# Leased labor?



## larooche (Feb 13, 2008)

Has anyone every heard of leasing labor? 

I was approached by a company called Tradesmen International. They're selling themselves as a labor support company. They say that they have labor pool of over 6000 skilled tradesmen nationwide (300+ here in MN) that I can pull from on an as needed basis to suplement my core group of guys. They said that if they send a guy that doesn't meet my expectations, I can send him back within the first 4 hours and pay nothing.

I'm seriousely considering signing up. I've had to layoff all but my best guys recently, but I expect things to pick up again soon. These tradesmen guys are a couple dollars more per hour (factoring in FICA, SUTA, W/C, Bennies, etc), but the idea of lessening my work comp exposure and elimating my time spent interviewing 10 retards to find 1 good guy, who MIGHT work out, sounds pretty good.

Does anyone have experience with Tradesmen International or any other company that does this?


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## Susan Betz (Feb 21, 2007)

We looked into leased labor for an out-of-state job and walked away laughing. They want to call fence erection "skilled carpentry" and wanted to charge us an arm and a leg for the WC charge. It came to almost 5 dollars an hour more than we pay through our employees through our leasing company, with all taxes and WC included. They wouldn't budge on the WC category, so we did the hiring ourselves and saved a bundle.


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## nlgutters (Dec 18, 2007)

i did it and the guys that they sent i think were retarted so i sent them back and they just got dumber as we went. biggest waste of time ever. they pay them like $7 bucks an hour so you can imagine what they are like.. if you sit back and thinkl about it for a minute if the guys were any good don't you think they would have a real job?


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## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

It's just like Labor Ready or Kelly Temps.

You can find one once in awhile that is really decent, but most of the time, you call them for the real grunt work, like shoveling snow, digging ditches, picking up the jobsite, etc. Not all of them, but I'd say a good portion usually are working there because they have just gotten out of jail from a DWI and many don't have drivers licenses. 

And yes, some can be intelligently challenged. And they are expensive, but they do take care of certain voids in your business. Simple call, they're there.


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## mi_gwich (Feb 18, 2008)

Hey Larooche,

I've used Tradesmen for 4 years now. I don't think the others that have posted to you are familiar with what they do. I usually get good skilled guys. They don't have any guys that you'll want to use for diggin' holes, that's not what they do. Tradesmen requires at least 3 yrs experience in a trade, 3 solid references, skill assessment, safety assessment, and drug screen before they hire a guy. I haven't run the numbers to see what I've saved in W/C or SUTA but the time and money saved from eliminated hire/de-hire and holdover is well worth the $2-$5 extra I have to pay for Tradesmens skilled guys. I've also found that my workforce is more productive. The guys I get from Tradesmen work hard and my guys don't want to get shown up so they work harder. Workforce velocity is a great thing!

I have had 1 bad experience. Tradesmen didn't catch a salt in the hire process and he ended up on my site. He started slowing guys down and promoting the union within the first couple hours. I called my rep to see what I should do. He told me to send the salt back. Since he wasn't my employee I was protected from the union and I didn't get billed for his time. I don't know what Tradesmen did with the guy, but I havn't had any problems since.

I don't know what kind of guys they have in MN but here in Cleveland, they send my great guys that know their stuff. I'd give it a try if I were you. I've nothing but good things to say about them.

Good luck!

Let me know how it goes.


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## larooche (Feb 13, 2008)

Susan Betz said:


> We looked into leased labor for an out-of-state job and walked away laughing. They want to call fence erection "skilled carpentry" and wanted to charge us an arm and a leg for the WC charge. It came to almost 5 dollars an hour more than we pay through our employees through our leasing company, with all taxes and WC included. They wouldn't budge on the WC category, so we did the hiring ourselves and saved a bundle.


I've also talked with a company called Trillium. What you explained sounds just like them. I too, walked away scratching my head as to how they stay in business.


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## larooche (Feb 13, 2008)

nlgutters said:


> i did it and the guys that they sent i think were retarted so i sent them back and they just got dumber as we went. biggest waste of time ever. they pay them like $7 bucks an hour so you can imagine what they are like.. if you sit back and thinkl about it for a minute if the guys were any good don't you think they would have a real job?


Was this Tradesmen International? The guy I talked to said their cheapest carpenter was $15/hr.


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## larooche (Feb 13, 2008)

mi_gwich said:


> Hey Larooche,
> 
> I've used Tradesmen for 4 years now. I don't think the others that have posted to you are familiar with what they do. I usually get good skilled guys. They don't have any guys that you'll want to use for diggin' holes, that's not what they do. Tradesmen requires at least 3 yrs experience in a trade, 3 solid references, skill assessment, safety assessment, and drug screen before they hire a guy. I haven't run the numbers to see what I've saved in W/C or SUTA but the time and money saved from eliminated hire/de-hire and holdover is well worth the $2-$5 extra I have to pay for Tradesmens skilled guys. I've also found that my workforce is more productive. The guys I get from Tradesmen work hard and my guys don't want to get shown up so they work harder. Workforce velocity is a great thing!
> 
> ...


Thanks for the feedback!

What trades are pulling from them?


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## ProWallGuy (Oct 17, 2003)

What a sorry-ass attempt at spam. 2 users, same guy, talking to himself. Color him/them gone. 

:tank:


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## Susan Betz (Feb 21, 2007)

ProWallGuy said:


> What a sorry-ass attempt at spam. 2 users, same guy, talking to himself. Color him/them gone.
> 
> :tank:


Good catch. That "viral" marketing stuff is really annoying.


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

We've used groups like labor ready when we need an extra set of hands for cleanup and other unskilled tasks.

There is such a thing as employee lease-back where you recruit and hire employees but the employee becomes an employee of this leasing co, not your co, and you don't have WC and other burdens to worry about. You just write a check to the lease co. Some guys say it's cheaper for them this way.


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## chris klee (Feb 5, 2008)

ProWallGuy said:


> What a sorry-ass attempt at spam. 2 users, same guy, talking to himself. Color him/them gone.
> 
> :tank:


same ip?


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