[mant]

What's the feeling out there for wages paid for travel to and from the job site, we are working 2 hrs from our home base. All the materials and tools are at the job site, my workers are car-pooling with their own vehicles and all but the driver sleeps to and from work. I have mixed feelings, what's fair?

[Matt Kulp]

Its there decision who drives and they should compensate each other for that.

As far as your responsibility for paying travel time, that is a preference. You do not have to pay them travel time. I pay my guys both way travel. If it was there decision to drive to work everyday 2 hours then that is there decision. The minute I ask them to drive additional time to the job, then I feel they should be paid. If your company is set up that they always drive to the job, then you should have policy in place to explain in detail what if any drive time is paid.
I work with a construction company that expects there guys to drive to the job site. They are responsible for 15 miles from the home base. Over 15 miles they are compensated per mile extra.

On most jobs that are 2 hours away, you will find that most company's will pay for lodging during the week.

[Stonehenge]

I'm thinking along the same lines as Matt - I'd end up paying them for drive time anyway, and w/ lodging (instead of driving) we get an extra 4 hours of productivity out of them. That has to be worth at least as much as a night's stay in a motel and a meal.

For any projects over 90 minutes away, that's what we do.

[Dale Wiley]

2 hours out we stay in motels. We go to 10 or 12 hour days, since most of our extended work can be wrapped up in 2 or 3 days. Every one has a good 40 in then and we're done for the week.

I will usually transport the equipment in over the weekend, and do the shuttle work. I pay the motels and meals, and the travel time to and from the job site.