Hiring Other Contractors

go do it

did they work out for you?

i scaled down my labor because we had some smaller jobs but we have a

new house to frame and need to gear up on some more guys

so i hire this kid (24) later on i find out that he is a contractor not a gc but

he has a gb2 licence for small framing, doors, windows, that kind of stuff

the thing is that he seems to be so so slow

i am wondering if now that he is by the hour he has decided to not put out

a good effort

also the homeowner and i were discussing the window details and he jumps

in on the conversation, on his first day, he had no clue what all was involved.

he may be one that can't work for anyone but himself

now that he is a "contractor"

i don't know what do y'all think?

MALCO.New.York

This is just part of running your "Independent Business".

Use your "better judgment" and act swiftly. It will all work out in the end. With lessons learned.

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Mike Finley

I've gone this route in the past and so far have not had good luck. Personally as of today I don't favor hiring for lack of a better word "X contractors". My thoughts in the past were I was going to get a guy who's been around, knows the ropes, will be responsible and know what production and productivity are all about.

What I have seen as a result is guys with "25 years experience" translates into they've spent 25 years building bad habits, the evidence of it is that their habits have brought them to this point where they needed to go back into the labor pool. I can remember one guy "been doing it 20 years...." showed up for his first day with no carpenter bags. When asked where they were, he said he never wears them. Spent the next 3 hours boiling over watching this guy walk from one side of the room to the other to pick up a pencil, or his tape measure or his utility knife. The guy must average an hour a day wasted on just running back and forth for hand tools. Total joke.

I guess you have to have a hard side to you to think that if a guy has been a contractor for X amount of years there is a reason he is looking to work hourly. Everybody wants to give the benefit of the doubt but the truth is there really are only a handful that deserve that benefit of the doubt, the rest simply don't.

MGSProperties

its tough going from being a boss to a worker. if he was a contractor hire him with a contract not hourly rates.

__________________

Double-A

I judge our subs by what is done at the end of the day, not how they lay out their tools for work. I've seen some folks that look like molasses while they work, but seem to chug along nice and steady all day long.

I tend to agree with Mike however, we like to get them young and train them up our way. Its not unusual for us to take a painter and make a good trim carpenter out of him.

Having some knowledge is good, but learning how to do it the way the boss wants it done is better. And doing it right is best.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

wyoming 1

I would also have him sign a non competence clause so he doesn't try to under cut you to the ho.

mikec

I agree hiring ex contractors is usally not good. I've had two of them in the past. The way you said he jumped in on a conversation with the client made me laugh. I had a guy like that. The problem I had with the ex guys is they are greatful at first(because they're usally broke,thats why they need a job), but as time goes on they get bitter towards you because your making money. I had one in particular who was always trying to figure how much I was making. Once he thought he figured it out he would slow down. I had a helpre who was my mole so to speak, and would tell me how he was calculating my costs and profit,and guessing at what I was charging. Then he'd tell the other guys it's ok to slow down, mike is still making X. Once I heard this, he was back on his own.

go do it

yea i think mike summed it up pretty well

i am still an optomist even after all these years though

i will see how it works out

i am just wondering how long i can depend on this guy

until he gets another "job" and drops us like madona droped richie

maybe he will last long enough until i gear up with a couple more guys

thanks

y'all be careful out there