Like everyone else on this site I run a window cleaning business, actually consider my company a property maintenance company that started with window cleaning. I currently run a company with 3 employees, 4 if I consider myself.
As of late I have been wondering how I should be paying my crew and would like some suggestions. I am not just running the business from the office, I do go out and work with my people in order to get from one job to the next fast. I pay commission for residential and storefront and hourly for larger commercial jobs.
Basically how would you pay if you are not at the job and have your team doing the work, for instance 1 person at the job, what percentage would you pay? Two people at the job of course a crew leader and one other and three people at a job which would be one crew leader and two window cleaners.
Any suggestions would be great as I am trying to get my crew out working while I handle the admin and work a little less in the field, thank you for any suggestions
I am also trying to get some ideas on this. In addition to your question I ma curious about how much to pay them to drive. lets say they have 1.5 hour drive to next town. (Im pretty rural here)
As far as the mileage is concerned it is simple you consider the MPG of the car they drive lets say its 20 MPG and the fuel cost is lets say 4.00 per gallon. You divide the fuel price per gallon by the MPG so 400/20=20 so 20 cents per gallon. If they do a 60 mile drive its twelve bucks and so on
If someone is good / hard working and very thorough at window cleaning i would expect them to be paid very well ( intelligently paid… ) or i would at least advise them to work for them self if possible… its pointless working like a dog for someone if they are not going to get the same in return… and in that i mean … good Pay ! ( its a hard job ) and plenty of respect … i am a believer that in the cleaning industry its better to have 20,000 small companies rather than have 100 huge companies who end up just using you and have no respect what so ever for the amount of work you do or more or equally importantly how you do it … this job is all about manuel work just like a lot of other jobs… but from my experience people just get used and that and that alone is a very profound thing… and i would seriously advize anyone who is young enough to work for themselves or at least have the fortune or wisdom to find someone who will treat you with respect and offer you long term security… being used is a crime and its something that is scratched into the capitalistic fabric we live in …
Of course i am not saying your someone who uses people i am just saying make sure you treat someone who is hard working and loyal with great respect… because there are a lot of people out there that started out like that but because they was used in the past they have lost there trust and respect for any Body offering any work in the manuel labour section …
Wear and tear is not a business owners concern, think of when you were in the workforce, you had to get to work right? Did they pay for your oil changes?
I have two Tacomas and my other guy meets us at the jobs in his car, he has worked for three companies and told me I am the first to ever pay him mileage
51 cents per mile? So you are paying 150.00 per day for gas if your crew drives 300 miles total, 4500 per month? An oil change is 25.00 bucks, where did you get that math from?
From what I understand California employees must be reimbursed for their employment related expenses, including mileage reimbursement. Although the IRS rate is not required to be used, it often is. Based on using their own vehicles.
haha 51 cents per mile, good luck on that one, that was eye opening though. Had a pressure washing job for a community college out here and had to pay prevailing wage of 67.00 per hour
When you find capable employees, they must be payed well!$$! My main guys have been with my 6 yrs. Everybody knows thier role & the wheel turns!
Don’t pay good & keep training Monkeys:(
