Average wages for a installer

[Van]

You think this is only limited to sub firms? Dish Network is hiring anyone that comes along and is removing its senior techs and has a nasty turn over rate now. With over 10k employee's they could do with a union and its protection so that techs arent being forced to go out with 18 - 30 hours worth of work each day.

To some respects I am still not convinced of what a union can do to protect its members but the way the industry is going something needs to be done to protect technicians and to bring about standards that the techs must meet and standards that the companies must meet as well.

 

[uboatcmdr]

As for the Gadsden (union) office, there are serious problems. The fired the manager 6 months ago and have not hired one yet. Well, actually they did hire an ex "cable guy" for the job but on his second day he went to lunch and never came back. The head CSR quit two months ago and they hired a girl that used to be a cashier at Wal-Mart. She lasted only a few days. The assistant manager is on a power kick and the district manager really does not want to leave the office (he is there about four days every week). Techs are quitting or getting fired almost daily and no new techs are being hired. Sub contractors are getting all movers connections and a great many installs while everyone else COVs and POVs are doing upgrades and service calls. The word UNION is not allowed to be said. Over half the techs were written up two weeks ago for nonresponder rates. I was one of them. A tech asked for a union rep before we signed the write-up but he could not be found. To make a long story short...The bad management in the Gadsden office can make your job very hard if you do not play their game. I do not see that office being open much longer. It almost looks like they want it to close.
I am not bitter or disgruntled. I just had all I could stand. I know a lot about the politics and problems in the Gadsden office but I choose not to make them public here because "management" could make it harder on some of the guys that are still there.

Wasn't the regional manager the former manager of the Gadsden office? Sounds like the company is still making up their own rules and trying to push out all those who voted in favor of the union.
You're probably right about the company wanting to close the Gadsden office. If they do so they will take the COV's and move them to the B'ham office and transfer all the work the Gadsden office does to B'ham just to run the union out. The techs might have won the battle (voting the union in) but it seems the company by not playing fair might just win the war. I know that in other offices they fired enough pro-union techs (like myself) just after Gadsden voted "yes" to discourage the further spread of the union.
I suggest you head over to the cablbar (www.cabl.com/bar/) and confront SatSouth (a Bruister exec) about some of the things that are happening in your office.
Good luck, I hope things improve for you guys soon.

 

[uboatcmdr]

You think this is only limited to sub firms? Dish Network is hiring anyone that comes along and is removing its senior techs and has a nasty turn over rate now. With over 10k employee's they could do with a union and its protection so that techs arent being forced to go out with 18 - 30 hours worth of work each day.

To some respects I am still not convinced of what a union can do to protect its members but the way the industry is going something needs to be done to protect technicians and to bring about standards that the techs must meet and standards that the companies must meet as well.

I know this is not just a localized, Directv or HSP issue. It runs industry wide and not just with satellite providers either, it also affects the cable guys as well. Seems that pay rates are dropping, turnover rates are rising and the companies are bring in more low paid FNG's everyday raising the number of repeat service calls and lowering completion rates. The industry is riddled with more hacks than ever before.
If a trade union was in place and all the major companies were required to draw their employees through the union then you would have better trained professionals doing the work and not a bunch of fresh ex Micky D's burger babies drilling holes in customer's homes and doing a halfa$$ed job at installing a system. It would also be of benefit to the companies because instead of having to hire and train new employees for the usual seasonal rushes only to have to starve them into quiting when things slow down they could call the union and man up for the rushes with techs who are on the union's unemployed rolls and lay them off when the rush is over. This keeps the vetran techs who stay with the company from being over worked and helps the unemployed techs at least get seasonal work. Having a trade union also takes the load off the company of having to hunt down and negotiate benefits packages (health & retirement) for the techs, all that could be handled by the union.
The problem is getting old timers like Herb Bruister to see the actual benefits of having a trade union and how it can actually take a lot of worries off his shoulders.

 

[Van]

Thats what pisses me off about Dish and Charlie loosing site of what made his company. Dish for the longest time survived on word of mouth advertising and part of that is the people that do the work for you. I dont know about the cable side of the industry but I know that with dish that they touted how great their customer service is and for a time about how professional their employee's were. During my final 7 months I went from fixing mostly sub contractor installed work to fixing almost entirely dish network technician installed work and even at what I was making it just wasnt enough to justify the working conditions.

 

[jacksonton]

Lucky, with Dove, no way, they take most of the install money.

 

[Crossbones]

Wasn't the regional manager the former manager of the Gadsden office? Sounds like the company is still making up their own rules and trying to push out all those who voted in favor of the union.
You're probably right about the company wanting to close the Gadsden office. If they do so they will take the COV's and move them to the B'ham office and transfer all the work the Gadsden office does to B'ham just to run the union out. The techs might have won the battle (voting the union in) but it seems the company by not playing fair might just win the war. I know that in other offices they fired enough pro-union techs (like myself) just after Gadsden voted "yes" to discourage the further spread of the union.
I suggest you head over to the cablbar (www.cabl.com/bar/) and confront SatSouth (a Bruister exec) about some of the things that are happening in your office.
Good luck, I hope things improve for you guys soon.

The former manager was fired for not doing enough to keep the union out. As for rule changes...YES, they change daily. Sometimes they notify us through fax but most of the time it is AFTER the fact. Most of the original guys that started the union are gone...now they are working on the rest. Last week there was a POV that wanted to go COV because his truck was always breaking down. He was told that there were no vans available. We counted 10 that were parked and not issued to anyone. Go figure.

 

[uboatcmdr]

The former manager was fired for not doing enough to keep the union out. As for rule changes...YES, they change daily. Sometimes they notify us through fax but most of the time it is AFTER the fact. Most of the original guys that started the union are gone...now they are working on the rest. Last week there was a POV that wanted to go COV because his truck was always breaking down. He was told that there were no vans available. We counted 10 that were parked and not issued to anyone. Go figure.

All those rule changes was something the union was supposed to help stop (at least they were not supposed to be making changes without prior consultations with the union and an agreement being made over any planned changes). Sounds to me like Bruister is just going about it's merry way without any regards for a union being in place at that office. Could be that they knocked the balls out of the union when the majority of the union organizers and supporters left. It's a shame, now Herb is bleeding the company and the techs dry and will soon be casting the corpse to the side and moving on to one of the other HSP's he's got controlling interest in (as of last year at the time they were bringing in the COV's Herb had his hand in at least 6 of the then 12 HSP's nationwide, now there are only 11 HSP's and I don't know if he has sold any of his holdings).

 

[Crossbones]

I do know Herb brought in some "new investors" recently.

 

[Digital Dude]

As for the Gadsden (union) office, there are serious problems. The fired the manager 6 months ago and have not hired one yet. Well, actually they did hire an ex "cable guy" for the job but on his second day he went to lunch and never came back. The head CSR quit two months ago and they hired a girl that used to be a cashier at Wal-Mart. She lasted only a few days. The assistant manager is on a power kick and the district manager really does not want to leave the office (he is there about four days every week). Techs are quitting or getting fired almost daily and no new techs are being hired. Sub contractors are getting all movers connections and a great many installs while everyone else COVs and POVs are doing upgrades and service calls. The word UNION is not allowed to be said. Over half the techs were written up two weeks ago for nonresponder rates. I was one of them. A tech asked for a union rep before we signed the write-up but he could not be found. To make a long story short...The bad management in the Gadsden office can make your job very hard if you do not play their game. I do not see that office being open much longer. It almost looks like they want it to close.
I am not bitter or disgruntled. I just had all I could stand. I know a lot about the politics and problems in the Gadsden office but I choose not to make them public here because "management" could make it harder on some of the guys that are still there.

Sounds like SOP for HSP's.

http://www.nlrb.gov/nlrb/shared_files/decisions/alj/JD(ATL)-1-06.htm

 

[uboatcmdr]

I do know Herb brought in some "new investors" recently.

I don't think he actually brought anyone new in, I think he just shuffled some money and some of the "Associates" around and transfered the corporation from Mississippi to Deleware. Deleware corporations are taxed less than Mississippi corporations and the easiest and cheapest way to do the transfer was to make it look like a sale or transfer of majority power in the company was taking place. In my opinion it was nothing more than a paper sale.

 

[Crossbones]

I don't think he actually brought anyone new in, I think he just shuffled some money and some of the "Associates" around and transfered the corporation from Mississippi to Deleware. Deleware corporations are taxed less than Mississippi corporations and the easiest and cheapest way to do the transfer was to make it look like a sale or transfer of majority power in the company was taking place. In my opinion it was nothing more than a paper sale.

You may be right. "New investors" was what we were told. Just another lie I guess.

 

[wadethecableguy]

I'm a sub out of Houston. Work is plentiful with Direchtech SW. I'm working 6 days a week sometimes 5. I usually get home between 5 to 7. I'm averaging about $300 a day. Just last week I had a couple days that were over $400 . I work hard and fast ( I've been doing it for awhile) and make good money on side jobs too. I've driven the company vans before, but never again!!! Those guys are lucky to make 500 or 600$ a week. Sub-contracting is the only way for me!!!

 

[HCI]

I'm a sub out of Houston. Work is plentiful with Direchtech SW. I'm working 6 days a week sometimes 5. I usually get home between 5 to 7. I'm averaging about $300 a day. Just last week I had a couple days that were over $400 . I work hard and fast ( I've been doing it for awhile) and make good money on side jobs too. I've driven the company vans before, but never again!!! Those guys are lucky to make 500 or 600$ a week. Sub-contracting is the only way for me!!!

Whats your overhead?

I easily made 300 per day when I was Subcontracting but supplies and GAS kicked my ass.

Everything is supplied to me now but I am not a DNS tech.

 

[wadethecableguy]

I've calculated my overhead at about 900$ a month. Thats gas and drop.
Still bringing home 900$-1000$ a week after taxes.

 

[stevo/65]

I've calculated my overhead at about 900$ a month. Thats gas and drop.
Still bringing home 900$-1000$ a week after taxes.

How many hours a week.....?

 

[wadethecableguy]

You know as well as I do that the hours fluctuate in this business. Somedays I'm home at 2 in the afternoon, and somedays I'm pulling in at 8 p. m. It all depends on how the planets are alligned....Lol I average between 50 to 60 hours a week.

 

[igator99]

You know as well as I do that the hours fluctuate in this business. Somedays I'm home at 2 in the afternoon, and somedays I'm pulling in at 8 p. m. It all depends on how the planets are alligned....Lol I average between 50 to 60 hours a week.

As a customer I must say this is a really strange business. Services to your home are very regulated with certifications and standards. If I was the SatCzar of the U.S. I would make a lot of changes. 1) Everyone that installs sat equipment would get paid by the hour not job. You have no incentive to help an old customer that has a less than easy setup. 2) You need inusrance and medical coverage. A guy puts his foot through my ceiling and I pay 100 for it. Little did the guy know that my wife is a lawyer I could have got real ugly but they were nice and were working stiffs from Wal-Mart and all I wanted were things back to the way they were. 3) You need a certification program. Any fool can call themselves a teacher. All you have to do is talk. There are certification programs to weed out the pretenders from the truly gifted ones. 1 & 2 should get wages up and afford #3. Right now especially here anyone can call themselves a tech set it up and call D* & E* and get paid. If a job requires a pole and time you guys need to payed for it. I upgraded from dialup to bellsouth dsl and I didn't even know the guys dropped the line until I got a call. I really feel in this area right now I can make some extra cash with my limited knowledge and do some easy installs for cash. I'm a capitalist but I think a union might help. As long as the cash keeps coming in do you really think D* or E* cares?

 

[johnml]

i actually had a installer come out today and not only did he not understand one word of English ( and i knew no Spanish ) just looking at his face I knew he didn't have a clue - he had to call his office to translate and find out what to do. He didn't actually do anything but stand there and talk to his office, and when he was leaving he actually wanted me to sign the work order ??? I realize I'm close to Miami, but I expect someone who comes out to at least be able to communicate somewhat - call me silly

 

[HCI]

As a customer I must say this is a really strange business. Services to your home are very regulated with certifications and standards. If I was the SatCzar of the U.S. I would make a lot of changes. 1) Everyone that installs sat equipment would get paid by the hour not job. You have no incentive to help an old customer that has a less than easy setup. 2) You need inusrance and medical coverage. A guy puts his foot through my ceiling and I pay 100 for it. Little did the guy know that my wife is a lawyer I could have got real ugly but they were nice and were working stiffs from Wal-Mart and all I wanted were things back to the way they were. 3) You need a certification program. Any fool can call themselves a teacher. All you have to do is talk. There are certification programs to weed out the pretenders from the truly gifted ones. 1 & 2 should get wages up and afford #3. Right now especially here anyone can call themselves a tech set it up and call D* & E* and get paid. If a job requires a pole and time you guys need to payed for it. I upgraded from dialup to bellsouth dsl and I didn't even know the guys dropped the line until I got a call. I really feel in this area right now I can make some extra cash with my limited knowledge and do some easy installs for cash. I'm a capitalist but I think a union might help. As long as the cash keeps coming in do you really think D* or E* cares?

You are all over the map here. 1. No tech of any kind should make an hourly wage. 2. Insurance is a must. Anyone doing any type of installation should have insurance and company's usually make sure they do before they will hire them. 3. You talk about a certification program but then you say you can make some money with your limited knowledge for cash? Kinda contradict yourself there, you would be just like all the other hacks that think they know something.

And about the union as I have said before. Unions are for people who cannot think for themselves. They are too scared to stand up to the employer themself so they think by organizing they will have a voice. If someone has a problem with the person that writes their paycheck, they should go to the employer themself to try to work it out and if that person does not want to listen they are a dick and you do not need to be working there anyway. What happens when the union decides to go on strike for something you do not agree with and you do not get paid?

 

[Claude Greiner]

At my store we pay $100 on a Primary and then $25 on each additiona receiver.

Technician pays for all Gas, matterials, Insurance, workmans comp, and covers all service calls for a period of 1 year unless its equipment related where I will cover a trip charge.

Phone lines are expected to be ran for Free on all Dual Tuner receivers, however I supply phone wire and phone jacks.

Pole mounts get an extra $25

Commercial Installations pay $125 as a primary and then $25 each additional receiver. Unless its a big Job, where we negotiate with the installer to come up with something that is fair.

Sometimes we will add an extra $20 for Gas if the installation is out of our normal service area.

All service calls for customers we origionally did not install we let our technicians keep, however we profit on any parts sold to the customer.