# Paying your driver and shoveler



## JeepPlow18 (Sep 4, 2006)

I have two guys that I know well and they are good friends. Im paying them to help me plow and shovel this year for the first time. How much do you guys pay your people? Just so I can get a general price. Since this is the first year im paying help and im not sure how to gauge it. Thanks in advance for your inputs. Mike


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## IDOCTORTREES (Dec 27, 2006)

plow driver 20-30 shoveler 15-17 plus 1.5 for all overtime


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## JeepPlow18 (Sep 4, 2006)

IDOCTORTREES;602778 said:


> plow driver 20-30 shoveler 15-17 plus 1.5 for all overtime


Thats about the range I was thinking. Very reasonable. Thanks for your input.


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## Indy (Sep 23, 2007)

I have a buddy here that pays his drivers and shovel guys at the end of each event, cash and 1099's em for his payroll, it seems to work on getting guys to show up (the other hard part)

Just some info you might want. Good luck


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## IDOCTORTREES (Dec 27, 2006)

You cannot 1099 or pay them in cash when they are your employees using your equipment, receiving job assignments from you. They are not a sub contractor, they are viewed as an employee and you are still liable.


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## Indy (Sep 23, 2007)

IDOCTORTREES;602940 said:


> You cannot 1099 or pay them in cash when they are your employees using your equipment, receiving job assignments from you. They are not a sub contractor, they are viewed as an employee and you are still liable.


true, I should have paid more attention to the post, Thanks Doc:salute:


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## elite1msmith (Sep 10, 2007)

IDOCTORTREES;602940 said:


> You cannot 1099 or pay them in cash when they are your employees using your equipment, receiving job assignments from you. They are not a sub contractor, they are viewed as an employee and you are still liable.


true, but you wouldnt even believe the number of LARGE companies that do it anyway , guys that have 50 shovler on staff. that are ll collecting UNEmployment, or so i have heard

i personally make them sign up to work thru a temp agency , it just works better , they get covered, they can use my equiptment (yes we checked) ..taxes, so it works ok

thats for the guys that dont work dirrectly for me in the summer, winter help only


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## Jay brown (Dec 26, 2005)

JeepPlow18;602765 said:


> I have two guys that I know well and they are good friends. Im paying them to help me plow and shovel this year for the first time. How much do you guys pay your people? Just so I can get a general price. Since this is the first year im paying help and im not sure how to gauge it. Thanks in advance for your inputs. Mike


shoveler needs a least $25 per hour and the plower $10-20....


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## JeepPlow18 (Sep 4, 2006)

Thanks again guys. Very helpful information:salute:


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## creativedesigns (Sep 24, 2007)

Jay brown;603042 said:


> shoveler needs a least $25 per hour and the plower $10-20....


If I were a shoveler.....I'd be rich!!! lol payup


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## JeepPlow18 (Sep 4, 2006)

creativedesigns;603383 said:


> If I were a shoveler.....I'd be rich!!! lol payup


Yea thats what I was going to say. A bit too much haha. If they were just acquaintances and not good friends then I would definitely not be paying them that much.


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## Gicon (Oct 1, 2005)

Save yourself a lot of trouble and future headaches and dont work with any of your friends. The bigger guys on this website will agree. Working with friends is a ticking time bomb. Never forget you heard that here first, on Plowsite.com..... ;-)


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## Jay brown (Dec 26, 2005)

creativedesigns;603383 said:


> If I were a shoveler.....I'd be rich!!! lol payup


and you would have a bad back and hemroids....lol


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## Jay brown (Dec 26, 2005)

JeepPlow18;603434 said:


> Yea thats what I was going to say. A bit too much haha. If they were just acquaintances and not good friends then I would definitely not be paying them that much.


how do you get a guy out of bed at 4:30 in the AM to shovel walks for 4-8 hours at $15/hr?? am i doing something wrong......we are on a roofing job right now that pays my guys $40/hr and it's about 1/3 as hard as shoveling snow and the weather is a whole lot better.....just hard to get guys to work HARD for $15 in the dark and blowing snow..


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## nick858 (Jul 17, 2006)

Jay brown;603796 said:


> how do you get a guy out of bed at 4:30 in the AM to shovel walks for 4-8 hours at $15/hr?? am i doing something wrong......we are on a roofing job right now that pays my guys $40/hr and it's about 1/3 as hard as shoveling snow and the weather is a whole lot better.....just hard to get guys to work HARD for $15 in the dark and blowing snow..


My thoughts exactly.


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## 042500hd (Oct 10, 2004)

Jay brown;603796 said:


> how do you get a guy out of bed at 4:30 in the AM to shovel walks for 4-8 hours at $15/hr?? am i doing something wrong......we are on a roofing job right now that pays my guys $40/hr and it's about 1/3 as hard as shoveling snow and the weather is a whole lot better.....just hard to get guys to work HARD for $15 in the dark and blowing snow..


Not in Buffalo. There are guys who jump at the chance to make $15 an hour to shovel snow. Let alone $15 dollars an hour to do anything. Our job market around here generally does not pay very well. On the flip of that you don;t need to make $100k a year to have a good life either. When we have bad storms during football season the Bills pat guys $10 an hour to shovel out the stadium. There is always a surplus of guys that show up to do it.


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## redman6565 (Jul 14, 2008)

that's very very true. honestly, the way i structure it is so my guys plow and operate snowblowers, each and every one of them including myself. The range of pay for me depends on years plowing with me, value and responsibility. generally speaking my range is 13 to 19 / hour on the books.


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