What is fair wage for a helper splitting wood ?

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captjack

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Im considering hiring a highschool kid or two to help me get some splitting done before summer gets here. What is everyone paying these days ? No sawing or anything just plain grunt work rolling rounds to the splitter and clearing the splits off the table and stacking. Its not like when I was growing up and you could just give them some beer hahaha Those days are gone ......
 
8 buckies an hour !! a 12 pack, if they know how to do the job an get it done!! a teenie whopper should be able to take his/her other to the cinema and a popcorn on that much ? and maybe pay their car insurance... question is do you have a splitter that will do a good cord an hour feeding it with 2 capable feeders/stackers and not slackers?
 
What ever farm labor pays there. Hard to get labor here ever at $10 with Walmart paying $11.
! lol but wall mart workers usually don't know the difference between an instant pot to a coffee pot to a crock pot ! now pot they may know.?!
 
I have a tw5 splitter with log lift and table - a loader tractor that I would run to move big logs etc - elevator to pile wood into trailers etc. Im not planning on turning them loose with my stuff but as a helper when I'm splitting. We can do a cord an hour easy with my set up. I have a small farm and great concrete pad where we knocked down a barn to stack wood in the sun and wind to season. I have an unlimited supply of oak from a local tree service. My thought is to process 40-50 extra cords and sell it next year for some extra cash in the winter - might update my splitter to one of those new alpha splitters lol
 
I usually offer $10 an hour with an understanding that they are here to work, and that there will be deductions for screwing around talking/texting. I encourage them to leave the phone in the truck. Some do some don't, never had an arguement at the end of the day. Most come back again.
 
Money spent using high school help-$10 per hour
Money spent when a teenager gets hurt and you’re responsible-Priceless
 
I hire the neighbors kids once in a while. I pay $10hr. I like to have the wood staged. I run the splitter, one helps keep the splitter loaded and one stacks. We can out run the stacker pretty easy and a cord a hr is easy with 2 helpers. I usually give out before the kids do, but I try to hang in there until their tongues are hanging out. Aint no teenager wants to be out worked by a old man. :laughing:
 
Im considering hiring a highschool kid or two to help me get some splitting done before summer gets here. What is everyone paying these days ? No sawing or anything just plain grunt work rolling rounds to the splitter and clearing the splits off the table and stacking. Its not like when I was growing up and you could just give them some beer hahaha Those days are gone ......

I tried to round up some help to move some split wood this winter and help the wife scoop some snow and maybe run the skid loader to move some snow as I was laid up with shoulder surgery. One high school kid and one college kid in my area. I offer $20.00 an hour and they told me they were too busy. A guy that is 70 that lives five miles toward another farm that I have helped in the past called and said he had heard I had surgery if I needed help he would be over. He ran the skid loader and the snow blower and wouldn't take any money. A buddy helped the wife move the split wood for the Garn. We had a lot of snow this last two months so he moved a lot of snow. I just stopped at his house today and dropped off a $200 dollar gift card to Walmart. He saved us.
 
Aint no teenager wants to be out worked by a old man. :laughing:

I don't think most teens these days really care about that. Have had a few teenagers help out here at the shop. My buddy will get tied up with something for a bit and "boss is away I don't have to do anything".

I'll go ask them, why are you sitting not doing anything?
Oh, well xyz had to leave for a min.

Uh... Ok... there's a pile of sawdust right there, how about start cleaning that up? shovel up this bark, go bring some firewood into the shop, or hell... perhaps come find someone and see what needs to be done?!
 
Money spent using high school help-$10 per hour
Money spent when a teenager gets hurt and you’re responsible-Priceless
Yeah, that's why they dont run any equipment. They are there to stack split wood and bring the cut rounds to me at the splitter, that's it. No loading the splitter, and certainly no operating it. And I'll stack wood side by side them with twice as much hustle as in a way to tell them "I'm working you out of a job".
 
I don't think most teens these days really care about that. Have had a few teenagers help out here at the shop. My buddy will get tied up with something for a bit and "boss is away I don't have to do anything".

I'll go ask them, why are you sitting not doing anything?
Oh, well xyz had to leave for a min.

Uh... Ok... there's a pile of sawdust right there, how about start cleaning that up? shovel up this bark, go bring some firewood into the shop, or hell... perhaps come find someone and see what needs to be done?!
I agree with you to a point. You have to find kids that want to work , going to a school and picking up the couch potatos isnt going to work.
 
I would suggest paying by unit of work done. Incentive to not screw around.

Do some math and figure out what 10/hr works out to as far as wood split and stacked.

Lets say you can do a cord/hr if working at a solid pace, so tell them you'll pay them $10/cord stacked at the end of the day. Put expectations in place that they're working safe and the stacks need to be nice and tidy so they don't compromise quality for speed.

If they're hustling and doing a good job, make sure you reward that to keep the incentive to keep it up.
 
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