[PoleBarnsNY]

When your production crew has to stay over night when commuting to work site isn't realistic, how do you compensated for meals, hardship, etc for being away from home with higher expenses?

is there a percentage adjustment in their payscale or a bonus for being away from family and home?

Does your crew travel most or all of the time or only on occasion?

Do you try to spread out trips in between local work to keep crew morale up?

Have you lost any crew members when your company started traveling more?

Do you address the possibility of overnight travel in the recruiting, interviewing process?

Thoughts on how to make over night travel work best for all involved?

 

[Warren]

We are currently working out of town. We have done this a couple times in the last 3 years. I pay each person time and a half for every hour worked out of town. They pay for their travel, I take care of the hotel. For lunch, I load up a big rubbermaid with lunch meat, bread, snacks, etc. Breakfast and dinner is on them.

 

[thesidingpro]

They get paid for drive time from the shop to the hotel then 35.00 day per diem.

 

[Inner10]

I seldom do it and when I did it was only a couple days. I paid for everything, no additional pay or per diem.

 

[SectorSecurity]

I have always footed the bill for pretty much everything, I just build it into the cost of the job. Usually when the job wraps up I pay for us all to go out and have a nice steak dinner and drinks.

 

[pizalm]

Not a company owner but when I have done it as an employee everything's been paid for meal, travel and accommodation wise. Travel time was paid as well.

Two trips were 12-15 hour drives one way. Another was an hour drive and hour float plane ride one way.

 

[workingintx]

There are actual federal guidelines on this and we follow them pretty closely to keep expenses to a minimum.

Here is a blog entry on it:

http://www.hrhero.com/hl/articles/2008/09/12/primer-on-travel-time-pay-for-workers/

 

[fast fred]

I traveled years ago we got per diem $50.00 per day, housing was paid for by the company, and occasionally we got taken out to dinner, drive time was paid for back and forth, one job was 8 hrs each way

depending on how everyone felt and how the crew make up was, we'd either live like hermits and spend 10-20 bucks a day on cooking at home and packing lunches or we'd live like kings and drink and eat

 

[huggytree]

I had a customer that moved out of my area hire me(3 hours away)....I got paid for all my drive time, free hotel, free meals

your taking me away from my family....at a minimum these are the things I expect

I also tacked on a bit of extra profit

 

[jamestrd]

I have always paid for hotel stays and dinner.

never traveled cross country but far enough requiring hotel stay to properly execute job.

hotel, company vehicles , company gas some perks and the old "hey do want to work or stay home?"

this is where thw work is and this is where we need to be.

never had a problem..always found guys considered these jobs a working vacation..:thumbup:

these were always same state jobs/travel..but if 3-4 hour ride every day is too much hotels are best.

 

[Jaws]

Half the crew spent 6 weeks 3 hours from here last fall, built a steel building and a big driveway. Paid regular wages, but they used my trucks and tools of course. Thry also had an average of 20 overtime hours a week, and had weekends at home.

I paid all travel time, no per diem. My lead had the company card, he paid for meals and incidentals. They ate very well, several times a day. Lol.

I paid for rooms in the only place with a pool. There was zero belly aching.

 

[maxwage]

I've worked for a company for the last 6 months and we've traveled across the nation several times already. Been to California twice, Vegas, all over the Eastern Seaboard, all over the midwest, the Plains...

I'm in Florida now. We get paid drive time but no per diem. Boss buys us meals and takes us out for drinks every now and then. We get holiday pay, overtime and make considerable more then average pay in my area. This makes up for the no per diem. Plus we stay in nicer hotels. No cheap ass *****ball places.

 

[[email protected]]

I pay for hotel, 65 a day per diem. Standard wages other than that. I do pay for dash time out and back.

To compensate the hardship of being away from family and their own bed etc... I try to keep my guys in La Quintas or the like. No econo lodges etc... a few times weve been in BFE and there isnt a "nicer" hotel. Weve had good luck finding a local landlord or hunting lodge owner rent us a house for the time.

 

[r3dko]

I pay $100 a night per guy for the crews, and hotel + meals for managers when they work out of town. I spent three years 100% on the road when I got into the industry and was getting $90/night seven days a week for 6-8 weeks at a time. I learned how to save on food and hotels and usually banked an extra $300/week (hobby money).