Three crews on one payroll.
- A year-round core plus a seasonal crew
- Early starts, overnight cleaning and weekend routes
- Hourly pay, where every deduction shows
A home-service company is often several workforces on one payroll. Leads and techs stay all year. A seasonal crew arrives with the weather and leaves with it. Cleaning companies add an evening or overnight shift that barely overlaps with the office. Each group asks a different benefits question.
Pay and place shape the answers. Hourly workers notice every dollar of a deduction, and because the work happens at customers' homes, the network has to work near where your people live, not just near the yard.
The levers that move a field-crew plan.
Eligibility by hours, set in advance
Write the rule before the first seasonal hire starts.
Tie eligibility to hours worked and keep any waiting period within 90 days. Under 50 employees, federal law doesn't require an offer and Washington adds none, so the rule is yours. For an applicable large employer, full-time means 130 hours of service a month, and new variable-hour or seasonal hires can be measured over 3 to 12 months.
Contribution an hourly paycheck can carry
Model the deduction before the deductible.
Carriers may require as many as 75% of eligible employees to enroll, and every one of them in groups of three or fewer, so the monthly deduction can decide whether you clear the bar. Applicable large employers also face an affordability test: for 2026 plan years, the employee's share of the lowest-cost self-only plan with minimum value can't exceed 9.96%, measured against W-2 wages, rate of pay or the federal poverty line. Try our affordability calculator.
A separate track for the season
Give seasonal workers their own class, or leave them out.
An ICHRA can put seasonal workers in their own class with their own allowance, and a seasonal class is exempt from the minimum class-size rule. Each employee buys individual coverage and must stay enrolled. Under 50 with no group plan, a QSEHRA can leave out seasonal and part-time staff, but it can't sit next to group dental, vision or a health FSA. Both need written notice at least 90 days ahead.
Illustrative: a landscaping company keeps 20 people year-round and adds 15 each spring. One design to model: the group plan for the core and an ICHRA class with a smaller allowance for the seasonal crew. The census decides whether that beats one plan for all.
Voluntary for the injuries L&I doesn't see
Off the clock, the deductible lands on the worker.
On-the-job injuries for L&I-covered workers go through L&I. A twisted knee at a weekend game doesn't. Accident and hospital coverage, employee-paid through payroll deduction, pays cash after a covered event, and disability coverage replaces part of a paycheck.
Decide in winter. Enroll before the spring rush.
Written for a spring plan year. Renewing mid-season? Shift the dates.
End of season: log who leaves
Record last days and expected return dates. A worker gone 13 or more straight weeks without an hour of service can come back as a new hire for ACA purposes.
Early winter: quote and decide
Rebuild the census, set the seasonal eligibility rule and compare group, level-funded and HRA options. Any HRA notice goes out at least 90 days before the plan year.
Before spring: enroll the core
Short sessions at the yard before routes leave, a live virtual session for night crews and one-on-one follow-up, at no extra fee for client teams.
All season: onboard every hire the same way
Every seasonal hire gets one checklist with a deadline and a name to call. Your administrator enters adds and drops in Employee Navigator, and we handle carrier changes.
In a home builders association? Check where your medical comes from.
Remodelers and specialty trades in a local home builders association may be on the BIAW Health Insurance Program. Association plans aren't subject to Washington's small-group rating rules (RCW 48.21.047), so before you sign, price the renewal against a small-group plan, a level-funded plan and an ICHRA on the same census. Our association plan comparison shows how.
Benefit Experts is a trade name of Washington Insurance Brokers LLC, an independent broker not affiliated with or endorsed by BIAW, its local associations, its administrators, or its insurers.
Two assumptions that trip up seasonal businesses.
Seasonal means exempt
The ACA size test averages last year's monthly counts, so a big summer counts. The seasonal-worker exception applies only if your full-time workforce, counting equivalents, tops 50 for no more than 120 days and everyone above 50 in that stretch was seasonal. Check the months in our full-time equivalent calculator.
Changing hours means ineligible
A worker whose hours vary still needs a decision at hire. A non-seasonal hire you expect to work full-time is assessed month by month. Look-back measurement is a method you adopt on purpose, not a blanket exclusion.
What home-service owners ask.
Our cleaners work nights. How do they enroll if they never see the office?
We hold a session at the start or end of their shift, add a live virtual option and follow up one on one with anyone who misses both. Flag language needs early so interpretation can be confirmed in advance.
We use subcontractors on some jobs. Do they count?
Group coverage and the ACA employer count are built on employees. Have payroll or your tax adviser sort employees from independent contractors before we build the census, starting with the IRS guidance on common-law employees.
We've never offered benefits. Where do we start?
With four facts: how many people you want to cover, where they live, what the company can put in each month and when coverage should start. Our first-time benefits guide covers the rest.
Official references: IRS applicable large employer rules, IRS guidance on identifying full-time employees, the DOL 90-day waiting period limit, HealthCare.gov on the ICHRA and the QSEHRA, and the Office of the Insurance Commissioner on small business plans. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Send the winter roster. We'll plan for the summer one.
A census and your renewal, if you have one, are enough to start. No obligation.