Employee Wages VS Profit Margin

Kaiser

I live in area where wages are low compared to other cities of the same size and cost of living.

Assuming your cost are the same and the abilities of the workforce being equal.

Here's my question for you all.

If Carpenters make between $17 and $20 hour 50 miles down the road but people here are acustomed to getting $12 to $14 do you pay your Carpenter $13 hour because thats what he expects or do you pay him what is considered a fair wage for the Southeast?

I know my answer, I'd like to hear others thoughts on this.

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wyoming 1

The american way buy cheap (His labor) and sell high. You are in business for you not for him.

philner

I've always found that paying a guy a little above the going rate for his skill level pays great dividends, if a guys experience puts him about $13-14 per hour I'll pay him $16. wages are only about 20-25% of my costs so having happy dedicated employees is definetly worth it.

ModernStyle

I figure that the same thing goes for a company as goes for a customer, " you get what you pay for." If you pay low wages then you will not get high quality employees, I am not saying to over pay a guy, but noboy will work for $6 at McDonalds if they find out Buger King is paying $12. A crackhead once told me, "You gotta pay what it weigh", he said some other gibberish too, but that one stuck with me.

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http://InDemandPainting.com http://www.SupermanOfPainting.com http://www.AplusPaintingServices.com

deckspec

to get good employees you must pay fair. but you often loose on time travleing to jobs and slack time (waiting on things) so make sure your employee knows about these parts of the equation

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paul
http://www.deckspecialists.com/