Work Alone Or With Others?

Cubevan

Do you mostly work alone or do you have employees/helpers work with you?

hauoli63

Four employees in the field ... one is an owner (my husband) and three others (all family members) ...

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~~ Lisa ~~

www.chantillyplumbing.com

plazaman

Dad (owner)

8 other employees in the field

ConcreteGuy

I prefer to work alone. I make laborer sticks to prop up the other end of the piece.

But the reality is that we need people. And as a former business owner, the fewer the better. Employees are expensive. Hire the best and retain them by treating them well. If you lack the gumption to fire sorry help, apply at Walmart for a greeter job.

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A reasonable expectation becomes an assumption when it goes wrong.

mdshunk

I have people, but I work on tasks by myslef. I prefer to work alone.

Grumpy

I currently have 3 full time roofers, a full time salesman, my wife who works one or two days a week and a book keeper who comes in a few night a week. I also have a list of various sub contractors, I always have at least one sub crew working daily on something. I personally do a little bit of everything, from installing to sales, to book keeping, to answering the phones.

I am planning on hiring another full time salesman. After I have them two big boys pulling in the money I will hire a full time office assistant.

Oh Boy's Grumpy doesn't plan on being small forever. It is my long term goal to have 10 crews working daily. I worked for a company who had that going on, and I base much of what I do on their business model.

magnum

For years I worked alone but I have found that 2 people are more done then 1, especialy as I grow older. I also think that as just one person working you can only earn a limited income. This may not be true for all trades but in the remodeling buisness I feel that you need at least 2 works in the field to be productive.

Cubevan

After running 3 different businesses alone, I have learned this the hard way.

ppmc

I have 5 full time ppl. I split them up in 2 crews depending on the size of the job and then go do estimates and all the small stuff myself(time permitting).

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Noise ordinace sorry. .sure i'll baffle my pipes.NOT!

donb1959

I have myself and two employees. In my younger days I felt that I could do the work of two, however as I grow older it is more difficult to work like a plow mule. Also I am making more money with 3 people as opposed to 1.

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Teetorbilt

Payroll is now up to 31. I am planning to add 5 more when the new building is completed and will need a few more when phase II is completed next year.

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You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

jvcstone

For years I ran masonry crews - at times 3 jobs going and 14-15 people on the payroll. Seemed like all I got to do was hustle new work and fix screw ups. Ran a lot of money through the bank but in reality didn't make any more myself. Was really glad when the boom burst in the 80's and I could reel things in. Today it's me in the shop with at most one good apprentist if fate puts one here. Only down side to working alone that I see is that there is no one else to blame for mistakes
JVC

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John VanCamp
www.jvcstoneworks.com

RobertCDF

Building custom decks I work alone... although I bet I could get more done with another person... but then I have to pay them

Kevin

Robert, please check out the decks section. Glad to see you here, I need a few more guys to leech information from!

A+Carpenter

I have a crew of 15 people

All framers and lead carpenters . 7x7 + Me = 15

I am the man with the big projects going . 12 plexes 4 high

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6stringmason

I have 2 employees. 1 mason and a tender.

ConcreteGuy

I gather that the bottom line is the fewer the better, but I admonish Teetor to beware getting bigger than he can manage. I am on an $80 million job that is losing enough money to get some jobs canned. Volume is a joke compared to what you can manage. Slow manageable growth without ego is key.

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A reasonable expectation becomes an assumption when it goes wrong.

reveivl

Mostly by myself, but recently have had to bring others in just to get things done in a timely manner. Last summer had two jobs (30k and 150k) running concurrently couldn't figure out how to pull that off alone. Always get someone to carry heavy things up on roofs and heavy clean up etc. Done a lot of bathrooms recently and can't imagine having two guys in there, if thats the only thing going on what does the helper do after he's carried one end of the tub up the stairs? Rich.

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From where does knowledge come? If you need to know what is in a box, you could ask someone (not reliable), you could pray, (not useful), you can consult with the scripture (not helpful) or you could open the box (science)

Teetorbilt

GC, I haven't hit the $1M mark yet but may soon as property values around here go into the insane level.
I never tackle more than I can manage. If you have read my posts, you would know that. We work hard (in shorts)(dig), play hard and live as a structure, everybody supports everyone else.

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You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

Cubevan

Maybe give a back massage