Step back to step forwards

[Mickey horner]

Evening all. Im looking for some advice and perhaps some support with my business.

I run a wall and floor tiling company and have 2 employed tiler's and up until 3-4 months ago had 2 sub-contract tiler's.

We had plenty of work and things were going ok. I decided to continue the growth and leased a unit which will be split into retail (bathrooms and tiles) and also office and storage.

My 2 sub-contractors then decided to go elsewhere which is their right however I have been unable to find any quality replacements.

Long story short I decided to terminate the contract on 2 of my 6 building sites in order to ensure my best customers were serviced properly.

I'm sure this was the right decision but it has also left me feeling like I've taken a step back when we were just moving forward.

I would be interested to hear similar experiences and outcomes.

 

[Mitch3473]

It's not a bad thing to do although it seems your hand was forced slightly. We run a commercial laundry and last year we came to a point were we could take on more staff, more machinery and possibly a bigger unit....all for what. I've been there and done that and didn't really want the pressure again, nor did the Mrs. We culled back our deadwood, wrote to them explaining the reason for ceasing to do work for them. They were small contracts and as usual took up more time than they were worth, I then upped the price for the remainders and sat back and waited. I lost two more small customers but with the increased price and less workload was better off and could devote quality time and effort to the better clients. The problem for us is we are still growing and this years monthly figures are all up on last years.
So I suppose it all depends on whether you want to push yourself and grow, grow naturally or just accept what you have and develope that.

 

[Mickey horner]

Thanks for the reply Mitch. Sounds like you made the right choice. Hoping we can grow organically. I hate not being able to service my customers properly. I think training someone else up is going to be our next step. A longer term strategy but one that should be more sustainable.

 

[lesliedocherty]

I agree, reputation management is key, a few bad jobs with bad subbies can cause poor reviews on sites that last for years, seems like the right thing to do.