A screed operator who can hold grade by feel, or a raker who leaves a joint you can't find, takes years to make. When one leaves in the middle of July for a dollar more an hour, the new person learns on your lots, at your cost.
Hiring and keeping crew isn't mysterious. It's mostly steady work, fair pay you can explain, and a foreman people want to show up for.
Where good crew members come from
Your own crew. People who pave know other people who pave. Pay a referral bonus once the new hire has stayed through a set period, like 90 days, so the bonus rewards a keeper and not just a warm body.
Trade and apprenticeship programs. High school career and technical programs, community college heavy equipment courses, union apprenticeship programs where you work union, and state road-builder associations all turn out people who've chosen the trade.
People leaving other trades. Landscapers, concrete laborers and utility crews already work outside, start early and know equipment.
Job posts work better when they say what the job actually is: the start time, the season, the pay range, whether there's winter work, and what someone can move up to.
Hire for showing up and learning. You can teach someone to rake. Teaching someone to be on time is harder.
Pay people can see a path in
Find out what the market pays. Your state's labor market data, your regional contractors' association and the prevailing wage rates on public work nearby all give you honest numbers. So do the people you interview, if you ask what they're making now.
Then build a ladder with clear steps:
- Laborer: starting rate.
- Raker or lute: a raise when they can do it without being watched.
- Roller operator: a raise when they can run the pattern and read the mat.
- Screed or paver operator: a raise for the skill that most affects quality.
- Foreman: a raise for running the crew and the paperwork.
Write down what each step takes. A crew member who knows what gets them to the next dollar is less likely to go looking for it across town.
Benefits matter more every year: health insurance, paid time off, a retirement match. Even a modest package tells someone you expect them to be here next season.
What keeps people
Steady hours. Paving is seasonal and weather-driven, and a crew member who gets sent home every time it looks like rain will find a steadier job. Plan rain-day work, like yard and equipment maintenance, shop work or patching and crack sealing that can run in marginal weather, so a rain day isn't always a zero-pay day.
The foreman. People quit bosses more than companies. A foreman who yells, plays favorites or can't explain the plan will cost you good people. Train foremen in running a crew, not just in running a paver.
A plan the night before. Crew members who know where they're going tomorrow, and when, can plan their lives. Changing the start time at 5 a.m. every day wears people down.
Safety. Nobody stays where they're scared of getting hurt.
Credit. When a lot comes out right, say so, in front of the crew.
When somebody leaves
Ask why, and listen. An exit conversation that turns up the same answer twice (the pay, the hours, one foreman) tells you what to fix before the next person leaves for the same reason.
Leave the door open for good people. Some of them come back after a season somewhere else.
Related articles
- Running a five-person paving crew: roles, the night-before call and the daily log
- OSHA and safety for paving crews: hot mix, work zones and the injury log
- Building a paving estimating team: from the owner's estimates to someone else's
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