Need advice on Hiring that first employee.

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hardworkingstiff said:
Hiring just one employee can create some additional problems. What is this person going to do when you are checking jobs, meeting customers, doing this or that (other than production work).

This is the problem I have. I have one employee. Work has just about stopped for me. I'm spending a lot of my time looking for new work. My employee is only capable of performing a limited amount of work w/out me on the site (talking skills, not law here). So what do I do going forward? I have 3 large jobs that appear to be coming my way (time frame is up in the air). I will need his help. Do I pay him to do nothing? Do I send him home and say sorry?

I used to work all day with him, come home, do estimates, paperwork, etc. Then go out and do it all again tomorrow. That was fine then, but now I'm ready to just work 40-hours a week. If I had a 2-man crew that I kept busy, it would allow me to do the business stuff during the day and keep work flowing.

Good luck.
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I can tell you what my old boss would do. He had myself and one other employee. We would kick ass from May till October then he would pay us 40hrs from November till April with significantly less then 40hrs of work. He was in business for 20 years. This past May came with little work on the horizon and I got the "have to let you go speech " I wasn't happy about it but I understand I come to find out a month later he let the other guy go and is now working full time for someone and basically closed his business's He is a good guy ran his business with his heart and took me in and taught me the trade. I am up against the same deal I have 3-5 days of work a week and a helper whom I know will eventually leave because I am not steady but I cant pay him to do nothing or I will be working hard for someone else for sure.
 
This is my exact dilema !

This is my exact dilema !

hardworkingstiff said:
Hiring just one employee can create some additional problems. What is this person going to do when you are checking jobs, meeting customers, doing this or that (other than production work).

This is the problem I have. I have one employee. Work has just about stopped for me. I'm spending a lot of my time looking for new work. My employee is only capable of performing a limited amount of work w/out me on the site (talking skills, not law here). So what do I do going forward? I have 3 large jobs that appear to be coming my way (time frame is up in the air). I will need his help. Do I pay him to do nothing? Do I send him home and say sorry?

I used to work all day with him, come home, do estimates, paperwork, etc. Then go out and do it all again tomorrow. That was fine then, but now I'm ready to just work 40-hours a week. If I had a 2-man crew that I kept busy, it would allow me to do the business stuff during the day and keep work flowing.

Good luck.
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This is my exact same problem, I've got some good size jobs on the horizon but its the time between jobs that I'm concerned about. I can't afford to pay a guy when there is down time. I know every EC with employees has gone through this, just hoping for some insight from the experienced guys here.

Good luck to you
 
titan1021 said:
This is my exact same problem, I've got some good size jobs on the horizon but its the time between jobs that I'm concerned about. I can't afford to pay a guy when there is down time. I know every EC with employees has gone through this, just hoping for some insight from the experienced guys here.

Good luck to you
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raise your prices.....then you'll have money to cover hi during the lulls....
 
If you are looking for a helper and don't know how long the arrangement might last, try a temp service. Some temp services are much better than others at matching the right laborer to the job.

There is a plumbing contractor in town who uses a lot of temp help to dig trenches, clean up job sites, cart stuff around, etc., so the plumbers can get on with plumbing.
 
petersonra said:
If you are looking for a helper and don't know how long the arrangement might last, try a temp service.....
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Only problem with temp services is the contract you sign with them. Most want a huge chunk of change if you end up hiring the person as an employee. So if you find a good one, and want to hire him/her, hang on to your checkbook!
 
480sparky said:
Only problem with temp services is the contract you sign with them. Most want a huge chunk of change if you end up hiring the person as an employee. So if you find a good one, and want to hire him/her, hang on to your checkbook!
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Some do, some don't.

Realistically, the cost of recruiting and qualifiying a new employee is a lot more than whatever fee the agency may charge you.
 
I realized early into my first year that employees would be needed to grow my business.Most people who have been in construction understand that winter is often spent sitting on the bench.When you hire skilled employees then you free your time to go after more work.I tell everyone going in that in winter they may have lots of down time and they are free to ask for a clean layoff any time.More than once I have asked guys to take off friday and monday so I could line up work I have yet to have anyone ask to be laid off.
 
Rewire said:
Most people who have been in construction understand that winter is often spent sitting on the bench... More than once I have asked guys to take off friday and monday so I could line up work I have yet to have anyone ask to be laid off.
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I've heard a story once (= I don't personally know if it is true) of a contractor that hires his employee's telling them he'll pay $X/hr for the whole 2080 (52x40) but bump that to $Y/hr (+OT) for every hour actually spent working.

The idea is for the slow times when there isn't even busy work for them to do the contractor doesn't have to foot the whole payroll he would prefer to be paying and they would prefer to be getting. The employee remains available for when the next job does come through or the busy season starts up again.
Win Win.

It could work.
 
hardworkingstiff said:
That works for a short term lull. How long are you willing to go paying help that is non-productive?
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if it's longer than short term, then you really don't need to hire someone, do you?
 
BryanMD said:
I've heard a story once (= I don't personally know if it is true) of a contractor that hires his employee's telling them he'll pay $X/hr for the whole 2080 (52x40) but bump that to $Y/hr (+OT) for every hour actually spent working.

The idea is for the slow times when there isn't even busy work for them to do the contractor doesn't have to foot the whole payroll he would prefer to be paying and they would prefer to be getting. The employee remains available for when the next job does come through or the busy season starts up again.
Win Win.

It could work.
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I have heard of such arrangements before.

Usually, they seem to be more along the lines of your pay is X/hour. You get paid 1.5X per hour for the time you actually work. I suspect this is done mostly in an attempt to avoid paying OT after 40 hours.
 
petersonra said:
I have heard of such arrangements before.

Usually, they seem to be more along the lines of your pay is X/hour. You get paid 1.5X per hour for the time you actually work. I suspect this is done mostly in an attempt to avoid paying OT after 40 hours.
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I was concerned about that sort of thing too.
The way it was described to me seemed to be pretty fair though.

Any time not worked for almost any reason (even personal time) the employee would still get $7/hour (example) but time on the job they would get the full regular wage for that job $17/hour (example) and OT would then be $25.50. I think it applied to vacation & holiday time off and maybe apprentice class time too.

I really don't see a down side to it; for boss or employee.
If you are busy and working it's like any ordinary job.
 
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