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After many years in the business both as a company man, partner, superitendent, I settled in the last couple of years as a carpenter contractor working solo. I was able to pick up help as needed either from subs or fellow sole owners and it worked out nice, sometimes it was a pain in the ass but I always made it work somehow.
My brother in law (on the wifes side)was driving a truck for a sausage company and everytime I saw him he would ask if the need ever came up if I would put him on. Last September a well known window replacement company contacted me to install their product. My mind started to work out a plan that I would hire him and teach him how to install their product and then set him up with another helper and let him do all my installations for that company and I would kick back and do what i always did and keep that as a nice income that he could run. Well for other reasons that i will explain if ever asked, it did not work out with that company after 3 weeks.I have been able to keep him somewhat busy since then either by looking for things for him to help me with or by farming him out to a buddy that does commercial work. His skills are not sharp but he is learning and shows good enthusiasm. I pay him $12.00 a hour and pay for half his medical. He has 4 kids and a wife that cleans houses, no truck, but hand tools. I know that everyone is having a hard time with finding good reliable help and I should be lucky to have a worker that is there on time and honest, BUT I miss working solo, I miss not worrying about anyone but myself, I hate the extra money that goes to Uncle Sam. I run my jobs so efficeiently (probably from working solo) that a lot of times we are done by 2:00 and I have to send him home, sometimes with full pay for the day. He’s got it dicked working for me, but I hate the responsibility. I have a chance to get him on with the commercial guy ( It’s much easier to lose someone new in repetitive commercial work than meticulous finish work) but he does not like working for the guy.
Should I shut up and make the best of it or start to navigate my way back to being solo. Surely you other SOLO FLYERS know where I am coming from.
Any Ideas how I should handle this.
Thanks
cc
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Teach him to sell. If you can have that much time left in a day, he needs to generate income.
*cc,man, I have been doin' the "work alone, hire someone for a job or two, go back to workin' alone" for so long I can't believe it. For the past year I have been alone again and although I miss the company at work, I really enjoy the freedom of working alone. Eight hours is a long time to be with anyone day after day, much less someone who you have to watch over and are always worried about their productivity. I think a large consideration should be your comfort level being alone. One of my oldest friends is a carpenter/contractor who hates working alone, because he hates BEING alone. I prefer to work alone, and I prefer to spend most of my time alone as opposed to bein' around other folks. Another part of the equation is that you can only generate so much income working with your hands. And if you ever want to make serious money (unless you are really gifted) you either have to hire employees or stick to managing the job and sub out most of the work. Great question. One I think many of us grapple with as we progress in this profession.
*It must be great to have a boss that cares do much about his employees. You shouldn't be unhappy to support him and his family.Let him know that you will have to let him go, don't have to tell him why. Tell him that you will keep him on for two months but that you're going to be changing the way you do business to remain competative (or some crap that makes it sound urgent) and give him pleanty of time to find another job. If he's already got an offer with this other guy, why should you be unhappy in your job so he can be happy in his?Good luck.
*CC, what's your wife think? Is the solution to one problem going to cause another? What about the rest of the family? Are you setting yourself up to become that "No good SOB who put his own brother in law on the street?" Joe H
*Believe me Joe, that notion has crossed my mind!
*Hey CC,What's up? First, you're complaining about the slow blues, and worried about keeping your brother in law around, now you're thinking about whether you ought to get rid of him? Well, you'll have to do some serious figuring on how you want to do your business, at least for the remainder of this year. If you have a lot of work, or at least prospects, then you may want to work him harder, see if he can develop some skills and independence to leave him off at a job, and you go work on a different job. May take some time to get to that level, but what a producer if it works, since you already trust him and he shows up. This way, you can do the work you want, and by yourself if you want, he gets plenty of work, and you make more money. On the other hand, if you don't think you've got more on your plate than you can handle by yourself, then you have to put your needs first. If he's got an opportunity to do the kind of work he likes to do but doesn't like working with the boss, tough crap. He can do that until you have more going on, or until he finds another job in the field. He's not far enough up the tree to bitch yet.MD
*I pretty much agree with what's been said. First of all, this absolutely must be a business decision. If you are adamant about wanting to work alone, so be it. All that's left is how to separate yourself from your brother-in-law.When I hired my wifes brother and found out it was cheating on his time sheet, I told Barb, not for her permission, but to advise her of why I was terminating him. I really didn't want to tell her the reason because I didn't want to embarrass her. She said, "That dirty Bastard!" and she never swore - till then. She said it was my company and to do what I deemed necessary. In other words, she stayed out of it other than her one explative.I'd be up front with him. Tell him you thought it would work, but the demands of being an employer are to much and being an employer is a completely new world - one you really don't like. By taking the suggestion earlier here and giving him a month or two to find another job is being much more than gracious. Painful decisions of this type is integral of being a businesman. You are not happy unless working alone. You owe it to yourself and family to work in a manner most effective ($$$$) and most satisfying to yourself, otherwise you'll get frustrated and lose money. Sure, bro-in-law has it great - at your expense. It's not his fault and that's why the, I'd make it 4 weeks, notification. If anyone cannot get another job in 4 week in this economy, the last thing you need is that type of person on your payroll. It's more than fair, realistic, and gets you the desired end result. If he doesn't understand, he, not you , has a problem.
*Doesn't the old tune of working for a boss that you don't like, and really hate working for them sound familiar? I do believe that's why a lot of people here at BT work for themsleves now, and why they work alone. Working for a boss you dislike is probably the most common statement in the workplace. Don't let that one thing sway your decision. It's his problem, not yours.I got tired of the corporate rat race, and the backstabbing at every turn so someone could climb the corporate ladder. I finally told myself that I had enough, and I was going to climb the ladder of my own design, and go as high as I could, or at least as high as I wanted. No interference from same company competition is wonderful. This decision has to be yours alone, because you better understand the situation than anyone else. You are also the boss, and being a boss has its downside (like letting people go). There is lots of good advice here, but ultimately, you must decide what is best for YOU.Just my opinion...James DuHamel
*Thank you gentlemen, you have been very helpful.
*Good luck to you. Let us know what you decided, and how it turned out.MD
*
After many years in the business both as a company man, partner, superitendent, I settled in the last couple of years as a carpenter contractor working solo. I was able to pick up help as needed either from subs or fellow sole owners and it worked out nice, sometimes it was a pain in the ass but I always made it work somehow.
My brother in law (on the wifes side)was driving a truck for a sausage company and everytime I saw him he would ask if the need ever came up if I would put him on. Last September a well known window replacement company contacted me to install their product. My mind started to work out a plan that I would hire him and teach him how to install their product and then set him up with another helper and let him do all my installations for that company and I would kick back and do what i always did and keep that as a nice income that he could run. Well for other reasons that i will explain if ever asked, it did not work out with that company after 3 weeks.I have been able to keep him somewhat busy since then either by looking for things for him to help me with or by farming him out to a buddy that does commercial work. His skills are not sharp but he is learning and shows good enthusiasm. I pay him $12.00 a hour and pay for half his medical. He has 4 kids and a wife that cleans houses, no truck, but hand tools. I know that everyone is having a hard time with finding good reliable help and I should be lucky to have a worker that is there on time and honest, BUT I miss working solo, I miss not worrying about anyone but myself, I hate the extra money that goes to Uncle Sam. I run my jobs so efficeiently (probably from working solo) that a lot of times we are done by 2:00 and I have to send him home, sometimes with full pay for the day. He's got it dicked working for me, but I hate the responsibility. I have a chance to get him on with the commercial guy ( It's much easier to lose someone new in repetitive commercial work than meticulous finish work) but he does not like working for the guy.
Should I shut up and make the best of it or start to navigate my way back to being solo. Surely you other SOLO FLYERS know where I am coming from.
Any Ideas how I should handle this.
Thanks
cc