ive actually canceled the apprentice idea...after 1,600 hours his pension goes up to $10 an hour and health care up to $18.50
id be paying the guy $80k a year with benefits and Taxes
I cant justify that...yea im busy most days...but not that busy that I can just eat $80,000 out of my pocket...it would kill me financially unless I dramatically get more work
ive decided to hire a laborer for $15 part time.....30 hours a week
its perfect.....he cant touch the pipe though....but there's tons of stuff he can do to help me....dig, drill holes, cut 2x4's, run for tools/fittings... yes he will be standing around a lot , but my hope he he can save me 25% on time...I will be able to work continuous while he does all the running around.....on standard jobs like water heater replacement im hoping to save 50%....most of it is grunt work/running up and down stairs.....the actually putting things together is less than 1/2 the work on that task
in WI your not allowed to have a Plumbers Helper.....so there's a grey area here I need to watch out for....I will never have him put pipes together....but can he sit at a chop saw and cut the pipes for me?....there's some grey area's here....and also some inspectors wont like it either....so when they are coming around ill have him sit in the van....
hiring someone is an experiment for me....I think this is a good/ cheap way to start.....I think its best to stick with this idea until I can get a journeyman to help me.....this will allow me to get more hours in a 8-10 hour day.....
If I hire a journeyman now and do sales my salary wont be enough to survive....I need to be in the field.....I do make a very good living, but not enough to give $100,000 away and still live off whats left
I am not confident that if I had 8 hours a day for sales that id suddenly get tons of new customers....Im a high end guy.....there's very few customers willing to pay full price...even many high end builders still use the cheapest subs out there...im $2,000+ more per new house than most of the new home plumbers.......they are typically below what I consider my cost.....don't know how they do it...not willing to lower my price...I make 10% on new homes...wont take 1% less