[springfever]

I am looking to grow my business this year and need to hire another sales/design person. I don't believe I can support a full time person yet. I have a friend that is a cop and has owned a landscape business on the side for years. He just sold the business and already knows he is going to miss it. I would like to hire him on a part time basis for sales and designs. Can anyone give me recomendations on a fair compesation package? Most companies around here pay a percentage of net income off the job. I hear some pay a percentage on the gross sale. Does anyone have some insight on this?

Thanks in Adance.

[agla]

There are a lot of people out there who want to be landscape designers. Their value is highly variable. The ones that bring you work are much ore valuable than those who you supply work to. Be careful not to over compensate someone who is not bringing something to the table of a lot of value.

I would not start anyone out on a commission basis until they are well proven. Twenty five an hour with no promises would be a very good wage for an unproven but experienced designer to start in my opinion. If the value is there, do what you have to do to keep him.

It is much easier for you to find a designer than it is for a designer to find a good paying job until they are very well seasoned at closing sales. There are a ton of people who want to do this - just do a search for garden messageboards and you'll find out very quickly.