what is going rate for young helper?

What is the going rate for an under 16 helper around a property- helping with splitting and moving firewood, some mowing and other upkeep?

I was joking with a girl who is a kind of a niece to me, 14 years old, that she could mow my pasture. She likes to do mechanical things and drive my UTV around, and tinker. She sent a text asking when she could do it.

I could use another hand, but with limited access to things that can cause loss of life and limb. Wondering what the rate is for an inexperienced you general laborer might be. I am think 8 to 9 bucks an hour cash at the end of each day.

 

That's about right I think. I paid a kid $10 an hour to help me mix stucco for my house a few years back.
Just keep her away from a bush hog or anything with a spinning PTO driveshaft in my opinion. But some 14 year olds are more mature than others. I had a 12 year old help me by driving my tractor while I rode behind him standing on the 3-point hitch. I made sure he stayed in 1st gear and went slow. The next summer he spent a lot of time in the Bobcat, at first with me--both of us in the single seat--but after I saw he knew what he was doing he ran it by himself while I worked out in front of him.

 

If you can get the help, take it!
$10 dollars is very fair.

 

$10/hour cash end of day or if multiple days in a row end of project.

 

Maybe I am out of touch but I think cash work for a 14 year old, running your equipment. 7-8 would be a plenty. If they had uncle Sam dipping what would they have to get to equal that, around 10-10.50.

 

The thought of paying kids/teens by the hour scares me; they screw around too much. I pay some teens $30/cord to stack firewood. If they hustle, they can make a decent hourly rate. On the other hand, my son (13) and a friend took about 3 hours to stack a cord....not so great on their part.

 

Sheetz starts their employees at $10...
Probably get about $8 after taxes...

Dad always paid his helpers about $10 .
It was still hard to keep them coming back.

 

For specific tasks like cleaning a stall, moving a wood pile, I prefer to tell the young person what it is worth to do the task. Then when the job is half done, I pay them half and then when completed, pay the whole thing off unless it is a one day job, then pay them at the end of the day.

 

$6/hour + refreshments and lunch/supper ('bonuses' when appropriate).


Just remind the youngsters that playing with the iPad pays $0/hour.

 

My kids get per job pay.
$5 for each half of the lawn
$5 per cord stacked.
Of course they also get to live and eat here, so I don't have to pay anything.

If it was someone else, around $10/hr.
Most kids around here wouldn't bother to put the phone down 10/hr, but every area is different

 

I’d start at 8$ an hour and if she’s a good worker give her 10.

 

For the last 15 years or so I get "stuck" with the summer students which most of the time
isn't too bad.
A few of them even found full time employment with the city after they graduated but alot of them didn't.
Pretty sure they wanted to sit in front of a pute for the day.

Just yesterday I took the one lad around in the truck to show him the dozen stations we have to take care of and 90% of the time he had his head down texting whoever?

 

Somehow, what we do on our phones has become more important than what we do "in person". I do not have much patience for phones. I'd have called out the kid in the truck for wasting my time. Whatever was on that phone, unless it was information relating to the job was inconsequential at the time. Would think that maybe questions pertaining to the job would be much more appropriate?

We are rapidly becoming victims of our own success as a species and society.

 

I would seriously consider avoiding a hourly wage and consider each task you want done and agree on a value. Much less work on your part as it cuts out the tracking of hours and making sure they are there and actually working. If you see them screwing off it will not effect you as much because your not paying for that time. Although certain quality / safety standards need to be made clear. You don't want them bouncing through the field in 4th gear because they double there wage over 2nd gear....

 

This is why I suggest a lower hourly rate. Kindof a 'showup and be here' thing. $1 for every ten minutes of their time. You can always pay more, but it's hard to cut a wage once established.

I never received much cash for chores as a child. My parents worked a different angle, putting a big carrot in front of me in the form of a new bicycle at birthday time or a BB gun/video game system at Christmas. It was not just labor, I was also being 'paid' for good behavior in general and my grades also factored in. If there was a 'big' chore, I'd likely get a little cash after completion, but day to day stuff was rolled into Birthday or Christmas....sometimes a random reward would be issued. Whenever I balked at push mowing the back yard or whatever chore I did not want to do...."Guess someone doesn't really want that Nintendo for Christmas this year...." Yep, off my butt to go mow!

 

When we arrived back at the water plant the other 2 students were doing the exact same thing. Pretty sure its gonna be a long summer.

 

I had to tell a guy at work (about 40 yrs old) to get off the fone. He would then sneak away or to the job john and make calls and send txts. He got laid off and never called back...
Sad...He was making $30 /hr

 

I get laughed at TD but will stick with this.

 

for now...while they still exist...

 

Hmm...some things seem to be pretty universal...we have one kid that is decent, the other "boar hog mammarys"

$10 per hour seems like a bit much to me unless/until this young person proves their worth and/or comes with prior experience and can be pretty much "turned loose"