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chad harris
Posted: Aug 25, 2011 09:54 PM
Borrow an Applicator
Had a fellow contractor (which is new to the biz) call and ask if we could spare an applicator for a big roofing job he had landed. I said sure, our applicators are well trained and highly skilled with tons of experience and their wages are $20.00 an hour with overtime. His reply was, ""We dont have enough money in the job to pay an applicator that kind of money". ????????????????????????????????
Posted: Aug 26, 2011 01:23 PM
lol....you get what you pay for!
John Shockney
Posted: Aug 26, 2011 08:57 PM
Heck I figure that we need a $1,500 per day in gross profit just for spraying foam (prep and cleanup extra) and paying someone $160 a day on a big job as an extra sprayer should increase production and the gross per day should go up.

I wish I could keep an extra sprayer busy but I just don’t have enough work to support another household so I will stay a small mom and pop operation.

Airpro
chad harris
Posted: Aug 26, 2011 11:36 PM
I hear ya, I believe this fella landed his "pie in the sky", only to realize that he bid it way to cheap and left lots of coins laying on the table. He doesnt have the personel to properly to do the job, and sounds like he's not interested in paying a fair price for a top notch applicator either. What everyone in this business needs to understand, is that the man behind that gun has alot to do with the outcome of the job.
mason
Posted: Aug 30, 2011 09:46 AM
Having a responsible, well trained applicator is essential to this business. Sadly this part of our industry (and the skilled construction industry in general) has not kept up very well with salaries and hourly pay.

For example, in 1970 I was being paid $7 per hour as a helper on a sprayfoam crew, the applicators received $9.50/hour and the foreman $12/hour.

More than 41 years later we have barely doubled the labor rate.

In 1970, we had folks with college degrees working on the crews, even had one with a masters degree.

My father used to send his crews out with complete confidence that the job quality would be excellent. He did not have to babysit us. If you didn't cut it, you didn't have a job. The pay was good enough that it kept folks on their toes.

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