Ok … got to thinking today.
I may seriously maybe/kinda-sorta think about hiring a real FT employee.
what should I be considering? (not who … what in terms of how’s it affect the bottom line and the business and my life)
Thanks,
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
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Replies
Be prepared to be his slave. Everything you do and every bid you put out will have to consider feeding him and you. Every day he needs money. It's a non stop have to make money got to pay this guy burden.
On the up side if you get a good one, you can make a lot more money then a one man show.
Tipi fest 06. A nice place to get away with the family and enjoy the lush estates of Cliffordland. And hang out with the amazing shirtless camper dude from the great white North. Eh
Others can deal with the bottom line and how it will affect your business. Obviously this will depend on how well you manage your business.
I think that the biggest difference is on your life. You have just acquired another set of obligations and like the other sets of obligations that you already have (customers, wife, children, etc.) it will make demands on your time and energy that are inescapable. You can deal with it since you take care of your customers, your wife and your kids, but don't think that it is not there. Much like any set of obligations, if you give them the attention that they demand, employees can be a source of great rewards, financial and personally, but if you do not properly supervise, fairly compensate, or treat with respect, you will have a heck of a mess on your hands.
Having employees is a responsibility, one that you can handle if you want to. Do you want to?
Matching his SS withholdings, workers comp. unenjoyment taxes. It's all part of the govt. side. I have had as many as 15 employees and as few as 1, if their making you money it's worth the other expenses. Sometimes you won't be getting paid as the job isn't complete for final billing, but he needs his beans at the end of week. Always keep the relationship as boss and employee.
Hire the guy with a good attitude, you can teach him the skills as you will be working with him on a daily basis. You will be able to get this employee at a lower rate and be able to see if it works for you. If he has a nose ring you'll have a place to hang your cordless when your hanging the uppers.
Theres several different takes on single employees as add on to a master or journeyman.
Theres the guy that can do what you can
Theres the guy that can do it with guide
Skip a few lol
Theres an entry level or below as in student .
I notice a lot of mechanical trades, floor laying , masons all using entry level fetchers or above . I use those and the ones on top. Either works out well for me . I cant use the guys in the middle . I cant envision you using entry level .
You have to turn money on them .
Tim
What do you want for them to do? Make a list and start with that.
When I came home from the hospital I knew I was pretty helpless but I still had all my stuff to do and the rental propertry. I had bought a cabin and had been working on it . Stuff still had to be done .
I hired entry level and just had one . I did the thinking and he did the work while I coached . Wasnt long before on one project to the next he really didnt need me but I made suggestions to keep him working all the time . Once he was coached to roof one house he didnt need me so I just cut starters. Every hour or so he would have a question. He got faster and it was good therapy for me to get better as I did all I could do so I consider it a win win for both of us .
Then one day I found my self mostly being able to work all day with a normal amount of breaks . Then there were two of us instead of where we started as two halfs. I had never done that but it was pretty cool. We still cut each others slack in areas we were short and made a team. I did less explaining which is very costly when its done all the time . I was able to give him a couple raises.
He always broke all the tools out and put them up . He set up a project and all I had to do was do the work. We replumbed a rent house, drain and supplies . All I had to go was cut , fit and sorder and then on the plastic drains the same . It was easy for me .
We releveled a crawl space and added some beams . I knew I couldnt do the crawling so I made a sled with a rope attached to both sides . He had a picture cell phone and I bought two walkie talkies. He did the whole thing while I supplied him material , answered questions after he would take pics . That was pretty cool.
I know you are in great shape but thought I would offer what actually happened as it was rewarding to us both. We worked it out . In principle thats how I think hands should work out .
Tim
I have 7 employees from 19 to 31 years old (I'm 50). Sometimes clients ask if I have kids, and I say "No, but I feel like I do."
Be prepared to explain everything more than once. Its easy to forget that he/she/they don't know everything you do.
It will allow you to do jobs that would be very difficult or impossible without help, and may open up the types of projects you go after.
Good luck.
Bear
You know Jeff it all depends on what, where, when and how complicated to you want to get. For starters I would reccomend the book "Rich Dad/Poor Dad" You may or may not agree with everything Robert T. Kiyosaki has to say, but he puts an interesting perspective on things. I will say that one of the biggest challanges is controlling your overhead and making sure that you are able to quantify it on a unit basis. Be it per hour, per square foot or what ever unit you would choose. Others have pointed out all the obligitory taxes and payrole requirements. The next thing is to consider your schedule, once you have employees the clock becomes your master.
Now don't get me wrong I could not do what I do without employees, nor would I want to either. They are a valuable part of the system. However, once you have employees your perspective changes. Asking the question is a good start. Do your home work. Talk to your accountant, insurance agent and banker, they also are an important part of the team.
Roger
jeff... personally i can't figure out why anyone would want to be a one-man band.. i know some are not cut out to be employers but most people in business can handle it
some are unwilling to put up with the headaches
but most things worth doing come with a price.. the price is bigger overhead, meeting a weekly payroll, filing employment returns, dealing with multiple personalities
but the rewards are great.. you can actually build a real business, one that keeps going even when you are not there...
and you can take advantage of the multiplier effect.... two can do twice as much work... you can make more money working the same hours... your company becomes more professional in the eyes of the public...
your company can take on bigger ( and often more interesting and more profitable ) jobs
is it harder than working alone ? you bet ... is it worth doing.... think 20 years down the road... Corey will be what ? 25 ?..... what will Buck Construction look like in 20 years ? if you remain solo ? if you have one or more employees ?
which is the more interesting picture in your head ?...
i always wonder about some of the guys that sub for me... why don't they have employees ? most of them suffer burn-out a lot more often than the subs that have employees ..
to each their own...but if you look at the models of successful businesses, most of them have employeesMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
How do you smooth out your cash flow? Credit line, or do you have enough working capital to cover expenses between draws?
My biggest fear is bad debt, and I consider debt incurred for day to day operations bad debt. It's the reason I dropped all my employees.
You don't have to answer if it's too personal. Just wondering.In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.
no.... that was one of my biggest problems... no working capital..
i try to structure my jobs so we are working with the customer's money, not ours
most of the time it works...
nowadays i do have access to money if i need it, so i try to keep some for a rainy day.... or 30 rainey days
and i do keep an eye on the economy, local and national.. it affects how i bid some jobs.... like bidding to get thru a winter.. or bidding in a recession..
and i have been down to zero employees.. in the late '80's when they closed the Credit Unions in RI.... those were tough times from '87 to about '95 ... one long time....
when i started hiring again, after about two years, the whole scene had changed
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I agree with Mike in all aspects of this. We now have 4 and I can't work yet. But I am still drawing a check and we are busy as ever. I am doing sales calls, books etc but no field work.
I have a 30k credit line I can draw on but try not to. You have to cut back occasionally. I had one guy off for a month in the early spring. But other than that when structured correctly and with a little cushion you can handle the flow pretty easily.
Frankly I find it a lot more interesting too with more than one thing going on at a time. But then I was a manager before and liked that. DanT
Frankly I find it a lot more interesting too with more than one thing going on at a time. But then I was a manager before and liked that. DanT
I think thats a big part of it . Like Mike says its harder. The helper was really hard . Good hands are easy kinda, but its a lot more work managing instead of working . When you get a lot of work going I think they have to know what they are doing and be equals . I never liked leaving hands that didnt know what they were doing .
TJ is on my last nerve right now .
Tryin to ask him what he thinks he needs in particular . A helper or a what kind of hand since he just wants one .
Tim
I was wunderin, <G>
If during this time if mebbe you find that you are more effective not physically working. I guess we will see . Why are you so busy? Could it be that its the only thing you can work on right now and the squeky wheel is getting greased?
Reason I ask is because an old painter in my younger years always said 5 painters would make your living with out picking up a brush.
I however always wanted to turn the work. But didnt when I was overwhelmed.
The week before my HA I finished the drywall on a mall and only had a helper to hump mud and mix. At the end he was running float boxes cause I was pooped but I kept up with schedule and couldnt be ahead . Little did I know I was trying to have a HA.
Tim
Edited 7/14/2006 9:32 pm by Mooney
Edited 7/14/2006 9:35 pm by Mooney
I think it is a combination of factors. This is our 6th year and we are getting more referals. We still advertise so we get a lot of first time callers. And I have always noticed when I worked harder at the business side we would have more business coming in.
But I usually would get greedy and realize what I could make if I did both coupled by the fact we weren't quite big enough to have enough going on to pay me too. We seem to be past that hurdle as we will have 3 working and I have always figured that would pay me. I also can eliminate a few expenses by being more involved in the business side and frankly I have a litte capital available right at the moment to fund the new truck etc in cash.
But again if you have it running well things fall into place. While I was in Denver laid up my brother ran it like he owned it and he hates the business side of things. Can't say enough about that. My other employee jumped in and handled some things. Just a nice team effort that kept cash as well as business flowing. We wound up losing one 2k job and delaying the start of 4 by 2 days each. Not bad considering.
It really drove home the point of building the thing as a business since I recently have been reminded of my inability to mimic superman. DanT
Im glad you are covered up I hope .
Tim
BTDT...get two.
Why? Cus time after time, a 3 man crew is mo' betta. Ya got the bookeeping anyway.
They can babysit each other, be a helping hand to each other, not cry to you, but each other...thats the deal.
When you are free to help , you be the upper eschelon, they grunt.
Two is twice one, three is twice two..really fuzzy math, but it works.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
There is no cure for stupid. R. White.