Paying crew for landscape installs: Stihl gear makes it worth it

I've been running a small landscaping crew for 8 years now, and the key to keeping guys happy is fair pay plus good tools. We shell out $22/hour base for mulch spreading and bed edging jobs, but bump it to $28 when they're running the Stihl FS 131 trimmers on big installs. Last week we knocked out a $4500 yard makeover, and the team stayed motivated without the usual gripes.

fuck these millennials expecting $25 an hour to push a wheelbarrow full of river rock, back in my day we did it for gas money and a six pack.

Solid rates, man. I do the same with my irrigation guys: start at $20, add $5 for certified installs using Rain Bird heads. Keeps turnover low.

$22 to sling mulch? hell, that's highway robbery when gas is $4/gal and they're blowing through 5 gallons a day on the bobcat. tell me you got 'em on a bonus structure or i'm cryin foul.

I pay my crew in Stihl parts and pizza, they've yet to complain. Last job we edged a whole acre and finished with time for beers.