Want to Pay My Son for Painting Our Deck

I paid mine $300 for doing it.. It would have cost far more for me to hire a painter.

I agree that $50 is too small an amount - help him out and give him a lot of pride in himself and a job well done!

Dawn

Your son, has done MORE than $50 of work.
AND he saved you and your Husband, the expense of having to hire a Professional who would have charged you a lot more.

I think, your son deserves a LOT more than $50.
$50 is really insulting.

I would give him, $200-300.

Hi S.-

I guess it depends on how big your deck is...LOL

Even for the smallest of decks...$50 seems not enough.

I regularly 'pay' my kiddos for 'extra' things...laundry, dishes, cleaning bathrooms and 'room' rooms are all part of being a family.

We had kiddos help with shutters and trim 2 summers ago...and I gave each an envelope based on 'their' individual effort...have one son that was SOOO slow...and not in the 'spirit' of things...he had less in his envelope than the others...BUT he learned a valuable lesson! This year he has helped with cutting logs from some of the tree debris from big ones we have had cut down...and he is much more of a participant!

Hard to gauge...but $50 seems low...

Best Luck!
michele/cat

I'd certainly consider the number of hours he worked and figure out a cash wage that is fair. I'd say $10 an hour for tedious, labor work is fair for a young guy. Remember, Uncle Sam isn't getting his slice ;) Since he seems to be doing a really good job, I'd even consider a tip. So if the total I came up with was $175, then I'd round up to $200 but be sure to tell him why he got a tip. I'd definitely spread the word about his good work too! What a great way for him to make some cash :)

IF he was doing a $50 effort, sure that's enough!! It sounds like he's really putting in a lot of effort, and making sure it's done very well.

How many hours has he put in? You could pay him something hourly. I would probably pay $200, and then tell people what a good job he did. Network for him :)

$50 for an entire deck with him prepping it first? How large is the deck?

Sounds way low to me.

We just paid our daughters boyfriend $10 per panel of iron fence to paint. In the end, we paid $600 not including ALL supplies which included food and his gas. We have a large area and were generous but we would be that generous with anyone who made good effort and did a good job

$50 for a deck sounds obscenely low and unmotivating to do a great job, unless that area is obscenely small.

Don't know how big your deck is but my friends have paid 500+ for the work you described. Of course that includes materials but still I agree with you 50 is way too low.

I suggest you pay based on an hourly rate. I'd say for labor, between $10-20/hr. If he bought the materials (paint, brushes, stain, etc), you should also reimburse him for that. My husband does work for family members and he charges $15/hr, unless it's his trade (electrician), then he charges more like $25/hr. If it's a sort of "flat rate" job (like starting up a furnace, building a specific project, etc), he'll quote them first, that way they can compare his rate to a company. Sometimes he will do some things for free, but even then, we usually get compensated with a meal, or free babysitting... :)
I also offer to pay my college-age sister to help me with stuff when she's in town--sometimes she takes me up on it. I pay her about $10/hr. Any way you go, I'm sure he'll be glad for the income.

We paid my nephew $50 to do our deck, but he didn't really do a very good job. If he had scraped/sanded it first and done a good job, I would have thought $100 would be more appropriate.

I would base the amount off of the number of hours he worked. I am a general contractor, and we pay our general laborers between $12-15/hour. (However, we are also in a very expensive area of the country, so the going rate may be a bit lower where you are.) I'm glad your deck turned out so nicely - just in time for summer, too!