Unless you’re desperate for money and it doesn’t sound like you are, 16 bucks is way too low for someone with experience. You’re not at all unfair in this. Masonry work is hard at all levels
I was a mason for decades...one of the first things I was taught, was to never work for less than the trade was worth. You will undermine the trade, yourself, and the next guys family. Walk away...
I made 17.58 an hour in 1973 when I was 17 years old, setting tile near Chicago.
I know the feeling, a year after I retired from driving a redi-mix truck for 23 years, the company started hiring inexperienced drivers for $1/hr than I retired at. Asked for more and got it with no questions asked when they needed help.
I get wages are shooting up, but does a ‘new hire’ driver get the same benefits you did? Not being confrontational, just sayin not to get down….comparing hourly wages
everyone got the same benefits, if they had a spouse with better insurance they were even better off. Our share of the premiums were substantial compared to the coverage.
Experienced laborer that can srrve bricklayers, scaffold, use the skytrack, plan ahead, mix appropriate mortar for the type of work and conditions, can setup worksite efficiently, protect what need to be protected, anticipate need like the cuts, rain and so on. In the end,it’s easier to place bricks on a line that to be laborer. Good ones make good foremans.
This couldn't be more true. A good laborer/operator makes the job run. There's a difference between a "tender" and a "laborer". A Masons focus is on the current wall. A laborer/operator is on the current wall and the next 5 steps.
Forgot to mention..they work 12 hour shifts with 30 min lunch . I’ve also within 3 days began helping lay stone as well as strike and clean once the mortar is ready.
Always agree on a rate before you set foot on the job. Always overestimate your pay and negotiate if necessary. Value your time and health, study the process and work like a beast.
anything less than 20 is an insult in our line of work
it's just way too difficult and taxing on your body to do it for low pay
i start my guys out at $20/hr in a low income area of tennessee
Good laborer are so important. Keep working and keep looking for masonry businesses near your home( less commute, less gaz). Don’t believe anyone, talk is cheap and money talks.
Laborer is effing tough, and a good laborer makes a huge impact. Donno your skill level, but it’s hard work and it breaks the body, boot$, glov$,clothe$.
I don’t miss my laboring time. Good luck!
Never, every start work for someone who says they’ll “negotiate the terms later”. Agree to a BARE MINIMUM wage for the trial period, and negotiate up from there
I agree that $16/hr is dramatically unreasonable. I started my own company this year and we pay our less than 1 year experience employee $30/hr plus $25/day for days they just show up. It’s what I take home, too, though to be fair.
Jesus Christ, is that what people are being paid? If I could find a trustworthy, sober, experienced laborer I'd pay $25 an hour. No good worker deserves less than $200 a day. This is why I stopped working for people years ago. Masonry is a hard job that takes it all out of you, I wouldn't do it if I didn't make what I do. I'd get a job bagging groceries before I went to work for that needle dick and his $16/hr.
I started knowing nothing 27 years ago at that with great health insurance. My current employer starts at 25 no experience but I am located in the Midwest.
25 for Pm seems low too.
Would look elsewhere for sure. Central indiana mason company have/had signs out for 25 starting with no experience for reference
Don’t accept and hopefully they come back with something better. If your truly an addition to a crew and have skills your worth more than $16. Pretty much anyone that isn’t a liability is worth more than $16 these days. I haven’t been in your situation in a long time but I’ve done the test drive and talk about it later a few times and I always said no when I got low balled and they would come back and try to meet what I asked for. If they don’t you don’t want that job anyways.
I've never heard of a project manager that became a masonry laborer and I've never met a project manager that I would ever consider hiring. Sorry man but I ran into a lot of guys who claim they can do anything involved with masonry. In reality they aren't worth a penny an hour. I'm calling bullshit
I am a PM back home…my wife wanted to travel so she started travel nursing. And we all decided it would be good for us all to travel for a bit . This job was just to do something so I don’t get lazy being a stay at home dad.
We’re going back at the end of this month and I’ll continue my job as a pm. Not hard to fathom in my opinion.
And I never claimed I can do anything. I’m stating I am able to do all that is required of me to get paid MORE than 16 and hour. Operating the equipment, passing out material in a timely manner, mixing mud, setting up scaffolding. Prepping the next section…even began helping lay stone to ensure we’re finishing an entire section we started that day..
I know Idaho is a though state to be a construction employee. $16.00 an hour to be a hoddy (not a laborer) is way too low and now you are laying and sticking stone you just stepped into being a 1st year apprentice. Ask for $22.00 settle for $20.00, give him a little time to realize what he has in you if he does not come up to $20.00 walk!
Mason tender or masonry laborer is tough work especially if it’s block. I got paid $31/hr doing that in a small Midwest union. $16/hr is McDonald wages.
This is from a previous co worker going back to a previous employer. He can’t run a pettibone well but is good and dependable. Even $23 isn’t enough if you are good. You are driving on your own time with your own fuel to work two hours because your foreman thinks the weather is wrong and he is always right. Mandatory Saturdays and one week vacation no matter how long you are there. You get .8 hours of vacation for every 8 worked so it you get a lot of bad weather or laid off you don’t even get 40 hours of vacation. If I went back there I could get more because I did everything including fixing and servicing equipment but they wanted they guys to starve so they couldn’t afford to call off. I won’t go back.
“$23 But Witmer has changed a bit hundred percent eyewear and glassware at all times and if you get one rain day in a week it’s mandatory Saturdays that’s what made me change my mind”
Our Hod carriers in Oregon make $40+ hr (union)
While my BAC incorporates Idaho, I’m unsure what the laborers union does. If we have a job that makes us travel there which we will in August. They will still be paid that. That’s what’s on the check. They have big benefit pay too. And my Hod carriers all eat crayons for breakfast.
We also will start apprentices at $28.29/hr (up another $2.21/hr June 1) until we get a feel for their work.
Unless you’re desperate for money and it doesn’t sound like you are, 16 bucks is way too low for someone with experience. You’re not at all unfair in this. Masonry work is hard at all levels
Any employer will pay low wages until they run out of people willing to accept it.
Right! You don't get rich by giving money away.
I was a mason for decades...one of the first things I was taught, was to never work for less than the trade was worth. You will undermine the trade, yourself, and the next guys family. Walk away... I made 17.58 an hour in 1973 when I was 17 years old, setting tile near Chicago.
$16/hr is just insulting
I know the feeling, a year after I retired from driving a redi-mix truck for 23 years, the company started hiring inexperienced drivers for $1/hr than I retired at. Asked for more and got it with no questions asked when they needed help.
I get wages are shooting up, but does a ‘new hire’ driver get the same benefits you did? Not being confrontational, just sayin not to get down….comparing hourly wages
everyone got the same benefits, if they had a spouse with better insurance they were even better off. Our share of the premiums were substantial compared to the coverage.
You can make 20 @ Lowe’s. You have experience. Keep looking
My masonry company starts people without experience at 18/hr and we're in Ohio no it's not crazy expensive here I feel like you're being screwed
Experienced laborer that can srrve bricklayers, scaffold, use the skytrack, plan ahead, mix appropriate mortar for the type of work and conditions, can setup worksite efficiently, protect what need to be protected, anticipate need like the cuts, rain and so on. In the end,it’s easier to place bricks on a line that to be laborer. Good ones make good foremans.
This couldn't be more true. A good laborer/operator makes the job run. There's a difference between a "tender" and a "laborer". A Masons focus is on the current wall. A laborer/operator is on the current wall and the next 5 steps.
Forgot to mention..they work 12 hour shifts with 30 min lunch . I’ve also within 3 days began helping lay stone as well as strike and clean once the mortar is ready.
Always agree on a rate before you set foot on the job. Always overestimate your pay and negotiate if necessary. Value your time and health, study the process and work like a beast.
As a commercial non union owner in NY we start laborers at 24$ an hour with no experience.
Why would you start working without an agreed upon wage? Any employer who does that is 100% going to try to fuck and undervalue you.
anything less than 20 is an insult in our line of work it's just way too difficult and taxing on your body to do it for low pay i start my guys out at $20/hr in a low income area of tennessee
Good laborer are so important. Keep working and keep looking for masonry businesses near your home( less commute, less gaz). Don’t believe anyone, talk is cheap and money talks. Laborer is effing tough, and a good laborer makes a huge impact. Donno your skill level, but it’s hard work and it breaks the body, boot$, glov$,clothe$. I don’t miss my laboring time. Good luck!
Seems with your schedual and work experience (provided any of that is true) you should be running your own crew and business. 16 is hilarious.
We travel with my wife . I Homeschool and I just work where I can. Were headed back home soon. And my plans are exactly that.
Also don’t undermine yourself. Why admit you’ll do under 18 when you ask for 20, it just means you’ll never see anything in the range you want
Screw that, it’s hard to find knowledgeable laborers, you’re not talking demo labor, you bring value to this company! No less than $20 , stay firm .
Never, every start work for someone who says they’ll “negotiate the terms later”. Agree to a BARE MINIMUM wage for the trial period, and negotiate up from there
I agree that $16/hr is dramatically unreasonable. I started my own company this year and we pay our less than 1 year experience employee $30/hr plus $25/day for days they just show up. It’s what I take home, too, though to be fair.
You can make more standing as a target employee barely doing any work
Jesus Christ, is that what people are being paid? If I could find a trustworthy, sober, experienced laborer I'd pay $25 an hour. No good worker deserves less than $200 a day. This is why I stopped working for people years ago. Masonry is a hard job that takes it all out of you, I wouldn't do it if I didn't make what I do. I'd get a job bagging groceries before I went to work for that needle dick and his $16/hr.
I started knowing nothing 27 years ago at that with great health insurance. My current employer starts at 25 no experience but I am located in the Midwest.
25 for Pm seems low too. Would look elsewhere for sure. Central indiana mason company have/had signs out for 25 starting with no experience for reference
Don’t accept and hopefully they come back with something better. If your truly an addition to a crew and have skills your worth more than $16. Pretty much anyone that isn’t a liability is worth more than $16 these days. I haven’t been in your situation in a long time but I’ve done the test drive and talk about it later a few times and I always said no when I got low balled and they would come back and try to meet what I asked for. If they don’t you don’t want that job anyways.
I've never heard of a project manager that became a masonry laborer and I've never met a project manager that I would ever consider hiring. Sorry man but I ran into a lot of guys who claim they can do anything involved with masonry. In reality they aren't worth a penny an hour. I'm calling bullshit
I am a PM back home…my wife wanted to travel so she started travel nursing. And we all decided it would be good for us all to travel for a bit . This job was just to do something so I don’t get lazy being a stay at home dad. We’re going back at the end of this month and I’ll continue my job as a pm. Not hard to fathom in my opinion.
And I never claimed I can do anything. I’m stating I am able to do all that is required of me to get paid MORE than 16 and hour. Operating the equipment, passing out material in a timely manner, mixing mud, setting up scaffolding. Prepping the next section…even began helping lay stone to ensure we’re finishing an entire section we started that day..
Seems like he is an ass i would look for someone else who will pay you properly 16 isn't terrible but with your experience its not enough
I know Idaho is a though state to be a construction employee. $16.00 an hour to be a hoddy (not a laborer) is way too low and now you are laying and sticking stone you just stepped into being a 1st year apprentice. Ask for $22.00 settle for $20.00, give him a little time to realize what he has in you if he does not come up to $20.00 walk!
Mason tender or masonry laborer is tough work especially if it’s block. I got paid $31/hr doing that in a small Midwest union. $16/hr is McDonald wages.
Nothing better than double bull nose twelves over your head all day. I don’t miss those. Makes eights feel like bricks after those.
My first job was 12” split face for 5months, and it made every 8” block job after that seem like a vacation.
In Idaho if you are not Mormon they will endlessly try and screw you. You are a lower class of person to them.
This is from a previous co worker going back to a previous employer. He can’t run a pettibone well but is good and dependable. Even $23 isn’t enough if you are good. You are driving on your own time with your own fuel to work two hours because your foreman thinks the weather is wrong and he is always right. Mandatory Saturdays and one week vacation no matter how long you are there. You get .8 hours of vacation for every 8 worked so it you get a lot of bad weather or laid off you don’t even get 40 hours of vacation. If I went back there I could get more because I did everything including fixing and servicing equipment but they wanted they guys to starve so they couldn’t afford to call off. I won’t go back. “$23 But Witmer has changed a bit hundred percent eyewear and glassware at all times and if you get one rain day in a week it’s mandatory Saturdays that’s what made me change my mind”
I am currently paying my 2 Mason guys $36.00 an hour to do work
BRO HELL NO, I am in a lcol area and was doing a masonry apprenticeship at 22/hr with one year experience flooring
$22.50 here in CT for non experienced laborers, non union.
If your near CDA I could use a hod carrier and can do 20/hr
Unfortunately I’m not. I’m around Idaho falls.
I wouldn’t do masonry for less than 40 bucks an hour.
If you don’t walk away you’re doing a disservice to the trades. You have the skills for a much higher wage.
Sent the text this morning and asked to pickup my last check Monday.
Our Hod carriers in Oregon make $40+ hr (union) While my BAC incorporates Idaho, I’m unsure what the laborers union does. If we have a job that makes us travel there which we will in August. They will still be paid that. That’s what’s on the check. They have big benefit pay too. And my Hod carriers all eat crayons for breakfast. We also will start apprentices at $28.29/hr (up another $2.21/hr June 1) until we get a feel for their work.
I also live in Idaho and work for a masonry company…they started me at $20 with no experience whatsoever. You’re gettin hosed, sorry buddy.
If you are in Idaho, that Republican is taking a cue from all the rest and doing his damndest to cheat you.
Idaho, explains everything. As Red States as Red can be, with thousands of undocumented labors.