Been noticing lately on this site the $ paid to helpers. I've also been trying to get through the book EVICTION. This site when discussing pay could have come right from that book.

Very common theme. LL's are not paying people-- and I'm talking LL's who have the money-- what they are worth.

Pinching penny's on helpers is not good in the long haul. YES! to getting the best price from contractors but people working day labor, cleaning out trash or yard work or hiring homeless-- we've got to do our part to pay them more. I know that sounds so wrong for a LL to say but we are on the front line with people who are destitute and we see it every day-- we need to do more.

My day labor get 80.00 for 4 hours-- we give lunch and an extra 20.00.

My day labor gets $80 an hour, plus mileage and he still won't show up for work.

It's gotten so I will pay whatever they ask for and they set the price themselves and still won't do the work.

I try to pay my people a few dollars more than they can get anywhere else. This strategy buys their loyalty to me.

Day laborers, who have no real skills to offer and need constant babysitting, are only worth X number of dollars. In my town, that is usually $10-$12.00/hour. If they show up on time, are sober, and can complete the job to my satisfaction, then they will get a small bonus.

I do it a little differently but usually with the same outcome.

I will stop by the mission and pick up a couple of day laborers. I tell them before they start that I'm paying $8 per hour base rate and a nice bonus if they work their tails off and have a good attitude based on respect for me and others. I usually end up paying them between $15 and $20 an hour but I have paid way less to the goof off's, especially if I give them a warning or two during the day.

LOL...entertaining thread at least! I still do much of my own work, but pay professionals when necessary (most of them charge $60-$80/hour) and sometimes need a "helper" that's unskilled...I pay $10/hour plus I'll supply drinks and lunch when appropriate.

I find that half the time, regardless of what you pay, I have to re-do the work or I'm not happy with how it was done...I guess I'm too particular. For example, when putting up any exterior wood trim, I want ALL sides painted and/or sealed, not just the parts that show. This minimizes rot on the backside or bottom. Most contractors put up the wood raw, then paint it after...unacceptable to me.

Around here, unskilled labor is $15.00 - $20.00/ hour. Often hard to get. Paying $25 bucks an hour would make any difference.

This past weekend, I hired two guys for $15 per hour. I bought Burger King lunch and a couple of liters of iced tea for each of them, and in the end paid $20 per hour. Complete unskilled labor, cleaning weeds and bagging the debris.

I am stiff from the labor. But unless I am there working alongside these guys, nothing gets done.

Sometimes paying more isn't as important to them as quickly paying. Also if you pay higher rates, I doubt you get better work. If it's higher than they can get elsewhere, you buy loyalty. But, if instead you give a nice bonus at the end of the job, they'll remember that far more and they'll bump your jobs to the front of the line. They'll also do their best in order to get that bonus.

Myob, you should have joined the ZOOM meeting. Maybe the next one?

Treating someone with respect goes a long way to buy loyalty, more so than money. Our neighborhood handyman quit working for/talking to one of the neighbors that 1) questioned if he even "cut the grass" while they were away and 2) dropped the $20 on the ground, instead of handing it to him.

6x no I'm not "liking the book". I read a few pages put it down and say I gotta stop doing that. I mean it. my stomach churns when reading it. I've said out loud some of the things (most actually) in this book).

For EX: I had a tenant couldn't pay the rent (this was several years ago) and when the sheriff came she told me she went overboard on her vacation to HI. Yea you hear it right she spent her rent in HI. Had another evicted-- he couldn't pay the 700.00 car note and rent!!!! Hope he like living in his car.

My tenants are about 30% higher on the economic ladder than the books tenants-- but some still do stupid stuff.

I tried posting in this thread, but it turned into a review of "Evicted" instead of a commentary on the subject, so I ended up deleting it.

I just finished chapter 9 a few nights ago, and am about to start chapter 10. Still not sure how I feel. It's a lot more even-handed than I expected it to be, but I'm not really liking either the ll's (arbitrary, capricious, clumsy) or the tenants (poor life skills and really bad decisions) at this point. :)

LL just tend to be cheap.......

How cheap you ask?