# Salary Survey



## nmarshall603 (Mar 25, 2012)

*Hey I am conducting a salary survey for commercial roofing?*

*I am looking for input for both hourly wages for employers and crew subccontractor rates for commercial including TPO, EPDM and Built Up.*


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Edit: Sorry formatting didn't keep in my copy and pastes. 

A sub who used to work for me told me he was getting $110 a square labor only for tear off and install tpo. I told him he was nuts because the projects he's working on are 2 day jobs for 6 guys at about 12 squares. You can do the math, he's being taken advantage of. Then again he cheats his taxes and insurance to make money. The subcontractor game!


I always feel that sub contractor rates should reflect production rates in the real world. For example if a square takes an hour and your labor rate is $65 a square, your per square price is an hour. Using this math is how I formulated my subcontract pay schedule. 

First layer BUR tear off $35.00 square Tear off mechanically attached single ply ??? additional layers of roofing per layer $12.00 square garbage chute setup and take down $180.00 per setup Single Ply install mechanically attached or self adhering $35.00 square Single Ply install fully adhered or ballasted with rock $50.00 square fully adhered rough brick walls (additional) $15.00 field flash irregular pipe or small flu less than 1' diameter $11.00 each field flash curb $45.00 each pipe boots $22.00 each Self adhering cover tape $0.45 linear foot termination bar or surface mount counter flashing & caulk $0.50 linear foot gravel stop or gutter flash $0.50 linear foot metal coping install $2.00 linear foot pitch pan install and seal $22.00 each fiberboard or insulation install 4x8 sheets $7.00 each scupper tear out $15.00 each scupper install $45.00 each ceramic coping remove $2.00 2' tile ceramic coping install with mortar $15.00 2' tile squares over 30' from ground $5.00 square small job less than 25 squares or very cut-up $10.00 square 

This really is only a guide-line however. It seems on every job we are renegotiating prices. 



As for wages, those vary greatly by area. My opinion is your wage should reflect your time put into the trade, time spent with the company, and especially the value you bring to the company. I wouldn't necessarily pay a shingle roofer more or less than a flat roofer just because of their specialty. That's just my $0.02. 

Here is the Cook County Illinois Prevailing Wage Rate for roofers... 

Trade Name RG TYP C Base FRMAN M-F>8 OSA OSH H/W Pensn Vac Trng 
ROOFER BLD 38.350 41.350 1.5 1.5 2.0 8.280 8.770 0.000 0.430 

http://www.state.il.us/agency/idol/PWRates/13-02Feb/COOK9999.htm

So basically the base pay is $38.50 per hour. After you add on all the other "benefits" it's much much higher. Keep in mind this basically reflects the Union pay scale.


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## nmarshall603 (Mar 25, 2012)

Were switching to an employee model to control quality and costs. We're going to develop a 3 year apprenticeship program as well.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Cool, I would if I could find the right key people. By using subs I delegate many of the head aches I had when I had employees. I fully intend, if I stay in business past this year, to eventually switch over the using employees again as well. I have a great sub right now, infact it's my former employer before I started my business. We've known each other and been working together since year 2000. 

However you CAN get quality control from subs if you know how. I would use the same quality control methods for subs and for employees because I also know from experience there is no guarantee you'll get quality from employees. 


The apprenticeship idea is a great one if you have the production manager for it. Unfortunately I had a great journeyman as my production manager and he wasn't really capable of managing to that level of ability. It would be really, really, nice to have a documented 30 year training program. I think there is an orginization offering this, ABC comes to mind, perhaps American Building Contractor... A previous discussion with Ed comes to mind. I beelive their apprenticeship program is accredited and accepted as a true apprenticeship program so that you can take advantage of the apprentice position in prevailing wage jobs. Otherwise if you don't have an accredited apprenticeship program you have to pay all your workmen like journeymen even if their skill isn't there yet. Sounds to me like that's the direction you're trying to move?


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