What percentage of labor payout is acceptable?

I was wondering what percentage of labor is others paying out.It seems that my payout is around 20 to 25 % for 1 person helping me,and around 33 to 40% for 2 persons. Is this normal for others? Paul

[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by llelywynn I was wondering what percentage of labor is others paying out.It seems that my payout is around 20 to 25 % for 1 person helping me,and around 33 to 40% for 2 persons. Is this normal for others? Paul Depends.... General Labor person i.e. trimmer, blower, edger other duties as assigned 25% Mower 35% this person in my company is generally a driver also Loader/excavator operator - 35% Keep in mind this is our average, I have quoted some jobs a flat rate for say a drain install and my labor costs have been as low as 18%, others I made a mistake on and my cost rose to as high as 62%

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Andy
Halifax, Nova Scotia

[Steve]

General Labor person i.e. trimmer, blower, edger other duties as assigned 25%

Mower 35% this person in my company is generally a driver also

So let's say for instance a home owner is charged $100 to mow their lawn. $25 would go to a general labor person and then $35 would go to a 2nd staff member that would mow and drive?

So out of that $100, ($35 + $25) would go for labor? Or $60 which would be 60%?

Originally Posted by Steve

So let's say for instance a home owner is charged $100 to mow their lawn. $25 would go to a general labor person and then $35 would go to a 2nd staff member that would mow and drive?

So out of that $100, ($35 + $25) would go for labor? Or $60 which would be 60%?

I think it would be ok if the "driver/mower" was yourself,but 60% is way too much

[jasonw]

I try to shoot for 19% but generally its higher, around 30-40%. This is only because I am lazy and hire help that I don't need for small jobs that don't require the help. I would say if it gets over %19 then do the job yourself and don't pay labor. If they are large jobs that require labor either find cheaper labor or raise your bids.

[manicuretouch]

I new to this forum. So, you are paying a % of the job instead of an hourly wage? If so, have you all found this method better than hourly and why?

[Steve]

You could go either way.

I would think you might need to have a base salary because your employees would probably quit if they weren't getting at least a minimum salary they could depend on per week.

A % is great if you are trying to get them to work harder, better, faster!

I have yet to see a standard % that has seem to work across the board for everyone.

Are you leaning towards one over the other?

[manicuretouch]

Originally Posted by Steve

You could go either way.

I would think you might need to have a base salary because your employees would probably quit if they weren't getting at least a minimum salary they could depend on per week.

A % is great if you are trying to get them to work harder, better, faster!

I have yet to see a standard % that has seem to work across the board for everyone.

Are you leaning towards one over the other?

I'm leaning toward a percentage for exactly what you said - being more efficient. We don't have any full-time employees (except me) so a minimum salary isn't an issue right now. I've been checking around for what other companies use for percentages. I'd be interested to know if other companies are doing this and using what %.

[Steve]

I had gotten a few articles up in my blog about this in the past and there is much discussion here in older posts. Look for employee compensation and read some of the articles here

http://lawnchat.com/?cat=83

Let me know if any of that helps.