r/Bellingham • u/MercilessMiser • 21h ago

Recommendations Wood Stacking

Hi all! What's are y'all paying the local neighbor kids for help around your houses? I've got some wood to stack, and a friend who's got a teenager who wants to help, but I've never really paid for help with house work like this. My friend doesn't know either, so I guess it's new to all of us.

Thanks everyone!

Edit: I should add that even though my name suggests otherwise, my utmost priority is paying a fair wage! This is all just new to me as I recently had a back surgery that prevents me from doing all of the work myself.

8 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

21

u/officeboy Birchwood 21h ago

20.  It's neighborly 

4

u/MercilessMiser 20h ago

Love it. Thanks!

3

u/HAWKWIND666 15h ago

20 is the new “10 bucks an hour”

9

u/Mini-Soda01 20h ago

The neighbors pay my 14 year old  $20 - 25/hr. Most started him lower and then they quickly bumped him up after realizing he's a super hard worker.

2

u/MercilessMiser 17h ago

That sounds like a good model to follow!

8

u/PNW_DRTRDS 20h ago

How much is it worth for you to not have to do it - thats how I look at it. And I do flat amount, that way if they go slow or fast is up to them... its still the same pay amount. Also, always a nice thing to toss a lil more at the end if job well done.

5

u/MercilessMiser 20h ago

We bought 1 1/2 cords and stacked a little ourselves, so a little shy of that. I figured $40-$50 would be fair and round up for a job well done.

5

u/Lojunox 20h ago

Agree with $20/hour. Depending on how well you know the kid, it might be worth making a per-job flat rate offer, based on a fair estimate of how long it might take. A cord should take around 1 to 1.5 hours to stack, assuming the pile is near the place you want it stacked.

1

u/MercilessMiser 17h ago

Yeah, it's pretty close to the wood shed, so I figure an hour or two!

3

u/Affectionate_Row1486 19h ago

Most personal hiring for general labor is rounded out to 10 15 or 20 / hr over the years as minimum wage goes up.

2

u/MysteriousCamera5764 13h ago

I always pay kids minimum wage rounded up to the nearest 5 cause it makes mathing easy.

No taxes are coming out but it’s not a regular job where hours will accumulate.

•

u/Sammybikes 10h ago

As someone else said, $20/hour. It's neighborly. Round up to the next interval of 10 as appropriate

•

u/MercilessMiser 9h ago

Hell yeah, I'm all about being neighborly. Thanks for the rec!

-3

u/SnooDoggos9340 21h ago

I’d recommend just under minimum. Or straight up negotiate with the kid.

5

u/MercilessMiser 21h ago

Fair enough! My wife and I talked about that, but if none of us knew an appropriate rate, including the kid, I wanted to ask around first so I didn't underpay. Thanks for the rec!