[Dirt Girl]

Hey all,
Newbie landscaper business gal here. Plugging away on my business plan and I'm looking for information on what to pay my labour in terms of hourly rates this spring. (I choked when I saw what Alberta was paying!)
I've decided to add periodic perks (massages) and incentives (monthly and season-end bonus') to the best performers, but need better understanding of what base rates are competitive. I will be hiring for softscaping/maintenance and sub-contracting hard-scaping.
Thanks!!

[Timber Lane]

Here in New Jersey, I start workers at $12 an hour. The most anyone ever advanced to was $17. I give bonuses only when I want to and not on any schedule, and I keep the bonus as a private matter between me and the employee who earns it. I never have open competitions for bonuses, as those who don't get one feel "robbed" and their work ethic declines.

[Fine Edge]

Massages?!! Now that's a perk I would be interested in.

[Dirt Girl]

Thanks Timer Lane. Awesome feedback. I agree on non-competitive bonus'.

[dan deutekom]

Check out Landscape Ontario at Results - Wage and Charge-out Rate Survey

[GLAN]

That's a great site Dan

[Dirt Girl]

Amazing resource link. Thanks so much for sharing, Dan!

[RHPL]

Dirt Girl,
I'm north of Toronto and have been in business for a little while. I start anyone still in some form of school at $10 for a couple weeks and often times will raise that up a dollar or 2 if they are hard working.after 2-4 years experience (with me or another company) I pay between 13 and 17, but expect quite a bit in return. My 2 foreman make $23 and $25 respectively, with one of them only having 4 years of experience but he also has a University degree and great leadership skills... and I needed to pay him or lose him, and I couldn't afford to lose him.

We do mainly hardscape.

If you want to talk with someone local fire me off a message... who knows, maybe I'll sub for you...

I also know the pay structure of the Beach Gardener in Toronto...his 5 man crew (mostly large scale hardscape stuff i think) is Foreman 90K, Lead 45K, Landscape tech 30K and 2 'apprentices' at 30K each. He believes that a 5 man crew like this with a payroll of 250K per year should bring in about $1million gross in sales.That might work in some posh areas but not all of us have such affluent clientele

Ryan
email: ryan at ryanheath dot com