Subscriber Discussion

When The Tech Must Stay Overnight, How Do You Pay?

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David Matyas
Jun 13, 2017

For those of you that pay your techs hourly. How do you work it when you send the tech to a remote job that required flying or overnight stay? At what point of time do you stop the clock? Do you pay extra?

 

Thank you

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Ethan Ace
Jun 13, 2017

At one job, we received an out of town/out of state differential. I believe it was $1/hour added to our pay when over 2 hours away and $3/hour when we were out of state. Plus $30/day per diem. 

At another, it was simply per diem, no differential. I think it was $40/day. 

At both, lodging and travel were paid by the company, but not the hourly time required to do the traveling itself. The clock started and stopped when the normal workday started/stopped.

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Brian Rhodes
Jun 13, 2017
IPVMU Certified

In my experience, you pay the tech for 'direct labor' that accounts for time worked onsite or on the job, and then a 'per diem' rate for time outside the project for meals, lodging, and hospitality. 

 

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Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jun 18, 2017

What about drive time?

 

We've been paying a $50 a day per diem, and travel time if it's driving, but not flying. Of course, we pay all lodging and travel expense. We will often pay an efficiency bonus if they get it done properly and under the allotted time budget.

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Undisclosed #2
Jun 19, 2017

Would suggest you check your state requirements. If you meet or exceed, you should be ok. Here is a link for an easy read. Scroll down to the paragraph on State law. Your accountant should also advise you.Finally, what you pay your employees could be significantly different than what you charge your customer.

Speaking for myself, if I send someone out of town, the clock starts when his flight leaves and stops when he gets to the hotel. I almost always bill my clients the same; but,  if the the travel takes a long time (x hours or more), I would suggest a portion billed (say 50%) . I have also done the latter occasionally when required by negotiation. I do pay a per dieum depending upon the city involved; but it does not include hotel. 

The problem is, you could spend a bundle of unexpected time if the flight is delayed. To address this possibility, you could charge travel time as an expense, but I would take care to ensure the client knows it before hand. 

 

 

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Ross Vander Klok
Jun 19, 2017
IPVMU Certified

We pay our guys their hourly rate for ALL travel time and then however long they are at the job site we pay them their normal hourly rate.  We also cover meals which, depending on what city/country they are in, can be quite expensive.  Luckily our company has a set per diem per city so as long as they guys don't exceed that (which they never do because it is based on sales people) we are good.

 

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John Honovich
Jun 19, 2017
IPVM

our company has a set per diem per city so as long as they guys don't exceed that (which they never do because it is based on sales people)

LOL!

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Undisclosed
Jun 19, 2017

travel time paid; clock stops when they get to the hotel; normal rate for hours spent at customer site.  p.s. if the customer's own parking lot is 26 miles long the clock starts when you stop your car, not when you walk into the front lobby.  and if that casual description is insufficient I asked to sync with the client's project manager and travel rules.  Travel is defined as 50 miles away (IRS rules?) but e.g. gotta have a sense of humor about that in places like California where Marin County to San Jose is more than 50 miles.

Yes, get zinged when there are travel issues.  CODB, figure it out.  Travel with good comms so you can work in the waiting area at DFW ;-)

 

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Jon Dillabaugh
Jun 19, 2017
Pro Focus LLC

Drive time is work time. They should be on the clock, even if at a reduced rate (50%?). We also charge mileage for company vehicles ($0.50/mile), to cover for fuel, oil changes, tire, upkeep, etc.

As far as jobsite time clocking, it shouldn't be any different than a local site. Step on the site, you're on the clock. Step off, you're off too. If the drive to the site is a long way from the hotel, you can justify charging/paying drive time there as well.

Obviously lodging, tolls, and any other required expense should be covered by the company/client. Meals is a perk that is usually very appreciated. Most blue collar guys pack a lunch daily, so if that isn't possible on the road, helping cover meals would be great. Depending on the area, $20/day should suffice.

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Undisclosed Integrator #3
Jun 19, 2017

Travel days, pay normal 8 hours, plus reasonable meal costs (reimbursed). If travel time is significantly less than 8 hours, tech may be required to do some office-type work upon arrival or prior to leaving. Work while at remote location is compensated by normal hourly wage. Longer days are encouraged to lessen time away, with OT pay comp time (may depend on local/state laws). Reasonable entertainment costs (movies, sporting events, concerts, etc.) may be reimbursed with prior approval. This is incentive for the tech when regular travel is not expected as a job condition. It is important to reasonably compensate employees who are asked to spend unpaid time away. This must also be balanced with what the customer is willing to pay and what the company is willing to "eat" for the job. It is very important that all parties (customer, company, employee) are somewhat satisfied with the arrangement.

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Undisclosed Integrator #4
Jun 22, 2017

All expenses paid, including meals, travel is to fit in your 8 hour work day. Never had a job more than 8 hours travel time away. Clock starts and stops from the hotel door, your remote office. Normal pay. Tech gets benefit of paid meals, that's about it. Customer gets billed normal rate plus the travel costs.

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Undisclosed Integrator #5
Jun 26, 2017

As a tech I hated working out of town. The small amount of money you may save on your commute and utilities does not make up for the time you can't really spend freely when you're in a hotel room, especially because most of the places we did work weren't cities with anything to do. It's a little different if you're paid a great hourly wage and it's expected that you will primarily work out of town when you're hired like a lineman for example. Personally I had side jobs I made money with during the week after regular working hours I'd have to give up as well as weekend work it was hard to do when you're gone all week and have to play catchup when you get home. I think there should be a cookie for guys who are working out of town to make the inconvenience worth it. I spoke to a lot of contractors on jobs that got paid per diem and gas money up front and then had the option to pocket it if they didn't want to travel home on the weekends or spend up to the allotted amount in a day. That brings up another point, when we had up to a certain amount of money we were allowed to spend a day on food, we would buy snacks for the road trip and eat out every meal, usually a nice place for dinner because we felt like if we didn't spend all of the money we were losing out. This didn't do us or our employer any good.

 

I always did what I had to do and always worked hard to complete the jobs fast because I wanted to get home, but there is a suffer in morale when you feel like you're being hosed or the job just sucks because you're gone all the time and not being compensated. We saw quite a few people leave our company with the out of town work being a large part of their reason for looking elsewhere. Just a little insight from the other side.

 

Having your overtime applied to drive time sucks.

 

Pay the guys extra for having to live in a hotel room, it sucks.

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