To all you bosses - How much would you pay a day for a groundie?

[Robert_S]

As little as I could get away with paying you,for as long as your willing to Tolerate it.

 

:lol:

 

The truth hurts but lies do the same.....

[likeitorlumpit]

Frankly impossible to answer without a face to face interview

Regardless

There's so many things to take into account including

Energy

Knowledge

ability to keep quiet when the boss is talking to customer about something

Not trying to be clever

Fitting into a team

appearance

elocution

do you smell?

etc etc etc

Tickets basically mean little- I've employed climbers who were cr*p even though they had tickets. Chainsaw tickets given out like confettii by colleges to guys who basically don't understand sharpening or respect for the chainsaw.

You live and learn

[Billy]

Employed, no more than £60 you can get good qualified subby groundies for that. I think they're worth more but at the moment for most of my jobs its not viable to pay any more than that.

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Likeitorlumpit is spot on with that.

 

Also, an employees opinion of himself is usually higher than his employers opinion so there will always be a slight 'disagreement'.

 

I can't believe some of you guys are paying groundies as much as £100 a day. If that's true I'll fold my business today and come and ground for you!

No more very long hours,

No more expensive breakdowns to pay for

No more hassle

No more business related stress

No more business risk

No more grief from staff who think they're Gods gift and think I should be grateful they work for me!

 

£60 is not enough if you're a good producer.

£40 is too much if you're useless and I've seen guys with three years experience still worth nothing!

 

Be realistic and everyone will be happy.

[TREE-SURGEON-ESSEX]

Some people i pay more than others for the same job reason i can leave some people to run the show while i pop off and quote etc others i cant leave with a silky saw. price well there is no rule you take whats offered

[DN22 Gardening]

depends on the circumstances.

 

as mike says, as little as keeps you happy

 

my lads understand that they get paid depending on the job, their role, how hard they work, if i had a good nights sleep etc.

 

one of my lads (been with me 2 years) has just been promoted. he's out in a van with another lad this week, to see how he copes on his own. if its succesful, he'll get a good pay rise and the change'll be permanent, if not, it won't.

 

as employees, we all think we're underpaid, under valued

 

as employers, we all think we pay our staff too much, and they don't work as hard as us !!!!!!!

[Billy]

I don't expect an employee to work as hard as me, they're earning alot less. Just expect an honest days work. as the last few posts say though the factors involved are almost infinite, if you have someone you can trust to do everything right never take the piss and be left alone and can fix the truck, chipper and any saw with zip ties and tape alone. As well as dealing with the customer effectivley and so on then they're worth upwards of £60, if the current pricing trends allow, otherwise no.

[likeitorlumpit]

Not really sure how you can pay a groundie £100

You've got £5 to pay as employers NI contribution

Secretarial costs for wage PAYE deductions

Holidays (about 10%) 26 days out of 260 p.a.

Overhead allocation(insurance/trucks/tools/rent or rates/enforced down time due to adverse weather/probably a few more )

Fuel/saw/PPE

Allocation for estimating to get the work in the first place

Overseeing work

VAT

Invoicing costs

web site upgrading or advertising

Cash flow( employee gets paid at the end of the week- business often waits for 30 days min)

Bad debt- not a lot but sometimes rears it's ugly head

Paying £100 probably means your firm needs to earn about £200 to cover the cost

That's without a climber

[Ian Flatters]

Personally £60 a day for an employed groundsman is ok. You've got to remember a freelance groundy may want £80 BUT he doesn't get sick pay, holiday or bank holiday pay so he has to cover his costs and on top of that he has to cover wear and tear on his kit (trousers and hat a least). So £300 before tax a week ain't too bad at all for grounding in my opinion.

[alex_m]

just to add to the original post, i work with him, he is great.

he is ALWAYS at the yard at 6:55am (for 7 start).

he can fell big trees, awkward trees etc ina controlled manner.

he can think a few moves ahead when im up the tree and often when im about to ask for something he already has it in his hand.

the 3 years experience is out on jobs 90% of the time without the boss.

great with customers.

works like a horse

committed and loyal

 

what else can i say? he needs serious £££