour like my guys were in the fall, i would say take your truck to the car wash
what i have done with guys who are on percentage is had a misc work hourly pay for days we get rained out or a last min reschedule, but there are misc things to get done… usually something fair like $15-$16/hr
im putting the guys coming back next year on salary with performance based bonuses… makes some things a lot easier, plus guys know what they are going to make everyday and bonuses will be just that, a bonus
well what my emploee now gets is way above what everyone else here has mentioned.
minimum wage here is a bit over $16.50/hour
my current employee I pay $25/hour. but then again, he’s been cleaning windows for 10 years longer then me!! and is very good) plus the fact he’s my brother in law and his father has been cleabning for over 30 years kinda helps to me giving him a bit more.
past employees I start off on minimum wage, then I increase things as they increase in speed etc. I give them goals to hit to get the increase, things like, cleaning two hands at once, being able to consistantly use only one detailing towel in a day (ie not get it to wet)
max I usually pay is $20/hour. (but they get an extra 9% into their superanuation fund)
Seth,
When we went to commission, I told my guys that $12.50 was their base pay. I pay for vacation hours this way and just about every other situation that comes up that isnt “production”.
I will also add that they only are making commission off of the gross dollars that we bring in. If a customer uses a web coupon for $20.00 off a service and the job is $300.00, then they make commission off of $280.00. They are completely fine with that. I explained to them early on that those coupons are marketing and that is good for all of us to keep the ball rolling.
As far as things like gutter guard installations, gutter repair (gutter screws, seam sealant etc) supplies and material are deducted from the gross and I pay them after material is deducted. Just the other day we installed extra gutter screws on several condo units and the material cost was around $150.00. the profit on the job was $550.00 after material cost. My guy got it done in 5 hours at 30% commission. He averaged $33.00 per hour. Thats $385.00 left over and I didnt have to lift a finger. I would estimate that this job would have taken 8-9( maybe 10:confused:) hours with a guy that had the hourly mindset. Sure I could have got away with making $20.00 bucks more with hourly but I could have added another job on for that day too.
Not all jobs are that good of a % for my guys though. On average, they bring in $20.00 -$25.00 per hour. Like I have mentioned before in posts, I dont like playing all the mind games and hearing all the excuses why a job took 2 hours longer than it took the last 10 times we’ve done it before. One less “HUGE HEADACHE” gone!
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If you dont mind me asking, how is this pay scale structured? I have tried to do something along those lines to add incentive (get more production and boost morale) and havent had much luck.
How will you be paying salary? Will they get paid if there is a rainout or a customer reschedules and there isnt any work for the day? This seems like a do-able idea if it is done right.
Steve
I really like this thread and I’m taking this all in. I’ve done the hourly pay for many years and have tossed around the % or commission idea, just not with my wife who does all the serious clerical and payroll work. In my ideal world I am making good money regardless of being in the field or office and my employee(s) are very happy with their paychecks and subsequently happier with their jobs and then their families are more satisfied as well.
One thing I have always been careful to adhere to and feel I have just about all the time is being fair and consistent with what my employees are paid. I think it’s very dangerous and unfair to favor close friends or family over “just the other employees” when it comes to wages, benefits, perks… It’s related to Nepotism.
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At the very least, their average hourly pay for the pay period cannot be less than minimum wage in your state.
I sure wouldn’t be an employee where I am paid hourly, but not paid for all time worked.
My little brother works for me, he makes 40% if he is cleaning windows by himself. He makes 25% if he works with me or another employee. It seems to be working well so far. If I have him do other things that are not actually cleaning a customers windows, I just pay him 10 bucks an hour. For example, I’m going to have him deliver fliers with me. For this I will pay him 10 bucks an hour. Also, our pay-scale is lower out here in the midwest than some of you guys on here. Minimum wage here in Missouri is 7.25 an hour.
