# Averages Wages



## rjordan392 (Feb 9, 2005)

Hello,
What does a General Contractor pay his employee's for the following trades on average, such a skilled carpenters, electricians, plumbmers and dry wall installers?


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## Fauker_9 (May 11, 2006)

$18


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## DecksEtc (Oct 27, 2004)

$18.50


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

There's no such thing as average. For instance, an electrician's pay around my area might be double what an electrician is paid in the hills of Tennessee.


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## RobertCDF (Aug 18, 2005)

anywhere from $1 an hour to a million dollars an hour. See you could hire someone fresh over the boarder for real cheap. Or you could hire Bill Gates (I bet he sucks at carpentry) But I am sure most people make something in between those 2 numbers.


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## realpurty2 (Aug 18, 2005)

mdshunk said:


> electrician is paid in the hills of Tennessee.


Speaking from those hills...(ha) the wages are VERY low here.

Journeyman Electrician $10 starting- Tops at $14
Carpenter - $10 - $15
Plumber- $15-$18
Laborer- $6-$9

That's pretty much standard for this whole Eastern Tennessee end. But it jumps up drastically just 50 miles West of here.


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## jmic (Dec 10, 2005)

realpurty2 said:


> Speaking from those hills...(ha) the wages are VERY low here.
> 
> Journeyman Electrician $10 starting- Tops at $14
> Carpenter - $10 - $15
> ...


Wow, Unbelievable.


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## cssconstruct (Jun 19, 2006)

Hey Robin,

Do they still use confederate money up there in Greeneville. I'll hire Ken here in Knoxville full time at those rates. I may even pay him a little overtime.:whistling


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

realpurty2 said:


> Journeyman Electrician $10 starting- Tops at $14.


That's about what they advertise the pay at for the people that work in convenience stores around here. McDonalds starts at 8-9 bucks.


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## realpurty2 (Aug 18, 2005)

I know it sucks but hey, I don't make the standard wages for the region. Why do you think we complain about the labor market around here? lol There isn't one... they move off to where the money is.

Now if those wages shocked you, imagine what the customer market is like!


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

realpurty2 said:


> Now if those wages shocked you, imagine what the customer market is like!


Do many doublewide rennovations? :jester: 

I shouldn't joke. My last call today was in a trailer.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

My average is about $22. with top guys around $26.


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## GoodPainter (Apr 23, 2006)

Commercial Sub work
I am currently getting paid $20/hr painter

Friend $40/hr tile setter

another painter $22.50/hr

the GC's of the job $40-45/hr mostly trim and electrical
Robert


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## mahlere (Aug 6, 2006)

GoodPainter said:


> Commercial Sub work
> I am currently getting paid $20/hr painter
> 
> Friend $40/hr tile setter
> ...


are those sub wages or employee wages?

(note: please say employee, please say employee, please say employee)


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## Frankawitz (Jun 17, 2006)

The thing that gets me is the fact that the new Congress will be raising the minimum wage. How this set with some one who is making 10 to 12 an hour?


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## RobertCDF (Aug 18, 2005)

Frankawitz said:


> The thing that gets me is the fact that the new Congress will be raising the minimum wage. How this set with some one who is making 10 to 12 an hour?


I was not aware that people still make minimum wage... It ONLY affects the minimum wage. Like if min wage was $5 now and someone makes 5.50 and they raise to $6 he gets .50 more. Somone making $5 will then get $1 more. Personally I think it is stupid for the gov to control that. If you dont make enough.... GET A DIFFERANT JOB. I would like to hire someone to be a laborer for me, but I could never get someone to work for minimum wage (legaly) because they can go anywhere else and get $9+. Dont worry about min wage the market should set the pay.


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## George Z (Dec 23, 2004)

RobertCDF said:


> I was not aware that people still make minimum wage... It ONLY affects the minimum wage. Like if min wage was $5 now and someone makes 5.50 and they raise to $6 he gets .50 more. Somone making $5 will then get $1 more. Personally I think it is stupid for the gov to control that. If you dont make enough.... GET A DIFFERANT JOB. I would like to hire someone to be a laborer for me, but I could never get someone to work for minimum wage (legaly) because they can go anywhere else and get $9+. Dont worry about min wage the market should set the pay.


People like to eat.
If it was left up to the market forces, $0.50 cents an hour would be it.
Sure, market forces have done wonders in the thirld world.
What about .25 cents a day?


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## AAPaint (Apr 18, 2005)

George Z said:


> People like to eat.
> If it was left up to the market forces, $0.50 cents an hour would be it.
> Sure, market forces have done wonders in the thirld world.
> What about .25 cents a day?


Well said George. :thumbsup:


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## rjordan392 (Feb 9, 2005)

Thanks to All,
I was just debating another on Free Trade and Outsourcing. It seems that the bureau of labor statistics are showing a favorable increase in employment. I saw a table from them saying that 16 year olds are counted in the figures. Now if we took out all the kids stocking supermarket shelves or working for McDonalds after their school hours, the we would have the real employment figures. So while your kids are working, which is good, but think about the adult skilled workers who are not employed enough.

I also saw a table showing $18.62 was the hourly wage for All Occupations. I questioned the All Occupations.


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

Here, pay is in the area of $15-$20 for a competent journeyman. My stucco, roofing, block, drywall subs hire primarily Mexican labor, the contractors are Mexican themselves. They pay their guys that same $15-$20 per hour. Even at those wages it's hard to find competent labor. When I say competent, I mean guys willing to show up and work. 

There is a reason we have 15-20 million illegale's in this country. It's not because there isn't work.


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## rjordan392 (Feb 9, 2005)

That's interesting,
That's got to be a mistake. Illegals making the same as journeymen? Mexico does not have enough industry where their citizens can learn skilled trades. So most of them are unskilled laborers. I suppose also that there must be a big differance in pay depending on the area.


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## Csantillo (Nov 14, 2006)

Wow, here in cali carpenter journerymen make 34.71


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

rjordan392 said:


> That's interesting,
> That's got to be a mistake. Illegals making the same as journeymen? Mexico does not have enough industry where their citizens can learn skilled trades. So most of them are unskilled laborers. I suppose also that there must be a big differance in pay depending on the area.


No, it's not a mistake. I did not intend to infer that all the Mexican workers are illegal. Most are legal. The owners (who are generally Mexican) certainly are legal, they have licenses and insurance as required by law.

As for skilled trades, I often wonder how skilled any tradesmen are, regardless of ethnicity.

A roofer can learn to shingle in an hour, he will get quicker over time. Sure, there are details that he will need to learn, but he will, and quickly.

A drywall hangar, or taper, or a stucco lather, or plasterer, these are all trades that can be quickly learned on the job.

The challenge is finding guys who are motivated, want to earn and are willing to work. In the last 10 years, around here, the industry has changed dramatically, for the better, with the influx of Mexican labor. 

Paying someone less because of his ethnicity would certainly be unethical. Moreover, he would go elsewhere where he would be appreciated for his value, not his ethnicity.


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## karma_carpentry (Aug 7, 2005)

In Boston, competent and responsible carpenter employees get at least $20, typically $25.

I also know some carpenter rates in Nepal, if anyone's curious. One of the poorest (in regard to per capita income) countries in the world. Carpenters in the countryside get about 200 Rupees per day, and in Kathmandu, from 250 to 500 Rupees depending on their experience. $1 is 75 Rupees, so that's about $3 per day in the countryside and up to about $6.50 per day in the city. Those rates are good in comparison to carpetweavers or field workers.

By the way, in the countryside, a hand-sawn 1"x10"-8' pine plank costs $0.60. But it's not kiln-dried. It just came from the sawyers across the stream.


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## rjordan392 (Feb 9, 2005)

<The challenge is finding guys who are motivated, want to earn and are willing to work. In the last 10 years, around here, the industry has changed dramatically, for the better, with the influx of Mexican labor.>
Thom,
Any time there is a change in the ethnicity of a workforce only means one thing. The employer does not want to pay fair compensation to address the cost's of living. Or other issues like safety on the job, health insurance may have an effect. So the skilled workers quit. I don't have a problem with a man's race; I have a problem with any group that comes into this Country to work for less then existing pay scales for both skilled and unskilled work. This may not be the case with your subcontractors but in the northeast, things are much differant. Not only are blue collar workers affected, but so are white collar. In my area, manufacturers are replacing their workforce with orientals and Wall Street is replacing their computer programers with indians. It would appear that we are on differant sides of the fence in our opinions on what Motivation really means.


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## Plan 9 (Oct 22, 2006)

Here in Southern California, if an Illegal Alien jumps into your truck, and your dare to offer him less than $10 per hour and pay for his lunch, he will refuse and get out of your truck.

Even if there are 20 guys on the corner, looking all hungry and desperate, they will not accept less than $10.

Back in the day they would work for peanuts but no longer. They are hip to what's going on, they recognise their appeal is not their low cost, but their solid work ethic.

I know lots of illegal aliens, I know dozens that currently get $15+ per hour, cash. Some more.


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## atlas06 (Nov 19, 2006)

Well folks, I was an illegal allien 23 years ago, with no english. Mr Ronald Reagan issued an amnesty for all of us back in 1986. Today, I am an Engineer making in the low six figures (paying lots of taxes) with the 2-kids, dual income, 2-cars, suburban home american dream type of life. True, I was cheap foreign labor (foreign graduate) at first (say three years), I was working for $8.00/hr when my American peers were paid $18.00. I was doing 60-hour weeks with un-paid overtime, I was so hard-working and underpaid that my colleagues requested a pay increase for me to the boss (it was nice of them, but I did get the increase), instead, my department head told me that I wanted a raise, I had to change jobs. I took his advice. All along, although very low paid, I was never a threat to any American job.

Today, I can command four weeks of vacation and a signing bonus when I do change jobs (this allien - now American- is no longer cheap). When I do side jobs, I get $200.00/hr no less (most of it is due to efficiency). 
Now, I suppervise and educate all these young college graduates, and transfer what I've learned over the years for the next generation, I will not take any of my engineering to the grave you know. Some day, one of these young folks will make more than I do, and will be my boss, because he will be brought to the corporate world as a future leader, while I was brought up as a number cruncher (a "mushroom" as we call guys like me).

I happen to travel sometimes with work (flying), you ever notice how all the travellers are WASP's (White Anglo-saxon protestants) while all the flight attendents nowadays and the ticket agents are mostly minorities. Well, the pretty white girls do not want to be filght attendents no more, they don't want to be bank tellers neither, and the AA (All-American meaning Blonde/Blue eyes) guys don't want to do field labor any more, they'd rather be interns at their dad's law firm, and so on.
So, don't look for those guys any more, instead learning spanish may be a better bet in the construction industry in the US today.

Some jobs are still protected, although I am well overqualified, I cannot seem to get a government job in washington DC area (very good benefits and pay), but the WASP's get in very fast. Normal, it is that way in any other country.

I went to Montreal, Canada two years ago, the first thing I noticed was this deautiful blonde holding a stop sign in a road construction project, I knew right away that all the tellers, the grocery store clerks, etc in Montreal would be all blonde, blue eyes. I was right.

Morality is: the best paying jobs always go to the natives, what's left is taken by the immigrants. the least paid, the most dangerous jobs always go to the immigrant and he says he is lucky. With time, however, as the immigrant gets Americanized, he gets the almost top pay and the cycle continues.

God bless America.


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## dougchips (Apr 23, 2006)

atlas06 said:


> Well folks, I was an illegal allien 23 years ago, with no english. Mr Ronald Reagan issued an amnesty for all of us back in 1986. Today, I am an Engineer making in the low six figures (paying lots of taxes) with the 2-kids, dual income, 2-cars, suburban home american dream type of life. True, I was cheap foreign labor (foreign graduate) at first (say three years), I was working for $8.00/hr when my American peers were paid $18.00. I was doing 60-hour weeks with un-paid overtime, I was so hard-working and underpaid that my colleagues requested a pay increase for me to the boss (it was nice of them, but I did get the increase), instead, my department head told me that I wanted a raise, I had to change jobs. I took his advice. All along, although very low paid, I was never a threat to any American job.
> 
> Today, I can command four weeks of vacation and a signing bonus when I do change jobs (this allien - now American- is no longer cheap). When I do side jobs, I get $200.00/hr no less (most of it is due to efficiency).
> Now, I suppervise and educate all these young college graduates, and transfer what I've learned over the years for the next generation, I will not take any of my engineering to the grave you know. Some day, one of these young folks will make more than I do, and will be my boss, because he will be brought to the corporate world as a future leader, while I was brought up as a number cruncher (a "mushroom" as we call guys like me).
> ...


The cream rises to the top? Don't take this the wrong way, write a book and hand it out to the people outside Home Creapo your story would be a good inspiration--hand it out to the people working inside also.


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## nadonailer (Nov 15, 2005)

Right On Atlas06!! You are the American Dream personified, congrats! :clap:


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## nadonailer (Nov 15, 2005)

I have finally given up on hiring wjite kids here in SoCal - they are less than worthless I have for the first tiime, hired a LEGAL Mexican Immigrant and after one week, I must say I am convinced! I am sad to say it, but i believe Mexican laborers are far superior to white kids (I sound like a reverse racist, don't I?)


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## paintr56 (Feb 4, 2005)

Are you paying minimum wage or above? Market forces set every wage above minimum. I think a lot of workers who work for minimum wage for long probably are not worth that much.

My only fear about raising it too much is low end jobs will dry up.


Jim Bunton


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## Crawdad (Jul 20, 2005)

realpurty2 said:


> Speaking from those hills...(ha) the wages are VERY low here.
> 
> Journeyman Electrician $10 starting- Tops at $14
> Carpenter - $10 - $15
> ...


But, look what you can do with that money...
These are houses, not apartments...
from the kingsport paper today.

$775 Attractive, private, 4BR, 1BA, near Med Center/ETSU. basement, carport, Mtn view. Hdwd floors.

2BR Country, Pets, FP, Storage bldg. $350 2BR, 2BA Furn w/d, water incl. $400. 


A 2 BR houses, Kpt. $400 mo. 1 BR cottage $325. No dep.


A 3 BR, 1 BA, fenced yard. Storage bldg. $525 mo. + dep.


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