Going rate for Home Depot day laborers?

[frostbrn]

So I'm doing some wall framing/drywalling/mudding and taping tomorrow and I'd like to hire some of the day laborers that usually hang out in the Home Depot parking lot. Does anyone know what the going rate is for these guys to do this kind of work? I went to HD today to get some of the materials I will need for tomorrow and asked a couple of them out there and blurted out "like $10 an hour?" and they seemed very satisfied with that rate. Is this too much, or not enough? I want to be fair and not under/over pay them for what they are doing. Also, this is in downtown Seattle.

[chachi]

From my limited experience as well as an article I read about it in some paper somewhere. Each of these locations seem to have mininum wage under which the workers agree to not work. So, you should bid low. If it is too low, they will let you know.

The last time I used day laborers it was to help my mother in law move. I cut a great deal with the guys, but, after realizing there was more work for them than momma said there would be and because they did such good work, I ended up throwing then an extra c-note and still thought I got a great deal.

[illeagle]

Dealing with day laborers instructional video(NSFW).

[Darth Poker]

I live in the Chicago area, and for a point of reference the typical non-union, back of the truck, hanging out in parking lots laborer gets roughly $10 an hour. I am a residential electrician by trade, have been in the construction trades for almost 10 years, and have a pretty good general knowledge of the industry.

now, I dont know much about the Seattle area, but I'd assume that $10 would be more than fair - provided that they were told ahead of time that the work must be good quality - i.e. you wont have to hire a pro to fix what they [censored] up. also, for an exemplary job buy the dudes some brews or pizza or something...it's just the cool thing to do. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

good luck on your project!!

[Paul B.]

Tell them how long you'll need them and what the job entails, then ask them what they think is fair and go with your gut. They'll likely ask for more than $10/hour if your job requires heavy lifting or getting dirty.

[frostbrn]

Thanks Darth, that's the kind of answer I needed. I was planning on buying them pizzas anyways, and if we get the whole job done tomorrow I'll bust out the brew and some tequila.

[Smelly]

[ QUOTE ]
Dealing with day laborers instructional video(NSFW).

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, it's not like that hasn't been posted here multiple times or anything.