Ouch!
The laws stateside are a little different to our own, but similar at least in that if a sub contractor is deemed to be dependant full time on work you supply, then you must put him on the books, pay employers liability, his PAYE etc.
I'm also pretty sure that you can't legally restrict their right to trade; at least as far as window cleaning is concerned.
Any such contract is I believe no more than a gentleman’s agreement, still worth doing though.
Depending on the type of work you have, it isn't very easy to make money from an employee with window cleaning.
Lets assume for the sake of argument that your work is 95% residential, and a further assumption that you are turning out work to the tune of £150.00 a day.
Your expectation would be that once an employee is trained up, he or she would also be turning over at least a similar amount.
It will generally take at the very least 3 or more months before they are beginning to get up to a reasonable speed plus doing the job properly.
If you are going to have this person working by your side, your personal turnover will drop.
Lets make yet another assumption that you have employed a good un', and after 3 months he or she is now a competent window cleaner who can work almost as fast as yourself (a pretty tall order).
You will not be turning over between you double what you were doing by yourself.
If you were doing £150, two of you may do £240-£250 if you are lucky.
Doesn't sound that bad though does it?
If you don't put him on the books and are paying him or her about £7.00 an hour then you should be clearing £40 or £50 a day.
But slap in a dose of reality and allow for down time from bad weather and other factors and the amount turned over will drop, can still be worth it if your employee is Self Employed though.
You get caught by the taxman and it won't be worth it mind!
If you do it all legally, on the books, PAYE, Employers NI contributions (much higher than those you will be paying), employers liability (very expensive compared to your own Public Liability) and the time you will have to spend on dealing with these things then suddenly the £40 or £50 a day you are clearing isn't profit anymore
Even going the self-employed route, it isn't easy to make money, finding a good un' is no easy task, having them stay long enough to start covering your costs is a challenge too.
They will not work as fast as you could work without considerable incentive, pay them by the hour and there will be days when they are coasting, pay them per account and you will have to pay them around 50% of what they turn over if you want to make money on them.
For the most efficient manner of working you need them set up to work BY THEMSELVES!
Your own turnover will drop because you are going to lose time setting them up, checking their work and so.
Are they going to be using their own car? Then you have to pay them mileage.
If they are older rather than younger, they may be married, have kids, mortgage or rent and myriad other bills that need to be paid, it can be hard for those in that position to be able to afford to be a window cleaner who is working for someone else, the wage is just too variable (self employed that is).
All of the above changes if your work is commercial, your business turnover could well be double the figures I have been talking of so far, and employing workers can be essential.
Over a 15 year period I reckon I had close to or even above 100 people work for me
Some may have lasted no more than a morning, others a few days, some a couple of months or just a week or two, those that lasted a year or more all left and started up in competition
Apart from 2 of them, I get on great with all of my ex employees, I've helped them out, sold work to them, even had them caretake my shops when I have gone on holiday.
But all of the good ones ended out leaving to set up for themselves.
Which, because the work was almost entirely residential that they were cleaning
I no longer employ anyone.
If you've got what it takes then the sky’s the limit! But go into it with yours eyes open!
The last thing you need worry about is someone poaching your work though, it might happen, but you will not lose more than a couple at worst.
Regards,
Ian
