General welding questions that dont fit in TIG, MIG, Stick, or Certification etc.
cj737
  • Posts:
  • Joined:
    Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:59 am

Antorcha wrote: Those people are the same idiots that have no clue, whatsoever, what they pay to have done...........Flag waving nitwits unwittingly paying to slaughter brown people and pay dictators off for the puppet govt(s) their masters control so corps can have access to the natural resources therein.
I know. That tharza sum komplificated English stuff but I felt it was needed
I see now that CK Louis has lost his career, you're stepping right up to fill the humor void. Well done, I needed a hearty laugh today.
LanceR
  • Posts:
  • Joined:
    Sun Sep 21, 2014 5:32 pm
  • Location:
    Pinnacle, NC

My first question would be "Are you getting paid as if you were an independent business working in the same field?"

I have never been involved in the welding business except as an observer but was the owner of a construction business for many years. One rule of thumb in the work we did was that we had to be billing roughly 2-1/2 times what we were paying in wages for a residential worker and perhaps as much a 4 times as much for commercial or industrial construction in some cases.

And it doesn't necessarily include tools (you have to bill somewhere for acquisition, wear and maintenance, too), trucks, expendable supplies not individually billed etc. A worker on the custmomer's site making $25/hour will generally be billed out at at least $60/hr might well be getting billed out at $150-160 depending on the situation when all is said and done especially for service call work.

Now, if the work is in a common employer owned workplace the labor to billing rate is still likely going to be in the neighborhood of 2 to 2-1/2 times the direct payroll cost.....

From my experience the only reason an "employer" pays under the table for more than a one-off side job is because they keep more of the money that should have gone into your pocket or have been spent to protect you. (liability, workman's comp and unemployment insurance, Social Security taxes, pension, payroll accounting etc). And there is no good excuse for ongoing payments off the books if the "contractor" doesn't have an established business identity as required locally. Even if he doesn't give you an IRS 1099 at the end of the year you are obligated to file your taxes and meet the other requirements of being in business.

One thing I'm unclear of is whether the work you are doing is related to the day to day type of business your "boss" is in or if it is a short term and temporary thing. If the former and you are not getting paid 2-4 time what his "over the table" help is getting you are being taken advantage of, especially if what you are doing involves a high degree of risk or liability.

As always this is my $0.02 and other may feel differently but my take is that if this is a recurring thing you should be giving him a periodic itemized invoice and he should be giving you an IRS 1099 at the end of the tax year. Right now you are almost certainly being severely underpaid, have a lot of personal exposures related to liability, taxes (business income, sales tax, SS tax, workman's comp, personal income tax), licensing (jurisdiction dependent) and he's pocketing the difference......


Lance
LanceR

Miller Multimatic 255
Hypertherm Powermax45 XP
Heck Bevel Mill 4000
Ace fume extractor
Welding/cutting/brazing torches
Post Reply