Salary vs. Commission Denver CO

Each compensation method has its pros and cons. Ultimately, it comes down to choosing the one that will compensate each individual technician according to his or her ability.

By Lee Amaradio Jr
10/1/2007

Some collision repair shops debate about whether paying their technicians a salary or paying them a commission is the best compensation method. I know what we prefer to use, and it comes from a lot of hard lessons learned over the last 28 years.

We’ve used both methods of pay and have achieved an equal number of successes and failures with each one. There’s a fine line between paying a tech what he’s worth and making a profit. We all believe our techs should be paid more, but our industry dictates their pay scale, not us. Our entire goal must be to maintain a profit while continuing to keep the quality of the repair and morale of the techs at the highest level possible.

I believe a well-paid tech is a happy tech, so I try to stay as close as possible to the top of our industry’s pay scale. This doesn’t mean that my techs are paid above what our industry standard dictates. I’ve been in a position where my techs were making more money than I was. If you’ve ever found yourself in that situation, you know it isn’t a pleasant place to be. If your techs are making more than you, some serious changes need to take place immediately.

Shop Size Matters
Whether you’re a small operation or a large me...