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Hey, A.J., could you amplify on that a little?
*Ok, so you want to talk about the quality of employers. First of all I think pretty high of myself, in terms of being a nice guy and a good boss. I never ask my guys to do anything I would not do myself. I've turned down jobs I know we could have done well at, but the house was a mess, smells of s**t, bad neighborhoods, etc... I buy tools that make the jobs easier. I own a drywall lift for boarding ceilings, I don't do that mush drywall. I bought the Porter-Cable drywall sander/vac system for $800. When I had it out with one guy a couple years ago, he even told me he blew it, since I treated him better than anyone ever did.I'm just sick of all the crap we have to put up with. Since my wife has the real job in my family (she makes twice as much as me and carries the health benefits), I'm thinking of getting rid of everybody, and just doing handyman work. I know, I'll just be working for wages, but maybe I'd be less stressed.almost at the end of my rope, waiting for the ski trip out west..Barry
*Off topic but you don't have to work for wages doing handyman work an working alone. People have a hard time finding someone to do the little jobs. They keep getting turned down by all the contractors and will pay good money for someone who will do a small job and do it right.
*Man oh man......I could throw enough handyman work to keep a man busy for a long time. I'm always turning it down. I can't find anyone to do it, and I lose money just considering it. I throw as much of it to my crew as they can stand. Great after work money.There is a market here for that. I see guys in trucks with "No job too small" kinda stuff painted on thier trucks......but they don't look like someone you'd want in your house. There is a guy I heard of in Plano (North of Dallas) who does that and charges $75 an hour and gets it all day long. There is a market for the handyman stuff, but it's got to be a tough way to make a living. You'd have to carry every tool you own and have bins in a van full of every kind of hardware part you could think of. It's all VERY short term work, and when the phone don't ring that $75 an hour starts to shrink quick. You gotta deal with hundreds of customers a year, and how many of those do you think will end up "normal" people? Six out of ten? Maybe. And they ALL want it done for cheap.You'd have to be able to paint, dig, rake, tweek, plumb, gutter, roof, juice, tile, crete, brick, rock, tape, glaze, refurbish, rebuild, remodel, repair, and in a city the size of Dallas.......your talking some serious mileage.Not for me.And by the way.......I think I'm a damn good boss. Lord knows I worked for enough jerks in the past to know the difference. I'm not perfect.....but what the hey. At least I try.Ed. Williams
*What SOB doesn't think he's really a pretty good guy? Who cares what the boss says about himself? What do his employees think? Or are they just a bunch of low-life malcontents who don't know better? If you are having trouble hiring and keeping good employees, don't blame the economy or the schools or the democrats or God. Maybe you are not such a great boss. Don't feel bad. It's a helluva tough job and you have a lot of company.
*For my Temple fund raiser, I donated "carpenter for a day". I put the value at $35 per hour/ 8 hour day. The couple who bought me are dual income professionals. I had to re-caulk the bathtub, install an attic ladder, fix a towel bar, and patch two drywall holes. I completed it in six hours.By the way, I got a job to replace the kitchen counter tops with granite.Barry
*Hey Schelling,I don't know if that was for me personally, or just an observation. We've been offically in business since 1990. Out of the 20 guys on our crew today, 5 have been with us 10 years. 6 have been with us over 5 years. 4 have been here over 3 years, and the rest between 1 and 2 years.I'm not twisting anybody's arm.Ed. Williams
*Hey Ed,I don't think Shelling was directing anything at you personally but he did remind ME of a couple of things.1)Employees and Employers have very different views of the same situation or attributes.For instance the employee may feel his boss is a jerk,or unappreciative,or cheap or any of a number of derogatory things because the "boss" doesn't meet some of the employees needs or the job doesn't provide the level of personal satisfaction the employee wants.The Boss is likely to have a different view of the situation. The boss understands who works for who,and he knows the real reason the employees job even exists in the first place.Employers don't generally create jobs out of the goodness of their hearts,but rather as a means to an end.If an employer is seen as a jerk,it could easily be that he doesn't sugar coat the unwelcome brutal truth that the employee is merely a valuable part of a moneymaking endeavor designed to PRIMARILY benefit the employer. Any benefits to the employee are ultimately only a biproduct of the machine.While the employee resents being considered a valuable tool,the employer fully realizes that he(the employer) in turn will be merely a tool of the customer.---Once again-who works for who?But as an employer of 20,you knew all that even better than I.2) I am reminded of a guy I thought was a class A jerk as an employer at the time.He provided me with a job that was dirty,hot ,dangerous,and low paying.I worked it 50-55 hours a week for 5-6 years,51 weeks a year. I was splashed dailey with chromic acid,muriatic acid,caustic soda and covered in lead oxide.We did risky stuff like lifting 14 ton molds with 2 cranes@5 tons each---instant overloads,no safe gaurds on saws,and totally exposed buss bars pulling 12,000 plus amps( man did the sparks fly when we shorted those babies)Roger constantly dumped effluent in the city storm sewers undetected,and buried toxic sludge directly in the ground behind his shop.I could go on and on,but suffice it to say conditions their were nightmarish.But guess what? about six years after I left that job,I began to re-evaluate my experience there.I now realize that Roger did me a huge favor I can never repay,and actually gave me much more than he ever recieved from me. He GAVE me a job(however low paying)at a time and place when you couldn't BUY a job.Not that he really knew it or cared,but he instilled a work ethic in me,taught me to do with very little,to make do with what I had,made me a master "boogerer",and in general taught me the most valuable lesson I can imagine.He taught me to make things happen for myself,to take charge of my own situation,and that he was not responsible for my lot in life.When I started working for Rog,I made $4/hour,lived with my parents,and owned nothing except an old Chevette with about 100,000 miles on it.When I left I made $6.50/hour,was married,owned my own house,2 vehicles, and was starting my own business.If Rog had been a "good Employer" I would never have had the incentive to start out on my own.Rog was in many ways a real jerk,but years ago I realized that he was the best employer I EVER could have had.By the way,I don't think my experience is particularly special. I bet a lot of guys out there can remember an employer they thought was a jerk at the time,but now realize the jerk did them a HUGE long term favor.It is all a matter of perspective,Stephen
*ED-Just an observation that some of my own employees have been known to make.
*Steven,Pretty good. With that attitude I could even say my first wife was a blessing. (reaching) .........Two looked out through the same bars, one saw the mud, the other the stars.
*Being on my 4th career,(like variety I guess) I have always learned the most from a poor boss. You can learn a bunch from guys that do it wrong day after day and still survive. It always amazed me how bad some people can do something and still be at least successful enough to keep doing it. DanT
*Barry, don't quit yet. First, double your prices. If you have lag time (you probably won't) then work for someone "part-time".After you start earning a decent living, you'll feel better.One other thing, you probably have too much help. Get rid of some of them and your stress level and profit picture will improve.blue
*Barry. $35 per hour is cheap at wholesale. It sounds like you are usually selling retail.Your price should be at least double that.blue
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