For many years it was 'just me'. For the last several years I have had between 1-4 employees full time and part time, depending on the time of year. It is a lot of stress, as work can be seasonal in these parts. The more employees, the more you have to work to keep the train running- client appointments, estimates, invoices, deadlines, employee concerns, payroll and taxes, etc... and less time actually painting.

 

The GC I've been working for is always saying I could make a lot more if I just went independent LLC. And I keep saying, "yeah, but I don't want to have to run a business." Just point me to the job when you have it, and I'll turn in my hours. That's as much responsibility as I want right now.

 

At what point, as a business owner, do the dynamics of self employment go from supporting a personal income through means of a particular craft, to supporting other people's personal incomes who may not look at the craft in the same manner? And, how does that affect the owner's company values if at all?

 

This is kind of the key point people miss. I work for a decent sized company, we usually have between 25-50 total employees. However because of Covid we are currently down under 25 total. 10 of us being Office/Yard staff. We are also really friendly with 2 Larger companies both of whom can have upwards of 250 painters on staff depending on workload.

We typically do between $6-8 Million in revenue annually. We also have a LOT of overhead (Vehicles, Buildings, Licensing, Certifications, Shareholders, Dedicated Office Staff, IT Services, etc.) and we are Union Contractor, our actual profits are pretty small. I would bet that some of the better ran companies on here Net more annually than any of the five owners of our Company. They get a decent salary and any profit disbursement at the end of the year, which some years can be minimal (or negative.)

We also operate at the absolute limit of what our office staff can handle. Adding another Estimator or Office Staff means we would then have to increase the number of Painters to man their jobs, supervise, manage, etc. etc.

It also means that we as the office staff, and especially the owners may need to work long hours/weekends to manage what we have. Now there are a lot of benefits. If you look at just the Owners Salaries, it may not seem very high, but it also pays for their cars, their houses, and various other expenses that they have that get wrapped up into "Overhead." One big problem with doing things that way though is that now the business is much harder to sell, if the owners were inclined. (Couple that with the Unfunded Liabilities issue facing all unions at this point, and most Union companies are not attractive to buyers.)

Point is, If I wanted to leave and start up my old company, I could probably work less and make more money with me and 1-2 employees. It's about finding that balance of what you want, and what you can handle. If you want to have the largest painting company in the world, you can, but you may make a worse profit margin than you do now. (Granted there will be a lot more zeros you are tossing around.) but the stress and responsibility goes up accordingly too.

If you build your business right, yes you can scale with much less headache, but again you have to do the math on what course of action is going to make the greatest return with the least amount of time and effort on your part.

I guess my advice is just optimize the business you have. Revenue isn't profit. Simplify instead of complicate. I love where I work, and I have learned a ton about commercial construction and Painting, but if I had to start over, I could make a lot more with a lot less. Just my 2 cents!

To keep it in perspective:

An American investment banker was taking a much-needed vacation in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. The boat had several large, fresh fish in it.
The investment banker was impressed by the quality of the fish and asked the Mexican how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.”
The banker then asked why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican fisherman replied he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.
The American then asked “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman replied, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos: I have a full and busy life, señor.”
The investment banker scoffed, “I am an Ivy League MBA, and I could help you. You could spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats until eventually you would have a whole fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to the middleman you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You could control the product, processing and distribution.”
Then he added, “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City where you would run your growing enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”
“But what then?” asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You could make millions.”
“Millions, señor? Then what?”
To which the investment banker replied, “Then you would retire. You could move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

 

Just me. I have had employees in the past and it is hard to keep people busy year round so I have not had any for awhile. Having employees means you have to look at and do jobs you may not want to do just to keep them busy. Plus I am looking at the end game and not seeking to grow the business.

 

Sadly, only 1 and a half, plus myself at the moment. I'm in real need of two full-time: a painter and a carpenter.

I'm going to put a couple guys I know that have one-man-shows on full-time temporary payroll to fill in until the situation is improved. I'd prefer to sub contract to them, but neither carry comp and I can't be on the sites I need to be without 100% legit papers. It should work out OK for everyone...they were slow and pretty stoked to pick up at least a month of full-time work on payroll.

Who knows? Maybe they'll decide it's easier to work a straight 40 for decent pay, rather than chasing around for their own work. That would suit me just fine.

 

Me and 2 part time right now. Have had up to 4 full time, but that was when I was doing NC. Mostly cabinets now. It's nice having people work hard for you. Can work less, make more money and get through jobs faster. I think 2-3 guys plus me is perfect.

 

Lately I've had one semi full-time through the winter and two full-time for exteriors. One thing that took some stress off of me was realizing that I could just put my guy
on unemployment if i get slow in the winter, which was most of January. Of course not everybody wants to do that, but there are some especially of the painter variety who don't mind .

been pondering making the jump to two crews this year just to keep up with the phone calls, not sure if im ready for that headache yet though.

 

With what we do, 3-person crews are ideal. I lost my main go-to guy (my brother, btw), so I'm pretty limited to only running one crew, with me doing the running. Hopefully, someone will grow into a lead role and we can get moving again.

Since we do more kitchens and bath remodels than anything else, we can't really roll up with 20 guys to remodel a bathroom. Exterior paint jobs, yeah, it's nice to man those up and knock them out. Decks...sometimes.

There's a limited amount of manpower that can be used productively on any given job. If you've got some lead guys or gals, you can send manpower off elsewhere, but lacking that you're paying people to trip over each other and stand around. All depends on what you're getting into at any given time and what sort of work your company does.

I'll also add that it's much easier to just work alone, aside from the aging factor. A one man show can make a decent living if you can keep your health.

 

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