How Can You Improve Your Salary in Building Maintenance Jobs?
5 Ways to Boost Your Earnings as a Building Maintenance Professional
Since you first started in building maintenance jobs, you have loved your work. There’s only one issue that you have: you don’t feel you are paid enough. So, how much should you be paid – and are you being paid enough? If you are, what can you do to increase your salary?
Building Maintenance Jobs Pay an Average of $18.42 an Hour
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for building maintenance workers is $18.42 per hour ($38,300 per year). With the number of building maintenance jobs forecast to grow by more than 85,000 between 2018 and 2028, you should expect wages in the sector to be robust.
The Average Salary Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
Of course, average salaries only give an indication of what you should be earning. Factors that affect how much you earn include:
- Location – you’ll earn more in California than you do in South Carolina, for example
- Experience – the more experience you have, the more you are likely to be paid
- Qualifications – adding relevant qualifications to your resume is likely to boost your earning potential
- Your supervisory level – if you have several other staff reporting to you, you’ll be compensated for the extra responsibility
You may also earn more if you work in hazardous conditions or work unsociable hours.
How Do You Improve Your Salary?
If you’ve assessed your salary and found that you are underpaid, you should approach your boss with your findings. Explain that you’ve done some research and would like to discuss your pay. Present your findings and ask your boss to review your salary.
You may be lucky. Your boss might agree with you, not want to lose your services, and increase your pay. But what if this doesn’t happen? Here are five actions you can take to improve your pay as a building maintenance technician:
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Develop Your Skills Further
Get on the professional development ladder. Are there areas in which you can improve your knowledge and skills? What courses could you take to improve your value?
Think about the work you do, the tasks that you undertake, and those tasks that you must delegate to another. It is these weaknesses that you should work on. Formal training and qualifications make you more valuable to employers, allowing them to employ fewer people or hire fewer contractors.
If you don’t think you have time to undertake extra learning, examine the work you do and consider how you could streamline it. If you can free an hour each day, that’s 250 hours of extra time each year in which you could be upskilling.
As you improve your qualifications and your skill set, ask your boss for a raise. Afterall, you’re worth more now.
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Take on Extra Work
As you improve your skills, speak to your boss and ask if you can take on extra work. This will help you gain experience and prove your worth (providing your performance doesn’t fall in your routine work). After a few months, you could approach your boss again and ask for that raise now that you are doing more. You may be lucky.
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Keep a Track of Your Work
Get meticulous about your work diary, keeping a note of the work you do. At your next review, compare your performance to your colleagues. Highlight the extra work you do, the extra responsibilities you have taken on, and the extra value you provide to the business. If your boss agrees with you, he may offer you a pay increase – if you’re lucky.
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Ask for regular feedback
Make a point of asking your boss for more regular feedback. This should give you great pointers where you are excelling and areas you need to work on. Use this knowledge to do more of the tasks that you are good at and improve on your weaknesses.
At your next annual review, take the notes of your reviews with you. Put your case for a salary increase. Show your boss the strides you have made to improve, and the extra output that this improvement has enabled. You may be lucky and benefit from an above inflation pay increase.
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Move Jobs
According to research, people who stay in jobs for an average for more than two years before changing will earn 50% less than those who change jobs more regularly. Work that out over a working life, and not changing jobs could cost you hundreds of thousands in lost potential earnings.
When you find a new building maintenance job and are offered the role, you are in the strongest negotiating position you will ever be. Your new employer has invested time and money in finding their new employee – you. They don’t want to miss the opportunity of having you on board for the sake of a couple of thousand dollars.
Is It Time to Consider New Building Maintenance Jobs?
When was the last time you took stock of your career in building maintenance?
Are you earning the right salary? This is just one of the questions that a confidential discussion about your career will answer. If you have been in your current job for more than two years, you should benefit from a job review. A few minutes of your time could put thousands in your pocket. To book your career review and learn of some of the best building maintenance jobs on the market, contact MAC Incorporated today.
