Adding employees

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keith gigabyte

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New Kensington, Pa
I own a small electrical contracting business. Myself and 2 full time guys. We do 95% renovation work. Can't seem to break the 2 man barrier? Keeping all 3 of us busy is difficult sometimes. Seems we get a 2 or 3 day lull where we clean van and our storage area every couple of months.
id like to add a 3rd guy. Any ideas on increasing business
 
If you have your tools on, then who is chasing new work? Do you have a BNI in your area. Some will say this is a waste of time but it really all depends on the group. I have seen a lot of businesses get a ton of new work by joining one of these groups.

https://www.bni.com/
 
I agree. I was a member of a BNI group for about two years. While I was there I got a bunch of small jobs and a few large jobs. I definitely made much more in profits than it cost me. It really helps to have a large group of people referring you to their clients. I still get referrals even though I'm no longer a member due to the friendships I developed there. What is more important, if you do the training they offer, you will learn how to market your company effectively without spending big bucks on advertising (which is usually a waste of $).

You should be spending most of your time marketing and networking for work. Let your men do the work and just monitor their progress. That is how you will grow. There is only one of you, but you can hire as many of them as you need. If you don't think your men are capable of doing the work by themselves, train them or hire someone skilled enough. If you stop trying to get new work, work will slow to a trickle.

ETA: A 2 or 3 day lull every couple of months is nothing to complain about. A 2 or 3 day lull every two weeks is another story.
 
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Coppersmith said:
I agree. I was a member of a BNI group for about two years.

ETA: A 2 or 3 day lull every couple of months is nothing to complain about. A 2 or 3 day lull every two weeks is another story.
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i did two different beanoodle groups a few years back.

the first one, was kind of a quirky group, but i ended up
with a bit of work from it, and lunch in huntington harbor
once a week... really wasn't that profitable, but there was
entertainment value.... like the time the mortgage broker
and the chiropractor got in a fist fight, and my financial
planner broke it up.

after the fight broke up, so did the group. my next beanoodle
group was at meadowlark country club. supposed to be serious
movers and shakers there, lotta business written. 60 members.

in nine months, my total amount of money earned from that
group was $60. gross. i fixed a broken ceiling fan.

i've not been a noodle since then.

my current printer, financial planner, and a few friends came from
the first group, so it works for some of us.
 
Every BNI group is different, that's for sure. Lot's of personalities. You can always transfer if the group is not effective or to your liking for any other reason. I received a whole house rewire job the first day I was there.
 
My question would be, you have two guys now and you have dead time for them, yet you want to add a third guy? Wouldn't you be better off getting some jobs and let your guys work the OT or whatever and see if they can handle it? I don't think you really want three guys, you just want enough work to need three guys.

You also have to figure out if you have three guys do you need another truck, van, whatever and is it profitable for you to run two or three trucks depending on whether you put two or one man in a truck.

I really think you just like the idea of having a bigger crew.
 
In your post you said that 95% of your work was renovation. Is that residential, commercial or industrial? It appears that this is your niche. If you want to grow your business, you have to find more renovation work or start expanding your horizons. This would included: residential, commercial & industrial service work, residential, commercial & industrial new construction work and many other specialty types of electrical work. If you want to grow your business, pick up the phone and start making the contacts.

Just remember, when you get to the point that you drop the tools and become management you are now part of the overhead. Your hours are no longer billable. I have seen many companies fail at this juncture. Adding more employees does not guarantee more profit, but in fact can have the opposite effect. This is where a solid business plan come into effect. Be careful what you wish for.
 
It's not easy to get away from your tools.
Depending on the customers you have they start to expect to see you on the job.
You sell the job, lay your people out, but the customers disappointed because your not there.

Depending on your labor things may go fine, have problems with the work, or problems dealing with the customer.
It's not easy to get a well rounded in the trade and self motivated employee that can handle customers and possibly pricing.

It was a good point made above that you would be OH not working with tools.
 
Adding employees

Take on more work than you can handle, and then you can spend your days desperately trying to find more employees, and your nights bidding more work you'll never be able to get to.

Seems to be working for us.

Oh it's only 10:36 PM now. I've got to get back to work.


That's sorta tongue-in-cheek, but that's how's it's gone here. There have been some late nights though to build up the work to add more employees. Now the work is out there waiting until we can find more employees to staff it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
keith gigabyte said:
I own a small electrical contracting business. Myself and 2 full time guys. We do 95% renovation work. Can't seem to break the 2 man barrier? Keeping all 3 of us busy is difficult sometimes. Seems we get a 2 or 3 day lull where we clean van and our storage area every couple of months.
id like to add a 3rd guy. Any ideas on increasing business
Click to expand...
Something to think about.
I've been at several different stages of contracting from 3-4 electricians to 50+ electricians. In retrospect, I always seemed to keep more of that cash flow in my own pocket when I was a smaller contractor. Growth cost money, time and stress. Kudo's in regards to your ambitions as I had them as well. IMO, a crew of 10 or so is a perfect size co. to manage yourself and still maintain a sense of sanity. Bigger isn't always better. Some of us learn the hard way, others learn from those who have "been there and done that".
I certainly agree with other posters here. You need to be more than an electrician to operate a company. Many of us don't like it, but you have to put on your salesman hat and procure work from other G.C.'s, Bid leads, trade shows, local circulars (my favorite), Realtors, even Craig's List, Angie's List and Home Advisor.
Let your electricians do the work. Check on them daily but try to make one stop at a GC's place of business a day. Adding 1 employee and keeping the others busy full time may only require hooking up with one new GC. Next thing you'll know, you knee deep in work and scrambling to find decent electricians to do the work. It is a that point where many of us hire electricians that we normally wouldn't hire, but because your trying to keep your customer happy, you hire them anyway, only to eventually get rid of him for his incompetency.

Best of luck in your endeavors,
Unbridled:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
keith gigabyte said:
I own a small electrical contracting business. Myself and 2 full time guys. We do 95% renovation work. Can't seem to break the 2 man barrier? Keeping all 3 of us busy is difficult sometimes. Seems we get a 2 or 3 day lull where we clean van and our storage area every couple of months.
id like to add a 3rd guy. Any ideas on increasing business
Click to expand...

Do more service work. Maybe look into generator installs and maintenance. With any amount of those, twice a year you spend a week or two doing nothing but generator maintenance: changing plugs, oil, filters, checking/changing the battery, clearing error codes, running the house on the generator. It's easy as long as a wasp colony hasnt moved inside the access cover (they always do: have wasp spray handy) and you enjoy doing more small engine work than electrical. One man can do that, and stay busy pulling in contract money.
 
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