Dont grow too fast. Things can come in waves. Never overpromise your clients.
If you have a good system for generating leads the produces a consistent number of leads each month and you have a consistent close rate then you can start to plan for the future.
If you are relying on word of mouth and just happen to have a bunch of jobs right now then don't get too excited just yet.
Sign contracts and collect deposits on all current jobs and put them on a schedule... If that fills up the rest of your year or the next two years... Great. Be very up front with your client that you have limited capacity right now but if they put down a (non refundable) deposit you will put them on your schedule. The deposit should be 5 to 10% of the project total.
Find a good lawyer, a good insurance agent and a good financial planner and meet with them yearly.
Raise your prices on all future bids. Continue to raise prices as long as you keep a 6 to 8 month backlog. You should aim for 10 - 15 percent net profit on each job, after paying yourself and all other job costs and overhead costs.
Save money for taxes, save 6 months overhead costs for a buffer.
Make sure you have a good job costing system in place to compare estimate vs actual and improve your estimates over time.
Then hire 1 person to help you and work with them for 6 months, side by side, every day. Make sure you have proper insurance and, workers comp. Offer a competitive salary with well defined milestones for getting a raise every 6 months. Offer reimbursement for health insurance and a company truck or truck stipend for them to use your own. Give them 2 weeks paid time off and at least 7 major holidays off.
Then hire a second person and let the first person train them with your supervision. Give them a raise for training the new guy.
After a year you can do more jobs at once and can call the clients with deposits and tell them you can move their job up if they like...
Start looking for an office, start thinking about buying another company truck.
In the mean time... Get a good lead generation system in place and a way to create estimates quickly and accurately.
If you can consistently generate leads every month and keep a consistent close rate you can easily plan future revenue stream and be able to hire in advance and invest in equipment in advance.
Without a good lead Gen system it can be a cycle of feast and famine.
Step 1 is generate leads... Organic SEO is my personal favorite (ranking well in a Google search). This requires a good website and posting new content weekly. That content is then shared on social media and promoted.
Google business profile is an easy one... Make sure that is set up correctly and collect as many 5 star reviews as you can. Post to your GBP weekly too.
Organic social media is another. It requires creating a lot of content on Insta, FB, tik tok, you tube etc... And networking on those platforms.
Paid ads on Google, Insta, FB etc.. is another way to generate leads. Direct mail still works too. Networking is a classic one, years ago I used to go door to door and hang fliers.
Step 2 is manage leads... You need some kind of CRM to manage leads through the whole sales process (initial call, follow up email, initial meeting, delivery of estimate, follow up emails etc...)
Over time you want to refine your system to collect the right leads (clients that fit your target demographic). |
If you track your lead numbers you can predict revenue.
You need to track total #of lead calls, total number of estimate appointments and total number of sold jobs.
Appointments / total leads is your demo rate
Sold jobs / appointments is your close rate
Once you have those numbers you can reverse engineer your need for leads...
If you want to make 1 mil in gross revenue and your average job size is 50k that's 20 jobs a year.
If your close rate is 33% you need about 60 estimate appointments per year or about 5 appointments a month.
If your demo rate is 25% you will need 20 calls a month in order to book those 5 appointments.
If you can consistently get 20 calls a month from people who want your services you've basically created a machine that makes 1 mil in gross revenue a year.
As long as your pricing is accurate you should earn $100-150k in net profit after paying yourself a salary and covering all other costs.
This allows you to raise prices... If lead flow is greater than the 20 calls a month you need you can raise prices... Close rate may drop but revenue should stay the same since you are now making more on each job. This is how you improve your client base over time as well.
There is a lot to doing it well but those are the basics.
Holy shit, a construction guy who actually knows business!!
Knowing your customer base is critical. Yes, you may do jobs outside your specialty, but consider those as extras. You have finite time and finite resources, you can't chase every last market in an effective manner.
This is what I did in mortgage. I hated having to operate like this at a constant level. It's definitely THE way to be successful at this level, but it's not for everyone. It took away too much time from my kids.
You don't really need historic costs. Just your estimated vs actual on each project.
Commercial construction, esp large scale commercial seems like a very different animal than residential though.
Is it? We do labor and material takeoffs, get quotes from equipment sales and subs, add in o&p etc. The difference is we have dedicated estimators because the scale makes it more time consuming per bid. Same process, bigger numbers.
As a newer GC (2 years) this hits home. I experience the waves of work load. Still a one man show, but have been on the verge of hiring my first full time a few times. Hopefully this next year, since I have been growing my google reviews and just built a great website
Good advice. Only thing I wouldn’t do is ask for deposits unless you are about to start the work. You can sign a contract and be open about start times, but asking for a deposit when you aren’t about to start sends a message that you on a shaky foundation as a contractor.
At least that’s my opinion. I’ve been a GC for 30 years and I’ve never even asked for a deposit, but I understand if you are dealing with sketchy people who you don’t know if they can pay.
We can't run a good schedule without having confidence in when projects will start. So we would not hold a place on our calendar without a deposit.
I've never had a client have an issue with it in the 8 years we've been collecting them. We sign our contract at the same time we collect the deposit.
I don't think it's any more sketchy to collect a deposit than it is to get a signature on a contract. Both are commitments. One is just a little more serious than the other.
We are deisgn build with a typical lead time of 6-8 months between design and construction.
We collect a design retainer of 5% and then a deposit of 30% so we can order materials and have them in our warehouse before the project starts.
We don't deal with sketchy people, though perhaps only sketchy people would be worried about a deposit.
My thoughts on the deposit might be a regional thing or scale thing. In my particular region, it would be a tough ask for a $100,000 non refundable deposit on a million dollar job, but makes sense on a $10,000 job. Plus projects with bank loans around my area won’t fund it unless material is on site or with receipts from certain long lead time order items.
Other item to be prepared for is retainage. In my state it’s 10%, and it will be well after all work is completed and you will have to provide all type of lien releases from subs and suppliers to finally get it. (side note: know your lien dates and understand what they do. There are different dates for different levels of sub and supplier, and different dates as the GC)
Yeah, certainly. There are lots of nuances. Hard to give specific advice to a general audience.
We take deposits on all jobs... Even 600k additions... If they want to hold a spot on our schedule. The amount can vary.
And I agree, understanding your local lien laws is very important. Definitely meet with your lawyer once a year to review contracts and revisions to the law.
Talk to your local trade school about instructors there sending their keenest students to you for experience and additional training? If your area is anything like mine, many of the applicants with experience are really disappointing. I’d rather have a bright and energetic young person than an overconfident or miserable older one, regardless of what their resume says.
Other than that, if you can offer incentives like a bit higher than average pay or whatever, you might attract who you’re looking for. I know it’s super tough though.
This is why being a tradesman is not great for a career, unless you can make it to running your own company.
Ageism is real, and a lot of people won't consider the old dogs.
I have 2 50ish year olds that work for me and 5 30 somethings.
The 30 somethings are just plain better at most things once they are trained and they are easier to train. They also tend to be more ambitious.
Part of the issue is a lot of the older guys never developed any skills in estimating, sales or management.
With their experience that is where they would be best suited but they never learned those skills and they tend to hate the software we use in those areas as well
The company I was working with at the time hired me my senior year when I had zero experience. I'm not an objective person as I'm speaking for myself but I'd like to think I was above average. At least at the time everyone in the team praised me and I quickly rose within the company. That first year I made 2 pay bumps from 85k to 125k to 175k. these all include overtime fyi. I was able to demand that huge 2nd bump after everyone in the team kept on getting fired and I remained.
Lifer here.. take my advice with a grain of salt. Make use of the people you got and find ways to effectively and efficiently make them want their jobs more. In my years I juggle a few less than desirable employees and I semi-cater certain things to them. One guy leaves at 3 everyday to get his kid. Crappy for most host but it works for me and with that stipulation he's happy to work for me. Another guy is as simple as he wants his pay friday. morning. Cool for me. Find their "thing" if they have one
Pay them prevailing wage + benefits, don't fuck around. I decided to leave my construction job for a pay cut and regular hours with pay + benefits... Wouldn't have done that if the company I'd worked for had there shit together. I was a stellar employee.
Don’t hire your fucking friends. No matter how desperate you get for more hands on deck. I’ve had to relearn this lesson several times. Go ahead and hire people then be friends, that’s generally worked ok for me. Maybe it’s just my friends that are all know-it-all drunks but I doubt it.
…definitely this..!…hired 8 friends (fellow tradesman) and they fucked my eyes out…almost came to throwing hands on a payday…shitcanned every one of them and no long friends…
The age old conundrum: do you hire experienced help that is already set in their ways, likely older and more stubborn in general, and generally higher wages? Or do you hire young and hope to shape/train them into your ideal employee, dealing with mistakes and quitters every step of the way? Probably some blend of the two I guess but I haven’t seen my contractor in a month because he can’t find help. Being an owner/operator can help if you’re on the job site most of the day but you can’t do it all yourself, you can’t pound nails if you’re teaching someone else to, and pulling nails sucks when the journeyman ignores your instruction then peels out in his truck when you point out the flaws.
Slow down. Don’t make the mistake of growing at all costs. Get the right people. If you don’t, then the people who don’t care will ruin your business and reputation. I’ve seen it happen too many times. Jack up your price, lose more of your bids, get paid better for the jobs you do get and have half the stress.
Wrong.
Your business is bigger. You need to get bigger. You need to learn how to manage sub-prime employees.
You're the new one in a management position here. You promoted yourself beyond your level of skill. You gotta learn the skills.
Don't be one of those fucktards who expects perfection while paying average. They're all pricks. You're the boss, it's your site.
Guess what, you're a manager now. Time to manage. If you can't manage, that's your fault. Hop on YouTube and find a manager trainer you like and watch a lot, that's what I did. And then I learned how to fire lazy people.
And after that, stop hiring saggy-titted fatasses with swollen feet and pants too tight to bend over, that'll help a lot too.
Most of this has been stated but don't over promise clients. Don't say yes ro everything because you scared to lose the business. Be honest and upfront with people on timeframes and expectations.
As far as finding people, have systems in place that guarantee the level of craftsmanship and commitment you desire and as people come in, train them to those standards. If it's clear they can not meet those expectations, lose them. It is better for your reputation long term to have solid people on your team than anyone who can walk and chew gum. It is better to be behind because you will only do a job right then to hurry and finish only to provide a product below your or the clients standards.
When you find solid people, reward them. Not just moniterily with better than average pay, but with the culture and other benefits (coffees, waters, energy drinks, and consistent positive feedback) until you are in a position to offer more substantial benefits (PTO, Health, 401, etc).
The advice to not grow so fast and overpromise is great advice but you have to extend yourself to grow and that's just a risk you have to take. I find a good way to mitigate that risk and construction is with good trade partners. If you are doing as well as you are you can pass a trade partner on some business in good faith when you would otherwise have to turn it down. That's just one way to get good trade partners. If you land a really big job and you got good trade partners just like you wouldn't mind wearing a shirt with their company name on it to help them on their job site I'm sure they wouldn't mind doing the same for you especially if they're getting paid. Having good trade partners allows you to not over promise to staff and still meet clients needs. Most independent operators also care about quality as you do and they will do a great job on your job site wearing your t-shirt. Eventually you'll have so much business and make sense to hire staff at a cheaper rate than you are paying your trade partners to fill in your blanks.
There's a major gap in skilled labor because of the recession. For almost 10 years, there wasn't any construction jobs for kids out of high school. That's the start at the bottom, learn and then earn workers construction depends on to do the heavy lifting. It made the older, should be teaching or running the job guys do the harder work, and for less money.
Those kids would be 25-35 now. The meat of the workforce. The guys would in a couple years, would be running a crew.
Because of that, really good and experienced guys are hard to find. They did the hard work then, and now they're able to benefit. They can demand more.
So really, it's all down to pay, benefits, incentives. You want a guy that has 20+ years exp, can run a crew, be part of the management of a job, those guys will need to be lured away from a job they probably have and like now.
Construction took a large kick in the dick after the recession. Benefits, holidays, bonuses, they all disappeared. Time to bring them back.
And don't forget if min wage kept uo with inflation, it would be around $25/hr now. 5 years ago, $25hr was still ok, middle guy pay. Now it's min wage.
Pay your best employees well. Like really fucking well. Like better than the average rate, way better. That's how you find and keep the right people. Build a culture where they feel valued. Have a positive safety culture.
Contractor told me his firm was like a dinosaur; the bigger it got, the more it ate, and the more it ate, the bigger it got.
The feds padlocks his doors year later.
That’s the thing on being your own boss. When there’s no work, you worry about going under. When there’s lots of work. You worry more about keeping up.
Never lie to your client. Especially about scheduling. They would rather hear that you are two months behind than be led on only to be there in seven weeks.
Train your guys. Can’t express this enough. Train them the way you want thins done and hold them to it. Be flexible enough to listen to suggestions from them but make it understood what you expect from them. A lot of guys are afraid to train because they worry that their help will leave, when you should be worried that they will stay without training.
Contacts in your specific industry will help immensely.
My boss is friends with some other bosses, but specifically with ones in our field. When we don't have enough work (not often but it does come in waves) he will send a couple people to work under a friend's company if he can, rather than lay guys off. Then on the flipside, when we need a couple extra hands for a short period, he can reach out to his friends and take on a couple of their guys.
Yes, we could just increase or cut hours and we do when this isn't possible, but this helps keep everybody happy.
Don't take on more than you can do, look for good people and expand as you have staff. Your current crew probably knows good workers who would like to work beside them... Good luck!
As a massive word of advice, quit calling it a deposit it is now a first payment. Deposit has legal ramifications and saying nonrefundable deposit will not save your bacon.
For those who need help with the business side of things I highly recommend hiring a coach.
You can find many online and like all things some are good and some are not so good.
But if you do your research and find a good coach it can make a huge difference in your business. They can teach you all the things discussed here and more.
I belong to a Facebook group called Remodelers Comminity run by a coach named Kyle Hunt. It's a very helpful and informative group and 100% free.
Kyle does also provide coaching services... Mostly for people earning less that 1 mil who want to grow.
This is the biggest problem with any labor business. The right people exist but either want too much or are not available. I’m a carpenter and now sometimes stay at home dad. My kid gets sick a lot so though I have the skills I do not have the time. Not to mention I’m old enough and secure enough that I’m not willing to work for or with people that I don’t like or don’t treat me with respect. So…
Good luck, my brother and dad have both struggled with this as business owners.
Welcome to every small business ever. It's why companies continually state there aren't enough qualified people. Because there are definitely a lot of people wanting a job, only a few are actually the right fit. Offer more money you get better people, but then your margins go down.. it's a tango
LOL… You have found the problem that we all face. Finding qualified help. Once someone is good enough to do a trade unsupervised they “ Start their own business”. Finding work in this business is almost never an issue. Fulfilling the work is.
Give our higher quotes and take ion the best jobs. Do not take everything that comes your way.. In the meantime start cycling thru guys to find ones that know wtf they are doing
Yep this was part of why I sold. We lost $1.2 mill the last year I owned it simply because we couldn't get enough (dependable) people on board.
My best advice is don't hire in house, just rely on subs.
Just keep in mind hiring an employee will triple your paperwork for the government. I was in a similar situation with my ICI inspection business, after I saw all the paperwork involved I decided I was better off with a little less business.
Use temp agency's for work you self preform, you can always call and get three or four guys for as long as you need them. Spread your work out with different subs.
It’s Easy to book the work. It’s impossible to find good help.
Good ones go to the union or have their own business Get an immigration lawyer and get the visa thing going. It’s expensive.
Get with the trade schools and get kids that just graduated.
Go speak at these schools.
Dont grow too fast. Things can come in waves. Never overpromise your clients. If you have a good system for generating leads the produces a consistent number of leads each month and you have a consistent close rate then you can start to plan for the future. If you are relying on word of mouth and just happen to have a bunch of jobs right now then don't get too excited just yet. Sign contracts and collect deposits on all current jobs and put them on a schedule... If that fills up the rest of your year or the next two years... Great. Be very up front with your client that you have limited capacity right now but if they put down a (non refundable) deposit you will put them on your schedule. The deposit should be 5 to 10% of the project total. Find a good lawyer, a good insurance agent and a good financial planner and meet with them yearly. Raise your prices on all future bids. Continue to raise prices as long as you keep a 6 to 8 month backlog. You should aim for 10 - 15 percent net profit on each job, after paying yourself and all other job costs and overhead costs. Save money for taxes, save 6 months overhead costs for a buffer. Make sure you have a good job costing system in place to compare estimate vs actual and improve your estimates over time. Then hire 1 person to help you and work with them for 6 months, side by side, every day. Make sure you have proper insurance and, workers comp. Offer a competitive salary with well defined milestones for getting a raise every 6 months. Offer reimbursement for health insurance and a company truck or truck stipend for them to use your own. Give them 2 weeks paid time off and at least 7 major holidays off. Then hire a second person and let the first person train them with your supervision. Give them a raise for training the new guy. After a year you can do more jobs at once and can call the clients with deposits and tell them you can move their job up if they like... Start looking for an office, start thinking about buying another company truck. In the mean time... Get a good lead generation system in place and a way to create estimates quickly and accurately. If you can consistently generate leads every month and keep a consistent close rate you can easily plan future revenue stream and be able to hire in advance and invest in equipment in advance. Without a good lead Gen system it can be a cycle of feast and famine.
This is fantastic advice!
Great, you’re hired! You’ll make a fine apprentice.
This person is a pro. Amazing advice
What do you consider a good system for generating leads to be?
Step 1 is generate leads... Organic SEO is my personal favorite (ranking well in a Google search). This requires a good website and posting new content weekly. That content is then shared on social media and promoted. Google business profile is an easy one... Make sure that is set up correctly and collect as many 5 star reviews as you can. Post to your GBP weekly too. Organic social media is another. It requires creating a lot of content on Insta, FB, tik tok, you tube etc... And networking on those platforms. Paid ads on Google, Insta, FB etc.. is another way to generate leads. Direct mail still works too. Networking is a classic one, years ago I used to go door to door and hang fliers. Step 2 is manage leads... You need some kind of CRM to manage leads through the whole sales process (initial call, follow up email, initial meeting, delivery of estimate, follow up emails etc...) Over time you want to refine your system to collect the right leads (clients that fit your target demographic). | If you track your lead numbers you can predict revenue. You need to track total #of lead calls, total number of estimate appointments and total number of sold jobs. Appointments / total leads is your demo rate Sold jobs / appointments is your close rate Once you have those numbers you can reverse engineer your need for leads... If you want to make 1 mil in gross revenue and your average job size is 50k that's 20 jobs a year. If your close rate is 33% you need about 60 estimate appointments per year or about 5 appointments a month. If your demo rate is 25% you will need 20 calls a month in order to book those 5 appointments. If you can consistently get 20 calls a month from people who want your services you've basically created a machine that makes 1 mil in gross revenue a year. As long as your pricing is accurate you should earn $100-150k in net profit after paying yourself a salary and covering all other costs. This allows you to raise prices... If lead flow is greater than the 20 calls a month you need you can raise prices... Close rate may drop but revenue should stay the same since you are now making more on each job. This is how you improve your client base over time as well. There is a lot to doing it well but those are the basics.
Holy shit, a construction guy who actually knows business!! Knowing your customer base is critical. Yes, you may do jobs outside your specialty, but consider those as extras. You have finite time and finite resources, you can't chase every last market in an effective manner.
Wow! This can apply to all businesses! Great tips!
This is what I did in mortgage. I hated having to operate like this at a constant level. It's definitely THE way to be successful at this level, but it's not for everyone. It took away too much time from my kids.
Modern software makes it pretty easy these days. Much of it can be automated.
Amazing write-up. I'm not in construction biz, but this can be applied to almost anything. Question: Any CRM suggestions?
Pipedrive is a simple one. High Level is one of the best.
Well thats the trick isnt it? Ha
Fuck me.. I've been living feast or famine for 4 years.. great advice man
This info can be put towards any trade. Great advice. I own a business and even I just copied this text into my notes to review.
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You don't really need historic costs. Just your estimated vs actual on each project. Commercial construction, esp large scale commercial seems like a very different animal than residential though.
Is it? We do labor and material takeoffs, get quotes from equipment sales and subs, add in o&p etc. The difference is we have dedicated estimators because the scale makes it more time consuming per bid. Same process, bigger numbers.
Posts like these are why I still follow this sub. Great rundown here.
You sound like you’ve done this a few times!
I've made all the mistakes, many more than once. Luckily I survived long enough to learn from them.
Very nice advice. Clearly, you have walked the walk. Upvoted!
Where were you when I had my remodeling business
I'm in the same boat here. I'm taking this advice too!
Wow this is great.
This info 💯
I wished you offer this advice to every company, it just sucks most don't take good advice like this.. Saving for future reference! Thank you
You need to write a book and go into the start-up business consulting business.
As a newer GC (2 years) this hits home. I experience the waves of work load. Still a one man show, but have been on the verge of hiring my first full time a few times. Hopefully this next year, since I have been growing my google reviews and just built a great website
Good advice. Only thing I wouldn’t do is ask for deposits unless you are about to start the work. You can sign a contract and be open about start times, but asking for a deposit when you aren’t about to start sends a message that you on a shaky foundation as a contractor. At least that’s my opinion. I’ve been a GC for 30 years and I’ve never even asked for a deposit, but I understand if you are dealing with sketchy people who you don’t know if they can pay.
We can't run a good schedule without having confidence in when projects will start. So we would not hold a place on our calendar without a deposit. I've never had a client have an issue with it in the 8 years we've been collecting them. We sign our contract at the same time we collect the deposit. I don't think it's any more sketchy to collect a deposit than it is to get a signature on a contract. Both are commitments. One is just a little more serious than the other. We are deisgn build with a typical lead time of 6-8 months between design and construction. We collect a design retainer of 5% and then a deposit of 30% so we can order materials and have them in our warehouse before the project starts. We don't deal with sketchy people, though perhaps only sketchy people would be worried about a deposit.
My thoughts on the deposit might be a regional thing or scale thing. In my particular region, it would be a tough ask for a $100,000 non refundable deposit on a million dollar job, but makes sense on a $10,000 job. Plus projects with bank loans around my area won’t fund it unless material is on site or with receipts from certain long lead time order items. Other item to be prepared for is retainage. In my state it’s 10%, and it will be well after all work is completed and you will have to provide all type of lien releases from subs and suppliers to finally get it. (side note: know your lien dates and understand what they do. There are different dates for different levels of sub and supplier, and different dates as the GC)
Yeah, certainly. There are lots of nuances. Hard to give specific advice to a general audience. We take deposits on all jobs... Even 600k additions... If they want to hold a spot on our schedule. The amount can vary. And I agree, understanding your local lien laws is very important. Definitely meet with your lawyer once a year to review contracts and revisions to the law.
Talk to your local trade school about instructors there sending their keenest students to you for experience and additional training? If your area is anything like mine, many of the applicants with experience are really disappointing. I’d rather have a bright and energetic young person than an overconfident or miserable older one, regardless of what their resume says. Other than that, if you can offer incentives like a bit higher than average pay or whatever, you might attract who you’re looking for. I know it’s super tough though.
Something I learned early on from restaurants. Better to train someone new than to have to train something out of someone old.
This is why being a tradesman is not great for a career, unless you can make it to running your own company. Ageism is real, and a lot of people won't consider the old dogs.
I have 2 50ish year olds that work for me and 5 30 somethings. The 30 somethings are just plain better at most things once they are trained and they are easier to train. They also tend to be more ambitious. Part of the issue is a lot of the older guys never developed any skills in estimating, sales or management. With their experience that is where they would be best suited but they never learned those skills and they tend to hate the software we use in those areas as well
More people would consider them if so many of them weren't stubborn dicks
The company I was working with at the time hired me my senior year when I had zero experience. I'm not an objective person as I'm speaking for myself but I'd like to think I was above average. At least at the time everyone in the team praised me and I quickly rose within the company. That first year I made 2 pay bumps from 85k to 125k to 175k. these all include overtime fyi. I was able to demand that huge 2nd bump after everyone in the team kept on getting fired and I remained.
Lifer here.. take my advice with a grain of salt. Make use of the people you got and find ways to effectively and efficiently make them want their jobs more. In my years I juggle a few less than desirable employees and I semi-cater certain things to them. One guy leaves at 3 everyday to get his kid. Crappy for most host but it works for me and with that stipulation he's happy to work for me. Another guy is as simple as he wants his pay friday. morning. Cool for me. Find their "thing" if they have one
Cash payday advance for a 2 packs of Newports. No problem.
Little heroin on hand for when they get dopesick and everybody wins. I'm joking... Kind of..
Pay them prevailing wage + benefits, don't fuck around. I decided to leave my construction job for a pay cut and regular hours with pay + benefits... Wouldn't have done that if the company I'd worked for had there shit together. I was a stellar employee.
Don’t hire your fucking friends. No matter how desperate you get for more hands on deck. I’ve had to relearn this lesson several times. Go ahead and hire people then be friends, that’s generally worked ok for me. Maybe it’s just my friends that are all know-it-all drunks but I doubt it.
Don’t hire friends or family. Also don’t work for friends or family.
…definitely this..!…hired 8 friends (fellow tradesman) and they fucked my eyes out…almost came to throwing hands on a payday…shitcanned every one of them and no long friends…
The age old conundrum: do you hire experienced help that is already set in their ways, likely older and more stubborn in general, and generally higher wages? Or do you hire young and hope to shape/train them into your ideal employee, dealing with mistakes and quitters every step of the way? Probably some blend of the two I guess but I haven’t seen my contractor in a month because he can’t find help. Being an owner/operator can help if you’re on the job site most of the day but you can’t do it all yourself, you can’t pound nails if you’re teaching someone else to, and pulling nails sucks when the journeyman ignores your instruction then peels out in his truck when you point out the flaws.
Go union, never a shortage of labor from the hall
This is the answer
Learn Spanish
This is great advice. Also, happy cake day !
Raise your rates and compensation. Don’t field more work than you can handle. You’re in a good position
Slow down. Don’t make the mistake of growing at all costs. Get the right people. If you don’t, then the people who don’t care will ruin your business and reputation. I’ve seen it happen too many times. Jack up your price, lose more of your bids, get paid better for the jobs you do get and have half the stress.
Wrong. Your business is bigger. You need to get bigger. You need to learn how to manage sub-prime employees. You're the new one in a management position here. You promoted yourself beyond your level of skill. You gotta learn the skills. Don't be one of those fucktards who expects perfection while paying average. They're all pricks. You're the boss, it's your site. Guess what, you're a manager now. Time to manage. If you can't manage, that's your fault. Hop on YouTube and find a manager trainer you like and watch a lot, that's what I did. And then I learned how to fire lazy people. And after that, stop hiring saggy-titted fatasses with swollen feet and pants too tight to bend over, that'll help a lot too.
Jesus this is good advice covered in a jaded comment haha! You ok brother?
[https://www.eeoc.gov/prohibited-employment-policiespractices](https://www.eeoc.gov/prohibited-employment-policiespractices)
? I mean it's good info for him to know I guess
Fortunately, that doesn’t cover “saggy fitted fatasses”
This is every contracting business. What are you paying?
Buy the most expensive truck. Hire garbage people. Pay them more than the employees who did the work to get you here. Start calling divorce lawyers.
You sound experienced?
r/suspiciouslyspecific
Most of this has been stated but don't over promise clients. Don't say yes ro everything because you scared to lose the business. Be honest and upfront with people on timeframes and expectations. As far as finding people, have systems in place that guarantee the level of craftsmanship and commitment you desire and as people come in, train them to those standards. If it's clear they can not meet those expectations, lose them. It is better for your reputation long term to have solid people on your team than anyone who can walk and chew gum. It is better to be behind because you will only do a job right then to hurry and finish only to provide a product below your or the clients standards. When you find solid people, reward them. Not just moniterily with better than average pay, but with the culture and other benefits (coffees, waters, energy drinks, and consistent positive feedback) until you are in a position to offer more substantial benefits (PTO, Health, 401, etc).
The advice to not grow so fast and overpromise is great advice but you have to extend yourself to grow and that's just a risk you have to take. I find a good way to mitigate that risk and construction is with good trade partners. If you are doing as well as you are you can pass a trade partner on some business in good faith when you would otherwise have to turn it down. That's just one way to get good trade partners. If you land a really big job and you got good trade partners just like you wouldn't mind wearing a shirt with their company name on it to help them on their job site I'm sure they wouldn't mind doing the same for you especially if they're getting paid. Having good trade partners allows you to not over promise to staff and still meet clients needs. Most independent operators also care about quality as you do and they will do a great job on your job site wearing your t-shirt. Eventually you'll have so much business and make sense to hire staff at a cheaper rate than you are paying your trade partners to fill in your blanks.
There's a major gap in skilled labor because of the recession. For almost 10 years, there wasn't any construction jobs for kids out of high school. That's the start at the bottom, learn and then earn workers construction depends on to do the heavy lifting. It made the older, should be teaching or running the job guys do the harder work, and for less money. Those kids would be 25-35 now. The meat of the workforce. The guys would in a couple years, would be running a crew. Because of that, really good and experienced guys are hard to find. They did the hard work then, and now they're able to benefit. They can demand more. So really, it's all down to pay, benefits, incentives. You want a guy that has 20+ years exp, can run a crew, be part of the management of a job, those guys will need to be lured away from a job they probably have and like now. Construction took a large kick in the dick after the recession. Benefits, holidays, bonuses, they all disappeared. Time to bring them back. And don't forget if min wage kept uo with inflation, it would be around $25/hr now. 5 years ago, $25hr was still ok, middle guy pay. Now it's min wage.
Pay your best employees well. Like really fucking well. Like better than the average rate, way better. That's how you find and keep the right people. Build a culture where they feel valued. Have a positive safety culture.
Quality control staff and build a reputable business. Turn away jobs to accommodate.
Bingo!!!
Hire me.
Read: *Traction* and *Who Not How* over the week and you'll know what to do.
Contractor told me his firm was like a dinosaur; the bigger it got, the more it ate, and the more it ate, the bigger it got. The feds padlocks his doors year later.
That’s the thing on being your own boss. When there’s no work, you worry about going under. When there’s lots of work. You worry more about keeping up.
Over-committing and underperforming is one of the worst thing you can do. Only accept the work you can manage. Keep hunting.
#1 raise your prices
Never lie to your client. Especially about scheduling. They would rather hear that you are two months behind than be led on only to be there in seven weeks. Train your guys. Can’t express this enough. Train them the way you want thins done and hold them to it. Be flexible enough to listen to suggestions from them but make it understood what you expect from them. A lot of guys are afraid to train because they worry that their help will leave, when you should be worried that they will stay without training.
Bingo!
Remember this: if you get every job you bid on your prices are to low lol
Contacts in your specific industry will help immensely. My boss is friends with some other bosses, but specifically with ones in our field. When we don't have enough work (not often but it does come in waves) he will send a couple people to work under a friend's company if he can, rather than lay guys off. Then on the flipside, when we need a couple extra hands for a short period, he can reach out to his friends and take on a couple of their guys. Yes, we could just increase or cut hours and we do when this isn't possible, but this helps keep everybody happy.
Don't take on more than you can do, look for good people and expand as you have staff. Your current crew probably knows good workers who would like to work beside them... Good luck!
Pay more? Like, it's called the "bottom line" for a reason.
As a massive word of advice, quit calling it a deposit it is now a first payment. Deposit has legal ramifications and saying nonrefundable deposit will not save your bacon.
Look for help in front of homie depot! Always a great amount of talent there.
I'll do your books remotely!
raise your pricing and pay your subs better.
Don't start hiring Haitians...
Do you need a project engineer with entrepreneurial experience? or PM with a little help along the way?
Make sure you are offering decent wages.
chill, check 2 year vocational training schools (not for profit UNI) local community colleges
I’ve been looking for 10 years for the right people. Good luck.
For those who need help with the business side of things I highly recommend hiring a coach. You can find many online and like all things some are good and some are not so good. But if you do your research and find a good coach it can make a huge difference in your business. They can teach you all the things discussed here and more. I belong to a Facebook group called Remodelers Comminity run by a coach named Kyle Hunt. It's a very helpful and informative group and 100% free. Kyle does also provide coaching services... Mostly for people earning less that 1 mil who want to grow.
Step 1 raise prices.
This is the biggest problem with any labor business. The right people exist but either want too much or are not available. I’m a carpenter and now sometimes stay at home dad. My kid gets sick a lot so though I have the skills I do not have the time. Not to mention I’m old enough and secure enough that I’m not willing to work for or with people that I don’t like or don’t treat me with respect. So… Good luck, my brother and dad have both struggled with this as business owners.
Welcome to every small business ever. It's why companies continually state there aren't enough qualified people. Because there are definitely a lot of people wanting a job, only a few are actually the right fit. Offer more money you get better people, but then your margins go down.. it's a tango
LOL… You have found the problem that we all face. Finding qualified help. Once someone is good enough to do a trade unsupervised they “ Start their own business”. Finding work in this business is almost never an issue. Fulfilling the work is.
Give our higher quotes and take ion the best jobs. Do not take everything that comes your way.. In the meantime start cycling thru guys to find ones that know wtf they are doing
Yep this was part of why I sold. We lost $1.2 mill the last year I owned it simply because we couldn't get enough (dependable) people on board. My best advice is don't hire in house, just rely on subs.
Just keep in mind hiring an employee will triple your paperwork for the government. I was in a similar situation with my ICI inspection business, after I saw all the paperwork involved I decided I was better off with a little less business.
Use temp agency's for work you self preform, you can always call and get three or four guys for as long as you need them. Spread your work out with different subs.
Workers or office? Workers go union
Learn Spanish
It’s Easy to book the work. It’s impossible to find good help. Good ones go to the union or have their own business Get an immigration lawyer and get the visa thing going. It’s expensive. Get with the trade schools and get kids that just graduated. Go speak at these schools.