re: Any ever hired a day-laborer from the Home Depot parking lot?

Yes, it's awesome. Be nice and generous when you get some serious stud workers. I figure about $15/hr if I'm going to have them all day. Do a few other nice things like a cheap lunch and some beers and they're ecstatic. If you only need them for a few hours, realize they won't get another gig that day so be up front about it and be prepared to go $20ish/ hr.

Bottom line, I might seem uber cheap or generous from the experiences I've described but everyone I've hired has been grateful. I've done it 10 or 15 times and I've never once had a bad experience. It's really eye opening to see how hard most of these people are willing to work.