Thinking of taking the plunge...

[PD Services]

...into employing.

Hi all, I'm a one man band plumber/gas engineer based from home with work coming in thick and fast. I think i'm ready to take someone on and buy a second van etc. There are a few things i can't figure out:

1. What to do with staff if we have a quiet morning/day or even week? Do i just leave them at home and pay them their full wage?

2. How to contract them in. 0-40 hours? 20 hours minimum? Paid per job?

Any advice much appreciated

 

[Paul_Rosser]

It's entirely up to you, if you want resource available when you need it then you would need to pay them even when you are quiet. If not then you run the risk of them having to take on a 2nd job and then not being available when you need them.

You could of course also come up with some things they could be doing if you are quiet like marketing, paperwork etc.

 

[BustersDogs]

When I started with staff I took them on with a zero hours contract so I only used them when I needed them, but my first two people were students on gap years. One just wanted some pocket money and one just wanted his mum to stop moaning at him for lying around the house. Both were extremely good workers and helped me build the business up so I could then offer a set amount of hours to someone who needed to have a regular income and hours. I am very grateful to both of them, they both seemed to come along at the right time for me.

 

[bigsie]

At quiet times you could always get them to deliver some flyers, and offer a bonus for customers gained.

 

[estwig]

Why do people think marketing is unskilled work any muppet can do, it isn't. Paying a plumber to put flyers through doors and drum up business, is a complete waste of time.

If you take a man on full time, part time and silly zero hour contracts aren't gonna work, you are talking about an in demand trade who won't take sh*t. Full time, then you keep him busy working and in quiet periods, you either stay in bed or drum up more business, not the other way round as he won't be motivated to generate more work, you will!

You take a pay hit, learn how to manage your man, learn how to generate more business and once you have 3-5 guys like this, you are off the tools and running a business.

It's unlikely you can just take on one man and make a profit from him, more than likely you will make a loss. It's about learning and building a business.

 

[Simon.P]

I guess it all depends what you want out of life. Do you want to do less work and employee someone to do what you currently do to give you more time with the family, or relaxing? I would say its a big jump personally, but all the best with it.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Your other options of course is to go into partnership with another person in your area offering the same service.

Provided you both work to the same standards and have similar values then you might be able to pass them work and make a commission to start with as that's less inital outlay for you.

 

[Funding for Communities]

Hi

A friend of mine who is a successful plumber has gone down this route several times employing different people on a permanent and ad hoc basis. He now is back to being on his own and rejects any excess work. He says the hassle of having to provide for an extra pair of hands wasn't worth it.

Mike

Funding for Communities

 

[Simply Business]

Hi @PD Services good to hear you're thinking about taking the plunge and employing - business must be going well

Have you thought about taking on college apprentices? Could fit well into what you need, and there also wouldn't be the financial worry if work dried up?

 

[Ross McElroy-Gray]

Go For it

 

[Chris Ashdown]

How about a apprentice who could be your mate on jobs to start with and as he grows more useful he could start on the little jobs

You get a grant to take them on and the wages are below what you would pay a skilled plumber

 

[Tech4Homes]

Zero hour contracts with intention of keeping someone busy are good, but beware that they may drop you at any time, despite your best efforts and stressing over keeping them in work.

Full time employed is good, but as soon as the work runs out you're contracted to pay them, even if you have no work. How long can you pay someone with no work coming in? Can you afford to pay a qualified gas fitter to hand out leaflets?

I have 13 on site staff, we've been super busy all summer (including extra labour), come September I only have work for 4, maybe 6 staff at tops. I'm waiting to hear back from a client next week about another month long project which will keep the rest of the staff busy (for a month!). All staff are full time employed. Stress!

I was using some subbies most of summer, but they upped and left before the projects were finished, stress again!

Ultimately it's about what you want, I could make more money doing it all myself, maybe... but then I'd be busy doing the work, and I'd lose my best clients as their jobs are too big for just me.

I would seriously consider finding some decent subbies, people who you can pull in when you need them, and leave them to their own jobs when you can't. When you can keep a subbie busy every day then consider employing.

Just one thing I will say, if you decide to employ, don't try and work on the tools yourself unless you're sure you have enough work coming in. I've not been in this particular position, but I can't imagine it's much fun knowing you have to find work for someone, but knowing you're busy doing your own job.....

 

[simon field]

Welcome to the juggling act!

 

[myfairworld]

Just a vote in favour of letting - encouraging - indeed insisting that an employee or employees have a role in marketing the business.

No, of course, you don't expect a plumber to be a trained marketer but why do people choose x company over y company? Well one of the simplest reasons is that they saw a van outside number whatever it is in their road, a tradesperson or persons who seemed to be working energetically at a job, and maybe they spoke to Mrs Y at number whatever it is and asked if the work was done well and Mrs Y says 'Oh yes and such nice people etc etc'. Some years back a local double glazing firm were working at a house lower down my street, as I got back from work myself one of the young men busy packing up their van looked up, saw me, and came along and gave me a leaflet about what their company offered. As a business person myself I was impressed both by the personal approach to me and the fact that he jogged up and down my short road and posted a leaflet through every door before the van drove off. Had I not been as poor as a church mouse at the time I might well have been on the phone to them the next day asking for a quote.

Of course you can't afford to employ someone full time to just have them delivering leaflets. But all businesses have busy periods and quiet periods. If you do seem to have enough or nearly enough work for a second person then it may be time to take on that second person but on an understanding of how any down time will be used and that could well include posting leaflets through doors. It could include helping you with certain aspects of admin. It could include a commitment to cleaning and polishing the van externally (rather than you paying for such) and even, dare I say it, keeping the interior both clean and tidy. We've all paid for tradespeople who took ages to find what they wanted in the back of their van (or who didn't have it and had to go and buy it even though it was known from the nature of the job that they'd need it) and then not half an hour later they had to search for something else or go again to buy that too! In contrast I've had a couple of tradespeople working in my house and you knew from the minute you glanced into their van that it wouldn't take them more than a few seconds to find anything they needed.