Hiring full time vs 1099 for construction help

[Travis Yeagley]

I'm considering a full time employee to help with a renovation on a 1100sqft, 3 bed, 2 bath house I bought with a lot next to it on which I plan to build a new duplex in Fayetteville, NC. I can do all the work myself but it's a lot and another set of hands would be great to keep things on time.

What are the pros and cons of having a full time employee versus a contractor who I hire on a full time basis? Obviously health benefits and tax payments are factors. I want to be fair to the employee, have someone trustworthy who will stay around, and make sure that I'm doing things legally and ethically. I'm thinking the work will take slightly less than a year if that makes a difference.

[Jim Kalish]

According to the SBA the total cost to an employer of a full time person is 1.25 to 1.4 times his salary.  https://www.sba.gov/blog/how-m...  The investors I know all hire subs or 1099 employees.  One thing to be watch out for is how you treat the contactor.  I don't mean things like treat him with respect, etc.  That's a given.  Its things like telling him when to show up and when to go home, telling him exactly what to do and in what order, supplying tools.  If you do then the labor board and the IRS could consider him an employee.  https://www.score.org/resource...  And then you can run into all sorts of problems like if he worked more than 40 hours did you pay him OT, do you have workman's comp, did you pay FICA and withholding taxes to the government.  

Not sure how much experience you have doing a greenfield project but 2 guys building an entire house is really big undertaking, even if you sub out the trades.

Best of luck.