[tsunamicontract]

Or maybe what is the correct order to expand?
Get more work than you can do then hope you can get the people and equipment to do it.
Get more people and equipment than you have work for and hope you can keep them useful.
Or some other way I haven't though of yet?

Right now I have 1 full time and 1 pt worker, doing mostly ext. jobs right now because people don't think about interior in the summer. I am looking to add one more full time because I have the work for it right now (my marketing is not working out as well as hoped), but after mid July I do not have nearly as much stuff lined up as Id like (I like to be booked 2 months out or so). By this time next year I would like to have a power washing division of 2 or so people that just do washing, gutter cleaning, window cleaning after an exterior project, and exterior staining. There are lots of threads on selling more jobs and pricing and advertising, which are all crucial parts of the business, but what is the proper way to go about expanding from a two man team to a more men team? I believe there is the need for my services in my area because most of the jobs that do not go to me are going to the larger outfits from a city 20 min away.

 

[NEPS.US]

That's a great question.

I think it depends on your managing skills. The mistake I see competitors make is poor hiring and trying to grow too fast. If you hire poorly it can cost you dearly. Not just hiring a good painter but good quality job managers. The next big mistake (I make over and over again) is keeping guys on too long. When things slow down or we have bad weather I tend to "find work" for my guys which is good for them but terrible for my margins. Good luck ....we all need it.

 

[MAK-Deco]

I am in the process of that "poor hiring" trying to weed thru the bad ones to find the right one or at least a decent one.

 

[tsunamicontract]

I am in the process of that "poor hiring" trying to weed thru the bad ones to find the right one or at least a decent one.

me too. I think I have 3 potential good candidates. We will see when they show up to inter"work" for me this week.

 

[HomeGuardPaints]

Heres the secret, there is no secret. Robert Kiyosaki said it well in retire young retire rich. basically (paraphrase) I you wait to be ready, you will never be ready. Real growth only comes when you step out of your comfort zone.

I've never painted in the field a day in my life. Started from day one with 4 painters, and for the most part have kept at least that many working year round. Its funny how if you think of those painters as depending on you that you will find work for them. There has been plenty of times when I have been just days from being out of work and then go on a streak and sell 5 or 6 jobs in a day. Life works that way. So just take the leap, watch your margins and the rest will work out.

My last advise would be don't do busy work when you are supposed to be selling, its easy to find other tasks to do when you should be looking for work.

 

[tsunamicontract]

My last advise would be don't do busy work when you are supposed to be selling, its easy to find other tasks to do when you should be looking for work.

like this site? Ok Ok maybe I will get some office work done now.

 

[GMack]

Heres the secret, there is no secret. Robert Kiyosaki said it well in retire young retire rich. basically (paraphrase) I you wait to be ready, you will never be ready. Real growth only comes when you step out of your comfort zone.

I'm a big fan of Kiyosaki's books, especially Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and I've taken the same thing from them. He doesn't tell you how to deal with everyday situations (how could he)? Rather, he tells you to go do it.

The only think I can say about employees is this: You will not find a perfect employee. They don't exist. But you can find a good person who can be molded into a great employee. I think it takes time and honesty. Take your time in the hiring process. Be honest with yourself about how the employee is doing and fire fast if he or she truely is never going to cut it (this is the old hire slow and fire fast deal).

Also, one thing that is working for me right now is hiring less experienced guys who show a real interest in learning. There is plenty of time taken out of my day for teaching but I'm not getting any backtalk ("this is the way I've done it in the past" kind of stuff). The hope is that, in a year or so, I've got a pretty kick-butt little crew going . . . This is already happening as two of my three guys are painting way over their heads right now for the amount of experience they have. The third was close to being let go by the middle of last week but finished the week strong and was good again yesterday so I have hope for him as well. Who knows, though?

 

[vermontpainter]

Its a constant tension between workload and manpower. If I had to err to one side it would be slightly more workload than manpower. I cant stand seeing people not working to full capacity. When thats happening, and its usually a tribute to crafty scheduling and being able to make customers wait sometimes, everyone is happiest. Once in a while you hit a perfect balance of workload and manpower.

For growth purposes, book lots of work, and start looking for people. I can assure you that its easier to find work than it is to find people to do the work well.

 

[Tonyg]

A wise old painter told me once to "get the job, then figure out how to get it done". Of course this was him between shots of moonshine and the words were a little slurred but the principle is sound for success :thumbsup:

 

[Dave Mac]

I think that one of the most important steps to growth, is having someone you can totally count on to run a project in the field, he is in charge of dealing with the client and handling the manpower and such, you know a good foreman. From their you can grow. If your in the field painting, I think it would be very hard to grow, however if your in the field painting, this gives you the best possible way to find someone you can trust, I know of no better way to size someone up, then painting side by side with someone everyday. You will find out real soon how good they are.

dave

 

[Housepainter]

All above good advice!:thumbup:

Below are some personnel point I learned over the years, most before I started my own business... but do apply whether in the corporate world or a private owned business of any size..


Another thing when hiring employees is to consider who will train them!

Will you personally oversee their training period?

Do you have a lead person who will train them?

What STANDARDS are you training them to achieve?

If not you training them will the person training them teach them YOUR standards or the short-cuts.. that may not be your standards.

Never Let the person you are going to let go train them:blink:

Do you use a probation period... States vary but time range from 30 to 90 days. Know that probation period and let the employee know they are on probation during that time frame.

Evaluate them daily during the probation period...Are the improving, are they learning... MORE important are they going to keep the standards you want the day after the probation period...

 

[PressurePros]

I am a firm believer in slow, managed growth. For every success story of rapid expansion and "just do it" there are 300 companies that set themselves on fire not thinking things through.

My criteria for expansion is as follows:

1. Raise prices and keep doing so until your workload is manageable. Its different for painters but my timeframe is being booked six weeks out consistently for a full quarter. I raise prices by 3%-4% until I get a diminishing return of 40% closing ratio. It is very important to have proper margins because as you exapnd you may need to create positions that will pull from your net profit (ie operations manager, secretary, etc)
2. Systemize your employee training. You are going to need to be able to plug and play employees in a rapid fashion.
3. Systemize your painting technique. From the time your truck pulls up to a job each man should know what his assigned tasks are and what he needs to pull of the truck. If you don't have a thoroughly planned out task list you are going to spend payroll while guys walk into one another aimlessly. This obviously ties heavily into #2.
4. Establish your role in the company and stick to it. If you are expanding, you are going to need to generate work. If you are in the field painting, your life is going to get nerve wracking quickly. My feeling is that an owner should be working on marketing and sales. Initially you may have to visit jobsites for QC but your primary focus should be on building a customer database.
5. Budget your expenses. Once you grow, expenses tend to rise exponentially. You'll soon see that having four crews does not mean you will make 4X as much as you did having one crew.
6. Pay yourself first. This should maybe be #1. Paying yourself is a company expense and has nothing to do with net profit (other than draining it perhaps). If you are going to pay yourself a $1500 weekly salary that has to be factored for 52 weeks per year whether your company is working or not.

Keep in mind that everything grows along with gross billing dollars. That means callbacks, delays, customer relations and many other things that can affect your bottom line. I say this not to sway you from taking the plunge on moving forward but to remove the rose colored glasses that many business owners will wear. Often those rose colored glasses are really a blind man's shades.