Knowing how much to pay your pool service employees is one of the best ways to ensure you hire and keep the best pool technicians in your area.
Ever wondered if you’re compensating your pool technicians too much or too little?
Then, use this quick guide to properly compensate your pool technicians and beat your competitors to the punch!
Use this guide to show you the:
How much you pay your pool technicians affects your bottom line, the quality of work, and the attention to detail you provide to your pool service clients.
Always keep in mind, your pool technicians are a direct reflection on your pool cleaning business.
By the end of this article, you’ll be able to determine how to compensate your pool employees.
Before you can determine how much to pay your pool technicians, you need to make sure your pool service prices are right.
In order to find out your charging enough for your pool services, you need to know how your man hour rate.
Think of it this way, you’re in the business of selling time. For instance, how long does it take you to clean a pool?
Here’s the formula for finding your man hour rate:
(number of workers) x (hours on the job)
________________________________________
(price of the job)
For example, if your pool technician spends 15 minutes doing a routine pool cleaning, and you’re charging about $25 per pool cleaning, then your man hour rate is about $167.
(1) x (.15)
__________________
($25)
Also, don’t forget that you and your pool service technicians need to be accurately tracking the time spent on each job. The best way to do this is using pool service software.
Now, you have an idea of what you can afford to pay your pool cleaners, it’s important to leave room to not only reach your profit goals but also for other overhead costs (i.e. costs for gas, insurance, marketing, etc.. ).
Bottom Line: Your pool service prices need to be able to pay your overhead costs while still making a profit to grow your pool service business.
Always talk with your financial advisor or accountant to check your prices.
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Depending on which position you’re trying to fill, pool technician salaries have a wide range between hourly and salaried job opportunities.
These are a few salary ranges of various pool technician job openings that pool businesses are offering:
As you can see, the average pool technician salary has a wide range with a variety of ways you can pay your pool employees.
While you can’t base your salary on these wide-ranging averages, it’s still important for you to research it.
After all, when you find your area’s average pool technician salary with similar requirements for the position you’re looking to fill, you can get a general idea of the number you’ll need to beat to hire great pool employees.
Generally, most pool service businesses choose either one or a combination of ways of paying their pool service employees.
Let’s take a look at a few ways you can pay your pool service employees:
By far, hourly pay is probably one of the most common ways pool service business owners choose to pay their employees.
For this method, you’ll pay your pool employees a set hourly wage until they reach 40 hours. Then, you’ll pay them time and a half for any hours worked over 40.
Due to its simplicity and lower risks (of losing profit), hourly pay is the old school, tried-and-true way of paying your pool technicians.
Generally, hourly pay is great for beginner positions with minimal to no experience.
Occasionally, you might pay a pool technician an annual salary.
Salary pay is especially common for pool employees who are highly qualified and in some type of leadership position.
While it may not be a good idea to set all of your employees as salaried, it’s a great way to attract amazing candidates with exceptional qualifications, certifications, and experience.
Since these two pay structures are so similar, we’ll talk about them together as a whole. Due to their complexity and the potential legal implications if they’re not properly executed, these two pay structures are the least common in the pool service industry.
These two pay structures either pay employees per day or per week they’ve worked.
Though, it might sound like a simple way to pay your pool technicians, here’s the deal… ALL of your pool employees MUST at least make minimum wage.
In other words, not only do they need to be making more than minimum wage for the hours they’ve logged.
Additionally, you also must adhere to Overtime Laws (similar laws apply in Canada too). they also are owed time and a half of overtime pay for any hours worked past 40.
As a result, you need to be very careful since you can be audited by the government for not adhering to Overtime Laws.
Due to all of the potential legal implications if you don’t pay close enough attention, I don’t recommend using either of these pay structures.
When in doubt, talk with your financial advisor or accountant to make the best decision for your pool business.
Since there are a wide variety of factors to consider, pool cleaning employee wages can be extremely subjective to your business.
First off, how much you pay your pool service employees depends on which pay structure you’re using - hourly, salary, pay by day, or pay by week.
Now, let’s take a look at a of the main factors you need to take into account when setting a pool employee wage:
Even though offering competitive pay is vital in keeping your amazing pool technicians, it’s not the only thing that matters.
Your pool technicians also care about other forms of compensation, such as benefits, company culture, and bonuses.
Which means, in addition to higher pay, you also need to treat your employees right, listen to them, treat them fairly, give them a clear career path with goals, and have an open door policy in order to keep your best pool service employees.
Now, let’s talk about a few other ways you can compensate your pool service technicians:
These are just a few of the countless ways you can properly compensate your pool employees.
If you’re just starting your pool cleaning business, you may not be able to offer all of these compensations at once. Though, you can make it a priority to gradually include it in your budget as it becomes possible.
As always, ask your employees for their feedback and listen to their wants and concerns. This is the best way to ensure your best pool technicians don’t leave you for your competition.
Before making any major financial decisions, be sure to talk with your financial advisor or accountant.
Now, you know how much to pay pool technicians in order to build a successful pool service business.
AS ALWAYS, talk with your financial advisor or accountant before making any financial decisions about your business.
As you determine how to properly compensate the pool service technicians in your business, remember to always listen to your employee feedback.
After all, properly compensating your pool technicians is about more than just a paycheck. It’s about your company culture too.
I promise, when you follow the steps in this article, you’ll have everything you need to keep the best pool technicians in the business.
Related: Pool Service Hiring Guide: How to Hire the Best Employees
Originally published June 3, 2021 1:14 PM
Tags: Business Operation, Featured Post
