What The #&@! Is Going On With Employee Wages?

Chris G

Toronto is a brutal place to find tradespeople. $35/hr might be a little low for someone with all the tools and a truck. They'll have overhead between $5-10/hr, so take home pay may not be that good after all. Heck, I would pay $40/hr for someone with no tools and no car if they were good at what they do.

__________________
"Neek...Neek...yoo-a-moronna Neek. Getta-da-fookin-a-jacka-ham!"

http://www.vicporch.ca
Deck Fence Porch Builder Toronto

Stone Mountain

Heritage, I think the flack you are getting from all these "Mericans is because their situations are quite different.
Guys, here in Toronto, electiricans, plumbers, HVAc guys, etc MUSt be liceinced by the province in order to ply their trade. However, having said licence does not mean they are automatically a business.
Ditto with carpenters. The difference is that a carpenter can work, on his own and unsupervised, by law, even if he is not licenced. An eletrician, etc, cannot work unsupervised if he does not have alicence. Period.

Heritage was offering $30-35/hr for a lead carpenter with tools and truck.
This is for an employee. If he wanted a sub, then he would pay piecework. I certainly wouldn't pay a sub hourly. For the tpe of work he wants he needs hourly.
The wages Heritage is willing to pay are well within industry standards. They are not low for Toronto.
Don't forget, here in Ontario, employers have to pay 4% vacation pay, 9 statutory holidays (pretty much another 4%), worker's compensation of 5-10%depending on the employer company rating, another 3% for unemployment insurance, and a further 2% or so (not sure of exact figures) for CPP(Canada PEnsion Plan). This adds up to almost 20%, so the $35/hour could come to an actual cost of $42/hr.
If I employ a sub, I pay him a straight fee, with none of the costs cited above. He pays all his own, and is thus going to be paid relatively higher.
Hourly employees and sub contractors are 2 different animals here.

I had a carpenter working for me the past year. He actually started working for me in 1983. Back then he was fast, and I always came in under budget for labour. In 1994 he went to my brother and stayed there till last year. Then he came back to me when my brother laid him off.
Unfortunately, he is now 60, and although very knowledgeable, just too slow. My whole business is built around controlling wages, and with him, I was constantly way over budget. I eventually let him go.

It's late. If I sound a bit disjointed, well, maybe I am. good night all

__________________
Residential Deck Specialist: Vist our Website
www.fenceanddeck.ca