Expanding your business

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kbrandt

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arizona
I think this site is great and wish I'd of found it a couple of years ago.Anyway here's my question.I don't advertise (just word of mouth,for over 2 years) and was wondering if I did (phone book,newspaper), how much does a company's work load increase? 2 times,3 times or more.What have some of you guys experienced.
 
My expansion was basically me saying "why am I turning down work every day? May as well add some guys and see how it goes." We were a 4 man outfit then. Myself, my father, and 2 guys. 2 vans. We're now up to 5 vans, 9 guys plus me (my father semi retired). Bigger's not all it's cracked up to be. A little more money (sometimes). A lot more headaches (all the time) I'm considering scaling back.

I can't answer how your advertising will affect your volume, but wanted to chime in that bigger isn't always better. Certainly necessary for certain sized jobs.
 
j_erickson said:
My expansion was basically me saying "why am I turning down work every day? May as well add some guys and see how it goes." We were a 4 man outfit then. Myself, my father, and 2 guys. 2 vans. We're now up to 5 vans, 9 guys plus me (my father semi retired). Bigger's not all it's cracked up to be. A little more money (sometimes). A lot more headaches (all the time) I'm considering scaling back.

I can't answer how your advertising will affect your volume, but wanted to chime in that bigger isn't always better. Certainly necessary for certain sized jobs.

I am curious, where did you find the right balance? Was it with the 2 vans?

I've been on my own now for 10 years and have enjoyed not having employees. I've had some here and there, but mostly it's me myself and I plus some temp help for labor. There seems to be much more work available for me right now, but I will need help. I'm not looking forward to it because I ran a construction department for 5-years for another business and it was pretty demanding.

So I am curious as to what size gave you the best results (I'm really not talking just about money, it's more about quality of life)?
 
I'm still trying to figure it out. The problem I had with 2 crews was not being able to keep up 95% of the time. And I didn't feel I could turn down any of my regular customers.

The problem with 4 - 5 crews is I feel spread too thin and spend so much time running around I don't get to do as much myself as I'd like.

The balance for me may be 3-4 guys plus myself. 2 good guys (which I have)with their vans and 1 or 2 apprentices. With me alone in my van. I've never had just me alone working. Not to say I haven't worked alone. I did for years, but my father was also working and we always had at least one helper.

Then again, the best may be what I had. Myself and one good guy with a good apprentice mixed in.

If and when I figure it out for sure, I'll let you know.

I have a close friend who told me years ago it's not what you make, it's what you keep.

And the quality of life with my headaches right now is lower than I'd like.

John
 
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