Ways To Make Employee's Stick With You..

GridRunnerFloor

Hello all, lets drum up some idea's on ways to get employee's to stick with you after training. here's what i've thought.

here in wisconsin all you need is insurance to contract. what i have been thinking about doing is providing tools and the job for a guy with experience all he has to do is have a truck and insurance. 60/40 split on job's that i dont work on. and i buy lunches on fridays every friday. i'll even start the guys insurance for him and take it off in first paycheck. what are your guys views?

my goal is to start running crew's. having them under there own insurance and getting payed percentage of the entire job gives insentive to complete jobs and do them correctly. lets me cut down on employee hassel and L & I and doing taxes and such for them.

but basicly my whole company goal is to start up a crew. lets hear your views on the subject.

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tcleve4911

It's all about control
First concern is the IRS
They look at these "subcontractor" situations carefully. Insurance isn't the only criteria. Telling people where to go & what to do quickly becomes employee-like no matter what you call it. Whose's in control? Check with your Tax guy.
Second concern is the control of jobsites.
The customer called you because of your reputation. Keep it a good one. You will need to have strict guidlines for the people that work for you and someone will have to enforce those guidelines for your's & the customer's sake.
It's easy to get into the mindset of selling the job & having others do the work. Making sure they live & work by the high standards you & your customer demand takes a lot of effort.
You hear the war stories all the time. He didn't show up, he left a mess, he wants more money ....blah blah blah.

maj

We just had a thread like this not to long ago, here it is....

http://www.contractortalk.com/f16/woud-person-considered-sub-partner-employee-independent-contractor-9937/

GRF.... tcleve is absolutely correct about the IRS. Take a look at my posts on the thread above. Too long to say it all again.

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Mike Finley

Seems like profit sharing and pay plans on par with responsibility levels would be a bit easier way to do what you are considering.

Glasshousebltr

Grid, I don't think you'll find any one to stick with 40% of the cake. You better reframe your plan and try to reach sub rates at least.

If the GC trys to pull 60% of the profit for hands off responsibility only......man I just don't see how that can be done. I think ya better shoot for 40/60, and that would be you handling the management/sales.

This is a common hump when a fella grows from a single crew to many crews. It really doesn't become profitable until he hits 3 or 4 crews and then he better have head on straight and his people inline.

Bob

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GridRunnerFloor

so far everyone's been telling me 60/40 because im puting my tools and name out there ect.

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PipeGuy

You can go for 90/10 if you want to; it's certainly your call. I just don't get why anyone would want to start their own business on less than the King's portion of the pie just so they can use your tools and get lunch comped to them on Fridays. As far as the name branding goes, I don't know what your name might mean to anyone in your target market (your post doesn't speak to that) but if I was your sub I'd be concerned that ultimately it'll be me that doesn't get paid if the customer has any kind of issue.
Other people aren't likely to spend much time concerning themselves with protecting your good name. They're primarily concerned with (as wonderfully put by one our forum members) doing the work "at the highest specificed quality" that will enable their prompt payment.

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Taurus Flooring

Some years ago, I had about 12 guys working for me. It became a real nightmare. What I should have done, is set up an incentive program, to motivate them to show up and work. Unfortunately, a paycheque (which some of them, hadn't seen for a yr, before they worked for me) wasn't enough. A written contract between you might work also....good luck!

George Z

As far as Painting goes:
Direct labour costs are about 40% burdened.
It has been consistenly that for a while now.
Materials about 10%, gross profit is the rest.
I don't see the difference with other trades other than the materials are a bigger factor.
If you control the selling price you can control the margins no matter what the direct costs are.

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GridRunnerFloor

well i just got back from my accountants. i will be incorperated by the 19th! going to set myself up on payroll and such it should be alot of fun!

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