Salary Question

[Moody]

Can anyone give me some advice on what to ask for salary-wise for a master electrician job in the DC area? I was thinking $40k+ benefits as a good starting point.

 

[chawalang]

Things to consider.

What is your experience?

What kind of venue is it? Road house, LORT Theatre, Community theatre?

Is it union or non union?

What is the job description?

What is your desired quality of life?

Is there a benefits package do you have to pay anything into it or do they pay all of it?

Will you be salary or hourly?

What is your goal in taking the gig?


My personal opinion, 40k in DC is nothing.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

$40k for a full time 12 month job seems like a struggle in a major metropolitan area where housing is bound to be expensive. Big picture - at least 3 and should be 4 times your housing cost IMHO. But I honestly don't have a good hand on pay scales in theatre. I started at $5500 at a college, so it all seems like a lot.

 

[themuzicman]

Can anyone give me some advice on what to ask for salary-wise for a master electrician job in the DC area? I was thinking $40k+ benefits as a good starting point.

It totally depends on where in the DC area you would be working and where you would be living. If you are taking a job at one of the theater's way out in Loudoun, but could also live near there I could see $40k being reasonable. If you are working in the center of DC at one of the major theaters, and had to live in the burbs and commute, $40k could work in the right placed but it wouldn't be comfortable. If you wanted to live in DC proper (or Arlington) $40k probably won't work unless you can deal with the rougher neighborhoods. A car is non-negotiable unless you are lucky enough to live on the metro and also lucky enough to never have to work past midnight. Calculate the fuel, parking, and toll costs to see just how much it would cost per month to commute - remember that DC traffic is miserable so your commutes may be long with the chance to get miserably long. Living on the metro jacks up the price of rent too, so look around for average price of rent where you want to live.

Anyhow -- $40k could be reasonable but probably not.

 

[SteveB]

It totally depends on where in the DC area you would be working and where you would be living. If you are taking a job at one of the theater's way out in Loudoun, but could also live near there I could see $40k being reasonable. If you are working in the center of DC at one of the major theaters, and had to live in the burbs and commute, $40k could work in the right placed but it wouldn't be comfortable. If you wanted to live in DC proper (or Arlington) $40k probably won't work unless you can deal with the rougher neighborhoods. A car is non-negotiable unless you are lucky enough to live on the metro and also lucky enough to never have to work past midnight. Calculate the fuel, parking, and toll costs to see just how much it would cost per month to commute - remember that DC traffic is miserable so your commutes may be long with the chance to get miserably long. Living on the metro jacks up the price of rent too, so look around for average price of rent where you want to live.

Anyhow -- $40k could be reasonable but probably not.

$40,000 for 52 weeks, divided by a 40 hr. work week comes out to just over $19 hr.

Off the top of my head and knowing what we pay in NYC, which is at the low end of the scale, I'd say No, you are not going to be able to live on that in DC, which is as BTW, a very expensive metro area.

I'd call IATSE local 22 and ask them what their lowest rates are. It'll give you a starting point.

 

[themuzicman]

$40,000 for 52 weeks, divided by a 40 hr. work week comes out to just over $19 hr.

Off the top of my head and knowing what we pay in NYC, which is at the low end of the scale, I'd say No, you are not going to be able to live on that in DC, which is as BTW, a very expensive metro area.

I'd call IATSE local 22 and ask them what their lowest rates are. It'll give you a starting point.

There isn't a whole lot of IATSE stagehand work in DC in the theaters outside of the road houses downtown and Wolf Trap, so rates may not be applicable union/non-union like they are in NYC.

From what I remember of my days in DC Local 22, unlike Local 1, has a fixed "pay rate" where you get a "D List" rate, a "C List" rate and so on. The few calls I worked were around $23 an hour as a general audio hand on the C List at Fed Ex. I know post getting card, rates go up to the $28-$32 range.

Local 1 on the other hand negotiates rates per contract in every venue so rates are all over the place. I can get $23 an hour working off-broadway union as a box pusher up to $29 an hour working off-broadway head of a department. This all changes once you make the jump to Broadway and size of house, legacy contract things, etc.

 

[Moody]

Thank you everyone for your quick replies. I will definately take another look at expenses in the metro area. It's my first time negotiating salary so I appreciate the pointers.

 

[Sean]

Can anyone give me some advice on what to ask for salary-wise for a master electrician job in the DC area? I was thinking $40k+ benefits as a good starting point.

Hey there....

That's low, but sadly not out of the range of what's paid for a lot of the non-union work in town. PM me.