The $115K SALARY Tech · Technician Find Community

Chris Lawson

3h • 📣General discussion📣

The $115K SALARY Tech

When a "Great" Candidate Might Still Be a Bad Business Deal.

"If it doesn't work for the business, it doesn't work for anybody." -Chris

I had a conversation with a shop owner this weekend that I can't stop thinking about.

He found a tech who checked almost every box:

→ European and exotic car experience

→ Worked at two shops known for phenomenal quality

→ Sharp diagnostic skills (impressed the shop foreman in the interview)

→ Family man, stable, asked great questions in the interview

→ Even owned his own shop before, so he gets the business side

The guy wanted $115K salary. Straight salary. No flat rate. No hybrid.

And the shop owner was ready to say yes.

Then we started peeling back the layers.

The first yellow flag:

"I need all my vacation and sick days available immediately—10 days—because my wife is having a baby in February and we don't have anyone else to watch the kids."

Okay, understandable. Life happens.

The second yellow flag:

"I can't come in for a working interview. I don't have any personal days left at my current job."

Wait. You have 10 personal days where you are... but none left? Where did they go?

The third yellow flag:

"The shop is slow, that's why I'm leaving."

But when the owner texted him during work hours, the response came hours later with "sorry, been slammed."

Slow... but slammed?

Here's what hit me:

This shop owner—like a lot of us—was already mentally problem-solving how to make it work for the tech.

"Maybe I can front him the days.""Maybe I can start him at full salary during the 90-day period.""Maybe he just needs a chance."

And I get it. When you've been grinding for months trying to find someone, and a candidate finally shows up who seems like the answer... you want to believe.

But I asked him a question that stopped him cold:

"What happens to the whole shop if he starts, goes on paternity leave, takes his sick days, and you're paying $2,200/week for someone who hasn't turned a wrench in 60 days?"

Silence.

Here's the thing nobody tells you about hiring:

40 billed hours isn't a vibe. It's a requirement.

Salary doesn't mean "guaranteed paycheck no matter what."

It means: "We've agreed on a number because we both expect you'll produce at this level consistently."

When a tech asks for salary, they're really asking for security.

And that's fair.

But security is a two-way street. The shop needs security too—that the production will be there to justify the number.

So how do you handle it without sounding like a jerk?

Here's what I told him:

"We can get you there. Let's prove it together."

Start the conversation with the end in mind:

"You want $115K? I respect that. Here's what 115 looks like in our shop—it's about 45 billed hours a week. Let's start you at [X] for the first 90 days. If you're hitting those numbers by day 60, we bump you up. By day 90, you're at full rate."

That's not lowballing.

That's partnering.

You're saying: I believe you can do this. Now show me.

And if they can't agree to that? They're telling you something important about how the next 12 months will go.

The real lesson here isn't about this one tech.

It's about a pattern I see constantly:

Shop owners bend their pay plans, bend their policies, bend their gut instincts—all because they're desperate to fill the bay.

And then 6 months later, they're right back where they started. Except now they're frustrated, broke, and more skeptical about hiring than ever.

The business has to work first. Then everyone wins.

Here's my question for the group:

What's the most you've ever bent your pay plan for someone... and did it work out?

I want to hear the wins AND the disasters.