How much to pay a "helper" that is wanting to learn?

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I've always payed helpers by helping those who help me.
I figure that you guys (especially the pro's) will know a lot more than I about paying folks to help.
My situation is that I could use a little help working on my cars and my nephew wants to learn about cars.
He is finishing college and is struggling so I WANT to pay him. He pretty much knows how to drive a car and that's about the extent of it.
He follows directions well and has worked in a machine shop so he's got good potential.
I wanna help him out while getting help myself. Nothing in life is free right? ;-)
he is finishing college so its just weekends.

Any advice?

what does a new guy in a shop make... i mean a GREEN one if he could even get hired.

 

Minimum wage until experience/knowledge justify the pay raise...

 

You may come to regret your own kindness...

 

Perfect response,,some think kindness and stupidity are synonymous. I hired local dipschidts several times and it basically came down to the fact that I was paying them to break my stuff.

 

My sentiments exactly.. Dont be afraid to pay him exactly what you think his help is worth, when it comes to work the biggest thing to remember is treat him like you would treat any kid off the street.

 

As no good deed goes unpunished for your mantra. I'd do it as a per job, upon completion basis. Haggle with each other as to the value of taskage and quality of fit and finish. ****py job, no pay. OR, do over. Great job, a bonus or such. This worked rather unsatisfactory with my kid because he found out its really alot like work. I suppose he thought I just spent alot of time in the garage then got to turn the key.
Anyone relate to that one?

 

Union apprenticeships that are say 4 years usually pay the fist year minimum wage or 25% of a journeyman salary which ever is greater and each year he gets a 25% pay increase until he is at full journeyman salary. This is a pretty good system that can be modified to meet your needs. for example if he is a quick study and progresses faster you don't need to wait four years. However you work it it gives him something to work towards and he will be rewarded bt sticking with it.

 

i think its great that you want to help him out...guessing working on cars may not be his field of study.mimimum wage wouldnt be bad for someone with no skills.maybe throw in a little extra when he steps up ....what he is learning is much bigger than what your paying him..learning how to repair cars & learning the value of a hard earned dollar,are both good lessons ,but you taking him under your wing and showing him the ropes will be remembered way after the money is spent...
good for you...

 

Tell him low, if he balks, dont hire him, if he goes for it then give him a little extra because he either needs money or wants to learn

 

By the sound of your post, you are not talking about a business. If you were speaking on a business level..... you have to figure how much damage can this guy cause, how much time am I devoting to teach him and not do what I do to make money. If you figure business wise, if the damage he could cause is out weighed by his help, then minimum wage is fair to start.

If it is on a personal level, family.....be prepared for fall out throughout the family. Usually, family looks to get away making more for doing less, and as a boss, you look forr more from family than you are willing to pay. If personal..... maybe let him work alongside you, as far as pay, help repair his vehicle or family's vehicles at no cost to him, you let him do the work, you guide him, keep tabs on him. You might adjust payment accordingly if paying cash............. Way too many questions to be considered to give an honest answer. I used to see more of what you are looking to do while I was growing up than I have seen in say the last 20 years or so. I guess the rat race of life has put a giant lock on the ability for someone with an interest in something to do, sort of an apprenticeship is just out of the question in todays business world. It boils what will make you and him comfortable............all just my humble, honest opinion.

 

Your description of him makes it sound as though he knows NOTHING about cars. So I have to ask: Is he a car guy? If he's a real car guy, how did he get to be ~21 years old without learning anything about cars? If he just woke up one day recently and decided that cars are sorta neato, then I would question whether he really has the love of automobiles inside him and wonder if he'd stick with it. I don't know anyone who got into cars that late who really really *got it*.

 

Minimum wage. And just remember, no good deed goes unpunished...

 

here is my experience in the bike world. I walked into a shop 3 years ago with SOME knowledge of fabrication but no welding experience. I wanted to build a bike and he needed the help. We clicked and I watched/helped/learned everything I needed to in a year WITHOUT pay. I was in the shop as much as I could be while working a fulltime job. I was also building my own bike on the side so that was a sort of pay/trade off for my time and help.

Once I was able to do things on my own and operate the machines and clean and care for them I was hired on part time at $8-10 an hour. I quit my day job and still work there. I can now fab anything he needs me to and I have learned to mig weld and alittle tig welding. just my 2 cents but he needs to actually be able to HELP you in order to be paid!

josh

 

I would say $7.50/hr. Give him three strikes like everyone else and make sure he's working... not just sandbaggin' ya.

 

I was curiious about a couple aspects of this till I reread it .

Teach a young guy Hot Rodding for Free !
Trying to help Family with money is TROUBLE !
My $.02 worth.

 

You've heard Friends and Money don't mix. I can tell you Family and Money are worse in the end. I had a Son-in-Law that was out of work and wanted to learn. He had been a Carpet cleaner for 3 years and ended up un-employed about the time my First grandson was born. I really liked him and he showed a lot of interest in Old Iron. I put him to work paying him $10.oo an hour plus a tank of gas a week and buying his lunch every day. This was more than his prior wages added up to at the time. After 14 months of Grief and several disasters I was forced to cut the cord. I have not seen Him, my Daughter or there children in 11 Years. This all started by saying "Ya, I can help you out".
Be careful how you set yourself up. It's not always about the Money.
The Wizzard

 

This is just my personal opinion & I have had expieriences to back it up. Be absolutely sure the young man has an interest in the old cars first!
If he is not really interested in this, he will not be much help, will not learn very much at all & will change your opinion of him. Being as he is in the family, that will make it worse. However if he is interested & at least a little mechanically inclined. He could be a great help to you. As for pay, only you know what you can afford to pay even for good help. And as dry lakes wheel man said abve "25% of a journeyman salary which ever is greater and each year he gets a 25% pay increase until he is at full journeyman salary." Journeyman salary being the most you would pay anyone for good help.

 

Break down your "***ignments" to him and tell him you'll give this much for the job. Don't pay by the hour, you'll get in over your head in a heartbeat.

One of my friends who didn't know jack about cars HAD to pay me because he said he didn't feel right about it. I told him I didn't want anything to do it, but he insisted so we agreed on a really cheap price in seperate jobs broken down.

For instance... rebuild '66 Mustang front suspension... he pays for all supplies etc... i do un-install, he cleans and paints parts, i teach him how to re***emble. 50 bucks for the weekend and he provided the beer. Sure it took a long time and i'd be making like 2 bucks an hour... but if you look at it by the job you feel like you really earned something LOL....

Hell, not like I would've been doing anything anyway. Now my friend can build cars with the best of 'em. Not hotrod customizing stuff though... just the typical bolt-on catalog car stuff. Still proud of him though.

-Chris

 

Lots of negative responses here. Probably for good reason. How about something positive. When I was 16 I got a part time job at an antique auto restoration shop strictly to do the "Joe" jobs, sweep floors, take out the garbage, wash cars, do parts runs, take the boses wife grocery shopping, cut his lawn,basically any task that would free up his time so he could spend more of it doing the real work. I eventually got to do more shop work but it was still pretty basic stuff like cleaning parts, dis***embling parts cars etc. However I knew that if I did not follow his instructions to the letter I would be out on my *** in a flash. This was made clear to me on day one and I knew exactly where I stood and there was never any problem. I worked my way up until I was doing paint jobs and ***embly on some pretty high end cars eg. early Packards, Cadilacs and such. And even though this is not my proffession the lessons learned are still with me 20+ years after the money was spent. So give him a chance but state your expectations clearly from the start and since he's your nephew tell his dad aswell that way there's no "uncle LDGn63's bein' an ***hole" argument.

 

Good idea and I can relate.

 

Piece work.

"Come on over, ready to work. I'll pay for your lunch. Do what I ask you, when the day is done, I'll pay you what I think you earned, if anything."

If he don't work out, give him cash, no questions asked, because you "want to pay him".

 

When I was down and out a local fellow hired me to do odd jobs, pay based on the job. Heck, he even paid me in hammers a few times (no joke). As I got better and learned more he had me work more and more hours. I ended up learning lots about construction, lathe and plaster repair, and concrete work. I took all those things, along with my hammers, and used them to help support my family.

My point is this: If he shows promise, don't forget to reward that, but do so in small steps.

 

Before everyone badmouths the kid and says "Not worth much" I say have him work a weekend then decide what he's worth. In my case my 21 yo step-son wanted to work off some money I loaned him to buy a car. A few years ago he tried to help me with some paint & body work, bad experiance, so I was hesintant. Decided to give him a try at wrenching and he's a natural. Does a better and faster job then some "pro"s I've tried and he has no real experiance! Took 15 minutes and showed him how to bend and flare a brake line and 6 hours later he has a whole car plumbed, brakes and fuel, and it looks nice! 2 hours to do a ****** swap, hell, at my age takes me longer. Was going to pay him minumum wage, after I saw what he could do I up it to $15 hr, worth it to me and made him a happy worker. I just don't ask him to do bodywork.

 

Offer him 8 to start .If it works out pay him more .If it doesn't work half days over the weekend,Remember to keep it fun .For he is family .Organizing tools ,sweeping floors and Keeping shop clean are very important Try to teach safety as well .Organized thinking prevents accidents. Explain what you can and good luck.Also make him feel part of,Like asking him what you think or what do you think we should do.Now you are not just the employer but the teacher.Maybe even his mentor.

 

I wouldn't charge him a lot to start. Once he gets good at floor sweeping and parts cleaning, I'd charge him more as I taught him higher level stuff.

 

LOL, Glenn, you said it just right!

 

My father taught me how to work on cars when I was 10, pumped gas at his station on weekends, and read every book I could find on autos. That's because, thats what I wanted to do in life. If he didn't go to college to learn about cars or some aspect of it, it could be something not up his alley if you know what I mean?
I once knew a guy that would tighten every bolt he ran across as tight as he could get it, and broke lot's and lot's of bolts. Didn't matter if it was a 1/4 in. or 3/4 in., same thing, would ask how to do something and then go do it completely different than what I told him and wonder "why" it didn't work. Back on the subject just ask if he's interested in car's and do what you feel is right.

 

Okay...college senior?? does he have any skills that you could benefit from? computer, business, graphic arts, etc? work out a barter...If not, let him work for a weekend then send him a $100 bill via the mail around tuesday, or wednesday...if he shows up bright eyed and bushytailed on the next saturday morning he WANTS to be there to learn and help...if he doesnt show hes just looking for beer money!!

 

when i help someone out and they teach me stuff i usually dont want to get payed if anything i will give the person money for supplies or do ***** work just to be around the stuff.