what is the blue pint and best case scenario for someone who stays small

[juniorc82]

I have been working a large state job this week which will drag into next week. I have had my fill of the help. I normaly rotate 2 part time guys however they have both in a very minimal sense rose to the occasion to help with this large job plus one temp worker. 10 buildings 31,000 square ft of vct to strip and refinish, 80 or so area rugs and mats and somewhere in the ballpark of 20,000 feet of carpet to be cleaned and maybe 1000 feet of t&g . Anyhow Im just not sure if I want the stress of managing more than one or 2 people. I think I it would be nice to have a right hand man that could help tackle the schedule and pair off as needed on heavy days. However I have noticed that with the more people to keep track of means more money slipping through the cracks on lost production and other expenses. I am actualy flirting with the idea of dumping vct work all together paying off my only remaining loan on my new truckmount (14 or 15k left) selling my tile gear and do carpet and upholstery only and maybe t&g. Just getting too hard to train people on strip and wax, hours are too fishy, and I just don't care for managing people in general. I wonder If I had a solid 1 3/4 truck carpet operation with me and one dedicated ft guy if it would be a lot lower stress. I know there are a lot of owner operators on here that I consider successful. I wonder how you one or 2 man bands carved out a spot in the business?

 

[Out of Character - 0]

I'll say this, there are good people out there and believe it or not some will really care about you and your business. You must make them feel good about working with you and pay them enough that they couldn't get another job making more doing the same thing.

I've got a few really good techs and a few average people. One in particular is better than I would have ever thought I would ever find. After watching how he handles jobs and other employee's I can honestly say that this guy truly cares about our operation. Get the right guy and keep all of your services that are profitable but don't throw the whole company off balance.

Finding the right guy is tough though. I did it by mistake but learned a little from it and have raised the bar for hiring by lowering it. My best employee's didn't come in looking like they came from the top shelf. Raise them up, improve them and they will love you for it.

 

[Barry-QDCC]

My answer I'm giving you today is alot different than my answer to you would have been 10 years ago. The answers that fit for you will depend on your personal situation.

10 years ago I owned a CD franchise, 3 vans, had an office, secretary and sales were climbing every year, dramatically. Then around 2006 I detected a slowdown in sales and we didn't grow after that, actually shrinking a bit. I blame the economy, but who knows maybe it was me and my management decisions?

I HATED having employees. Biggest PIA ever. I tried to hire smart. I interviewed everyone I hired twice, checked references. Most turned out to be duds. I hired acquaintances, (not close friends) and those who had been recommended to me. Most still turned out to be duds. I never hired my son to work and I'm glad I didn't. I don't think that would have been good in our case for the father/son relationship. I know others here have done so and it works so YMMV.

While I hated having employees I also understand that there is no way around it if you what to grow and develop into a multi-van operation. In my opinion you either have to remain small and do the work yourself OR get big. It's that middle ground that kills ya. The second van is not a big money maker, it's actually almost a money pit when you consider your extra costs such as workmans comp and insurance and taxes. DO NOT FORGET about paying your taxes, ESPECIALLY your payroll taxes. You'll learn a hard lesson if you don't. Don't ask me how I know, but I am still paying a monthly payment to you IRS.

The 3rd van you will start making you decent money again. BUT you do have the added employee hassles.

In early 2008 I closed my business. I tried to sell it, but I was a year too late. Could have sold for a good amount if I had sold then but ended up with nothing. Sucks. Big time. 14 years and nothing to really show for it. At that time I had no intention of ever being in the carpet cleaning business again, much less cleaning carpet physically myself. If someone would have told me then that in 5 years I'd be doing what I'm doing today I'd have laughed in their face.

But after trying a few other things that sputtered along I decided to start cleaning carpets again part time to supplement things. I'm VERY fortunate to have a wife that has a great, well paying job with benefits, so that takes ALOT of pressure off me. Today after 4 years of being a one man band I'm happy, generally stress free and actually putting more money in my wallet than I was when I had 3 vans going. If I'm on vacation or taking a day off I don't have the worry anymore of what is going on at the office, or what is some employee screwing up (and something ALWAYS happened when I took time off) BUT at the same time if I'm not working I'm not making money either. Pick your poison.

So 10 years ago I would have told you to keep getting bigger. Today (again for me anyway at my age and my place in life) small is better. You got to look at what your needs are. Is making $120K enough for you? What is making enough for you? If you have a job average of $200 ( many guys here talk of higher averages so this estimate might be too low) and can schedule 13-15 jobs a week you'll average around $3k per week, $12K per month, around $150K for the year. Easier said than done, and you'll be tired but it can be done.

After all that info I'm not even sure I answered your question.