Out Of The Front Line...

Winchester

So, right now I am a one-man-show. I sub out electrical and plumbing, but do everything else that is involved in renovation/remodeling.

I don't have much free time and I make enough money to get by, but I haven't been in business long.

I may have the opportunity to hire two people in the near future due to a possible job that is larger than normal.

With 2 employees, in theory, I will make roughly the same per hour as just myself working, so that justifies me stepping back into a supervisory role where I can hopefully concentrate more on the business side of things, and generate enough to keep these two busy (and ideally eventually another 2-man crew).

With setting these 2 people up as their own crew, do you guys recommend that I stay around and work with them for a while until I am confident in their ability to act on their own, or should I from the beginning play the supervisory role and let them feel respected and trusted and more independent?

I have a lot of resumes, phonecalls and emails of people looking for jobs, and there are 3-4 very good ones, so I'm sure I can get a couple of good, qualified people...

Any of you experienced people have advice for a rookie?

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Ryan

WisePainter

I am a solo painter that hires helpers.

I highly recommend that you find employees that are willing to do things the way you want (good luck), or that are so damn good that they can walk onto any job and handle any situation (they usually leave after 2 years though to work for themselves ).

Definitely work with them for at least a few months in order to determine in what capacity they can add to your company.

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My advice: Hire a real painter to do it.

Cst Dsn Bldrs

***You are perform only as good as your worse guy performs.

Even although he's not you, he's an employee, you are reliable for any actions he makes on the job and your reputation is in his hands.

That said, their are many good, nice hard working men who are looking to improve themselves, their lives. Those are the best guys to work work. You should work with the guys side by side and train them the way YOU like to do things. Again, YOU are building the business, not them. you also need to make sure they are as nice and respectful to your customers as you would be

Mike Finley

You ideally need to do both. Phase 1 is training them to meet your goals of production, and benchmarks you use for determining quality.

In other words think of it like this. The task is to frame a wall out of 2x4s. The goal is not just for the wall to be assembled to meet industry standards (16 IOC, plumb square, kings and trimmers, headers all in the right places), but also to be assembled in a timely manner.

So what training is needed? It depends on the level of experience of your employees, the training could be as basic as this is how you read a tape measure to as little as here are the tools, oh, you're done? Or it might be a matter of training for better production such as cutting all the studs to length at the same time instead of one at a time.

But your training should not be, "No, move the stud 1/8 to the right"

It's not about micro management. Only meeting the goal of quality and meeting the goal of production. What happens in between doesn't matter.

So long story short, you have to train to some degree to set the benchmarks to set the goals, to show them the road map to success. After that it's more supervisory if your guys can meet your goals on a regular basis.

Bkessler

I tried to step back once..... only once.

DavidC

I agree that you need to work with them at least long enough to make sure they understand your hows, whats and whys on the job. I always figured that I need 3 guys in the field for me to step back and somehow it takes 8-10 to find one keeper. You will need a good lead/foreman.

I've been trying to keep my toolbelt off but it acts more like a yo-yo.

Good Luck
Dave

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www.CookContractingLLC.com

WisePainter

That was my first thought when I went back in my mind to the 1 time I "stepped back".

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My advice: Hire a real painter to do it.

Winchester

So, you guys may remember this thread and the one about hiring two employees.

Well, I hired a carpenter and apprentice, and I haven't done any real physical work in about a month. I'm also making more money and have bigger and better jobs coming in.

Both guys are pretty good. Honest and trustworthy.

The carpenter has over 20 years experience, and used to teach carpentry at college.

The apprentice moved here from another province and his apprenticeship did not carry over so he has to start over again. He has over 4 years experience in finish carpentry and used to be a california closet installer, and he does great trim work.

Now I spend most of my time pricing crap out for estimates or getting materials for the current job.

We're also going to start a 2-level 16x21 cedar deck with pergola within the next couple of weeks. So be expecting some before and after pictures of that!

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Ryan

SLSTech

Congrats Winchester - Keep it up & enjoy running your business

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Certified Energy Efficiency Audits, Ratings, Modeling, Verifications, & Consulting
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Bodger

Same here. I even tried to pay top wages for "journeymen" to see if that would attract the caliber of people I needed.
I had so many problems, it seemed like I had to go back and correct so much work, or at least be there while it was being corrected, that I was worse off and also didn't look so good to my clients.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but my biggest problem was and still is finding qualified help that can actually do the work the way it should be done and in a timely manner.

Finding someone who could properly do the work, and read and comprehend plans was by far the most difficult hurdle.
Best of luck to you.

1mancrew

Congrats on your expansion! Always good to hear when things work out.

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www.KirbyCustomHomes.com

Dorman Painting

I'm a painter and I've had as many as six employees on a hotel job several years back. It worked fairly well in that capacity, being the quality of work wasn't picked to pieces. I was trying to keep them busy but within a matter of weeks after finishing the hotel job I was busted back to a two man crew. Now I'm actually down to me and one helper.

I think for a person who wants to be in control and micromanages, expanding is very tough to grasp. That person feels the need to be on the job working with his crew and feels guilty if he's not. My biggest problem was finding enough work, I simply couldn't keep the six man gig busy enough. I'd love to get out of the bucket, but the few times I've tried, work didn't seem to get done on my jobs as efficiently as I'd like. It can be done though, you do have to sacrifice some quality to make it work IMO.

dirt diggler

Winchester ...

there must be a DEMAND for your business to grow. You prepare for growth and you supply it when the time comes (and you'll know it). But you don't grow because "oh, cuz I feel like it" --- you grow because your company is in demand to do so.



Otherwise, you may find that you are essentially spending money needlessly.

You must be very highly competent with managing your finances.


I am NOT saying don't do it --- but I just want to give you this perspective so that maybe it saves you some trouble(s).

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Thanks in advance!!!

Winchester

Thanks guys

Of course, nobody is going to care about the quality of work as much as the business owner. However, it depends a lot on how you manage and the guys you hire.

Right now is a good time to find quality guys for you folks south of the Canadian border. I guess you're in a real recession from what I've been hearing.

Of course I've talked about it with a lot of people. We're supposed to be in some kind of recession as well, but we'd never know about it unless I was listening to some sort of talk radio in my truck or at a jobsite. It's business as usual. Malls are packed, work is coming steady, nothing has changed except that some of my stock prices have dropped a lot.

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Ryan