When remodeler Ron Trull was looking for a part-time person to run errands and deliver materials to jobsites, the owner of Trull Building Company in Newton Square, Pa., ran an ad in the local paper for a "carpenter/runner." His first and only job candidate was 56-year-old Gus Koster, a retired police officer. He got the job.
Trull pays Koster $9 an hour to use a company van to pick up and drop off materials. Koster also uses a cell phone en route to call carpenters for a list of last minute materials. Koster works an average of about 16 hours a week -- usually spread over three mornings. "It's less expensive to pay someone to run to the yard than paying my carpenters who are making twice as much," Trull says.
Koster knows the roads and has done handyman work, so he has a basic knowledge of construction. "There is a possibility we might work him into our labor force on a full-time basis if he continues to show interest," Trull says.
