O.k the time has come!
I have been remodeling for 6 years and am doing it today. I have just lately met LOTS of people that need some work done. If I am correct, I could schedule work for the next 8-12 months and beyond.
I am ready to hire my first employee and he starts this week. He is laborer material only. I have several good options to hire skilled employees as I need them. And as I get some job contracts signed I will need them to complete the incoming jobs, as well as the jobs scheduled, in a reasonable time frame.
Now that my co. is growing I have tried to think about what kind of company I want to be like but all I can think of is ones that I don’t.
My present goals are to have 2 crews, and I function as the floating GC. I still do some woodwork, but mainly keep the jobs coming in, staying on schedule and keeping the customers happy. In 5 years I want to have the same good, reliable company, only bigger and much more profitable. I figure then I can re-access the big picture.
If you guys could do it all over again-what tips/warnings would you tape to your foreheads?]
Replies
not an answer to your quesiton but but remember that your primary job once you get crews is sales and getting work to keep them busy. Try not to let the enjoyable stuff crowd that out.
When i had one crew i had a tight ship, I worked most of the day then bid and ran around.
When i had 2 i worked a little but never was focused on the work so was pretty useless as my mind was how to keep work coming in and running back and forth babysitting.
When i had 3 crews i ran around putting out fires and the pressure started to get to me.
When i had 4 crews i went insane and hated everybody and went back to just myself.
My own fault looking back, me being a nice guy was shooting myself in the foot, if i did it again i would never put up with the help i had and i would have prepared for the next step of a salesman and office help.
My best times were one good crew calling in good help for a second but not having to worry about keeping them busy, This way i could work on the job every day.
" My own fault looking back, me being a nice guy was shooting myself in the foot, if i did it again i would never put up with the help i had and i would have prepared for the next step of a salesman and office help.My best times were one good crew calling in good help for a second but not having to worry about keeping them busy, This way i could work on the job every day."That is exactly how I would advocate. If you are running one crew excellently and can double it up out in the field and not lose quality or quantity your income increase. Why? Because your profits will actually be there and doubled and your working labor income remains stable.Of course, this will cause a bump in the overhead because someone will actually be billing for their sales commissions and office time...which in theory was being accounted for and priced in anyways. It's suprising how tradesmen think they should eliminate themselves from the field and take over the bookeeping duties. A site manager is worth anywheres from 30 to 50 per hour and a clerk is worth 15. The reality though is that most tradesmen are trying to escape their trade. They might not want to admit it to themselves but that is their reality.
So your advice is: stay on the job as much as possible and keep the office work to someone who is a pro? I like that way of thinking! I usually see the carpenter who becomes a GC who becomes an office worker/bookkeeper who becomes over weight and out of shape w/ high blood pressure. Never have I seen a guy stay on the job and shovel the office work to people in an office! Tell me more~
It's actually very simple. When you started your business, you were selling you. When you take yourself out of the onsite daily lead carpenter role, you are selling someone else. Which do you think it is easier to find: someone like you who works everyday onsite and makes you money or someone to do paperwork and bookeeping? Which is easier to develop; a full time lead carpenter or a partime bookeeper?
I get the drift and I agree. I already have a great bookkeeper that I have been with for years. She is good to me and I trust her. I still write the checks to my subs but she does all the rest on QB.What about an office manager, part-time from home....what does that person do? Contracts, change orders and scheduling?
A salesperson signs the contracts and change orders. A lead carpenter schedules and lines up the subs.
Jim and bobbys have it right IMO. But , you have to have a certain volume of business to be able to afford the bookkeeper/office help. Plus you NEED to know enough about bookkeeping and your business from that perspective to do it or you can't oversee what the office help is doing.
So after you go through the learning curve then start easy, part time help I have used it here and at one point provided a computer and basic business office supplies and machines to a single mother who had prior office/bookkeeping experience and handled it from her house. Worked out nicely for me.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
I've seen a lot of contractors do the same: use someone part time and let them handle it in their own home. In this day and age of computers, it's signficantly easier. I could easily scan every receipt every day and email them to India. Good point about overseeing the books. I wouldn't delegate the signing of checks until I had a very long history with MS Bookeeper.
Yea,
Guy I worked for here had a bookkepper embezzle about 50k from him. IRS busted him , then her for not making tax payments, told him never ever let anyone do your books with knowing what is going on. Not even your wife.
3 years later his wife does exactly the same thing to him but for 75k and runs off with another guy!
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
That is basically what I have now and it works great. I have done the books in the past, the those days are over! Yahoo!I asked Jim this ? too, other than a bookeeper what do you consider "office help"?
The office has to handle the pr duties and insurance administration along with licensing and banking.
That sounds tiring.I will avoid that at all costs, my family and health are too important to me not to. I don't think I will need a salesman as my work load is coming to me unassisted. However an office manager would be stellar. Do you think it's too fit that role? I do have a bookkeeper, but she is only that.
Edited 8/19/2008 8:22 pm ET by BoJespersen1
Bo,
Stay with one crew for a year and get a good track record. It will take some time to figure out your new costs now that you are adding employees. Employees will work at a different (slower) pace than you. Know your true cost per hour of doing business and charge accordingly. Be elementary in your instructions to your crew. Don't assume they understand. Spoonfeed them instructions. The more people you hire the bigger the spoon. NEVER,EVER,EVER hire a friend or relative. You will take much more cr p from them before you fire them. This will hurt your bottom line.
Do your own books for the first year and develop your own system of accounting.
Find your niche. Be professional. A shopvac can be your best tool for referrals if used often. You can't be too clean. Learn the business of contracting and get good at it. Know your numbers. You may have a bunch of cash in the checking account, but remember, it's not yours, you have to pay the bills first. Learn to say no.
Best of luck to you.
Constructing in metric...
every inch of the way.
I appreciate those words and will use them well~
Simply put, if you find a good crew, treat them well. If you find two good crews you are an amazingly blessed man.
The biggest detriment that many contractors face is finding good help. If guys are good, they typically work for themself. Those that are left to work for you are too often enough to make you want to work alone.
I refuse to accept that there are limitations to what we can accomplish. Pete Draganic