Mechanic Wage

Whitehead Kyle J

9/21/2012 11:09 AM

I was just told my my mechanic that he was offered a position as a millwright in a steel plant located in my town. He loves working at the golf course but the steel plant offered him $37.00 an hour. Obviously I can't get close to that, but he is willing to stay if I can get him a raise. I need to somehow convince management that finding a good quality mechanic is difficult to find (especially in my area). Just curious what you guys are paying your mechanics? Either salary or hourly?
Just to show management what the average is for a golf course mechanic.

Thanks fellas

Thomas Brown

0 posts

9/21/2012 12:09 PM

Kyle,

Where are you located? Public or Private course?

Tom

Andrew Cross

5 posts

9/21/2012 1:09 PM

Kyle,

I sent you a private message.

A good mechanic is hard to find and worth their weight in gold!!

Melvin Waldron

43 posts

9/21/2012 1:09 PM

We're a city/county park system course and ours tops out at 19.38 per hour. Actually more then use superintendents make. That is taking care of 3 golf courses though.

Mel

Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO

Whitehead Kyle J

9/22/2012 7:09 AM

Thomas Brown, CGCS said: Kyle,

Where are you located? Public or Private course?

Tom

Tom: I'm located in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Canada. It's a border town with Sault Saint Marie Michigan. Were a semi-private club.
Fairly large fleet of mostly John Deere equipment and 76 gas powered golf carts. He keeps everything in great shape. He's basically looking for a $3 an hour raise...which in my opinion is worth it. Just got to convince people that don't understand that's he's worth it.

thanks

James Smith

112 posts

9/24/2012 8:09 AM

Wish I had better info for you but My tech decided earlier this year he was going to retire (70yrs old) in June which for us is the worst time of the year. He was not asking for more money he was just ready to stop working was all. My club waited until
May to give me a new salary range for the next mechanic leaving me no time to advertise the position before he was scheduled to leave. My tech was earning $16hr at the time. I finally made the board of directors understand we would not find a new tech for under the $16hr we were paying ans most likely have to pay even more to get anyone worht their salt. They gave me the permission to offer $3hr for him to stay until December which he decided he would help us out of a bind until we slowed down. He now makes a little over $19hr and is worth every bit of it.
My next problem will come when we have to start advertising for his replacement. It will not be easy finding a good mechanic.

I generally never cave into demands for more money unless I feel it is justified. If he would of given me the untimatium of a $3hr increase or else he was leaving I most likely would of told him where the door was (at least with any other position on my crew), but I may have considered how low his pay was compared to other courses at at least tried to work something out.

My advice is only to look at how his salary averages to other techs in the area and go from there. just know in advance that techs in our business are not easy to come by. Maybe you can get him the extra $3 under the condition he is not up for another increase for 2 more years.

Kenneth Ingram

18 posts

9/24/2012 12:09 PM

4. Mechanics: number of mechanics, salaries or wages

This info was in a survey done by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAAGCS) in 2009.

Mechanics Salary Hourly
Average: $ 46,234.00 $ 20.69
Median: $ 42,948.00 $ 19.50
Low: $ 27,000.00 $ 14.35
High: $ 84,000.00 $ 31.00

• 3% of all Golf Courses do not have a Mechanic.
• 97% of all Golf Courses do have a Mechanic
• 50% of all Golf Course Mechanics are paid by salary.
• 50% of all Golf Course Mechanics are paid by the hour.
• 26% of all Golf Courses have assistant or part-time Mechanics.
• 3% of all Golf Courses have a 2nd assistant Mechanic.
• The average pay for an assistant or part-time mechanic is $13.08/hour.

Wahlin Scott B

9/24/2012 4:09 PM

I know a company that will send someone to train a mechanic to do golf course work. I hired a carpenter to do mechanical work and they did a really good job training him for a reasonable cost. Everything was sharp and running when they left. It worked out very well and I would recommend them.
http://expressreel.com/

Dinger Greg

9/24/2012 9:09 PM

http://expressreel.com/gprices.html

Just arming yourself with the prices listed above should give you plenty of ammo for any board who wants to protect their investment. Add to it that your Tech will have intimate knowledge of both fleet and facility, and most likely be able to fill in in an emergency in your or your Assistant's absence, fabrication abilities, troubleshooting, and on and on and on. Retain the right person, pay them responsibly and leave the carrot in the fridge, and watch the value unfold.

With most distributors charging in the $90/hour range, seems this person has the potential to provide you a pretty good value.

Wahlin Scott B

9/24/2012 10:09 PM

Greg Dinger said: http://expressreel.com/gprices.html

Just arming yourself with the prices listed above should give you plenty of ammo for any board who wants to protect their investment. Add to it that your Tech will have intimate knowledge of both fleet and facility, and most likely be able to fill in in an emergency in your or your Assistant's absence, fabrication abilities, troubleshooting, and on and on and on. Retain the right person, pay them responsibly and leave the carrot in the fridge, and watch the value unfold.

With most distributors charging in the $90/hour range, seems this person has the potential to provide you a pretty good value.

I am a certified golf course equipment mechanic. I understand the value of a professional mechanic, unfortunately many of our employers do not. To pay outside professionals $3-5000 to work with your mechanic and show him the ropes is cheap. This is especially true if all of the backlog is gone in the process. Aside from that, you are correct in that mechanic turnover is expensive... if you currently have a good one!

Hardy Andrew

9/25/2012 4:09 AM

My owner is a former Super and totally gets what a good mechanic brings to the table. If you find someone good pay them well and offer incentives they'll run through a wall for you. Its amazing how the info Ken posted on wages rings true in all areas. I paid my new mechanic in the Median range and he's been OK. I think if you find a guy that earns and deserves more you pay it. The biggest expense we have next to labor and buildings is our fleet and golf carts, you need someone who takes pride in YOUR fleet. The rest as they say can be taught with regards to how clean the shop is and how organized the tool areas are in my opinion. The cleanliness of the shop and fleet are very representative of you!!

McCallum David K

9/25/2012 7:09 AM

According to the post by Kenneth Ingram my tech makes the median for mechanics in our industry....$19.25 / hr.
He is on salary but is non exempt meaning he makes overtime past 40 hours a week. He averages for the year about 12-15 hours OT per month. He also has health benefits paid by our employer along with a dental and vision plan which we pay very little. He has a 401k in which out employer matches up to 4% of his contribution. He also drives the club truck to work on a daily basis meaning free gas and maintenance. He recieves a 1099 at years end for pesonal milage driven during the year........ a great trade off as you cannot own and operate a vehicle for what he is charged to drive the club truck. All in all I think he has a good package.

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