Hi Todd, I know is very hard to find good people, but there are a lot them out there, like diamonds, it's our job to filter through the s..., find them and make them shine, if we faint in the search we'll never make it; you have to concentrate on getting young people, there are more willing to learn and feel the need to prove themselves, for them is a challenge; remember, you can shape a young tree in anyway you want, but it'll never happen with an old one, old masons are what they are(good or bad) and will never change.
In the process of finding the right guys, you might suffer and will have to pay a price, contract losses, longer hours, multi tasking......, but if you don't go through all that, you'll never have the right guys, some people opt for the easy way and still make big money, but they will never have the right people, if money gets scarce, that people will go; you need the kind of people that are willing to work for free(yes, FREE) if needed(very extreme and unlikely situation, but not impossible either) and you need to be the guy that when you do very well in a job is willing to share 40% of your profits with those same guys .
I' ve known quite a few good masons that are not worth a dime and think that they have to be hired just because there's nobody else out there, those guys I let go with the easy way choosers and I've proved them wrong, even though this meant working twice as much sometimes; I value people for what they are, not for how much I can get out of them and I expect the same from the guys next to me.
I can define and explain all this now, but I know it all started over 17 years ago, with my old boss, he was what I am today and I was what my guys are now,even though one day I took my own way , we're still one team, we help each other in every way we can(equipment, labor, leads...) we are both stronger like that , I know the story will repeat itself with my guys and I wait for that time happy and confident, because I know they won't be my competition, but my partners instead.
Regards!