How much to pay people working for you

[ministry4u]

I have someone who works for me at a contracted rate. I have considered adding another person. One thing I've wondered is what everyone else pays people working for them. I ran into a guy who has lots of people that do "tents" for him, but we never had this conversation. Right off the bat, their is equipment and a tent that is being loaned out (if the person does not have their own), and most places around here want you to rent your space $30-$50/day. Few questions i have are these:
1- do you have people work at hourly rates?
2- do you make them responsible for finding and renting their own space
3- what is fair to both them and you if they're contracted
4- do they keep the cash on cash jobs
5- how do you prevent someone you just trained from contracting themself with either the networks or ACT

I want to run an ad looking for somebody, but I'd like to work out these questions before I pull the trigger. Thanks!

[bill lambeth]

I have one guy in another city from where I am and I pay him 75 % of what he does. I sale him resin and bits and make a little. These were my accounts to start with. My guys is not a go getter! Nobody will work like the person that owns the business! I have been through lots of people in other cities and it never works!I hope that helps friend!

[SGT]

I have an independant contractor. Someone very trust worthy and retired. No contract. I set them up with the accounts and they work them. They use their vehicle and gas. I supply them with everything they need and let them work on their timeline. All they have to do is show up. I give them the lions share and i do all paperwork and account relations. They get a W9 at year end.

I am sure there are others with deeper insight in this area than I. Personally I like the aspireing white collar type college student and retirees. In my mind both types like the idea of easy extra money but usually do not have the desire to run with the business especially if you make it worth their while.

[GlassStarz]

The biggest mistake most make is placing a employee on a salary they have nothing to work for. A commission with a weekly draw is the best way to get them to sell. And let them know they dont cover the draw more than 2 weeks and they will be replaced. Doing it this way they are a indepenent contractor with minimum paperwork for you. People who want to earn alot will work harder people who want to make the same work in factories

[SuperGlassDave]

Just a note on the Contract Labor or Independent Contractor; be careful to follow the IRS guidelines on "employee/contract labor" to keep yourself out of trouble. If they find that you wrongly classified your "employee" you will liable for everything you should have deducted, and didn't, plus penalties and interest.

A couple of common guidelines used that could help; (1) A contract labor owns their own equipment (like a lawncare company or painting company) (2) you do not give the contract labor a daily schedule or daily direction, (3) the contract labor performs the same work for at least one other customer during the year, (4) a contract labor will not have a key to the shop or office.

One down side of the contract labor compared to the employee with taxes withheld is that, quite often, you have an employee with a tax bill in April rather than a refund.

Just a few thoughts to help stay out of trouble with the tax guys. They take withholding pretty serious. - Happy Repairing - SuperGlassdave