Forum Widgets
Recent Discussions
How do you know when it’s time to let someone go?
This is one of the harder parts of being a business owner. Hiring is already difficult. Training takes time. And when you finally have someone on the team, it’s easy to keep hoping things will improve because replacing them feels exhausting. I’ve had moments where I waited too long because I kept thinking: maybe they just need more time maybe I need to explain it better maybe I’m being too picky maybe the next hire will be worse But at some point, you have to look at the pattern. Are they improving? Are they taking feedback seriously? Are they making the same mistakes repeatedly? Are they creating more stress for the team? Are customers starting to feel the impact? Are you changing your standards just to avoid having a hard conversation? That last one is usually the one that hits me the hardest. Because once you start lowering the standard for one person, the rest of the team notices. And in a service business, small issues can turn into customer trust problems pretty quickly. I also think there’s a difference between someone who is inexperienced and someone who is not coachable. Inexperience can be trained. A bad attitude, repeated carelessness, poor communication, or lack of ownership is much harder to fix. What tells you it’s time to let someone go instead of continuing to train, coach, or give more chances?
How do you hire good employees and use AI to send estimates and invoices as a small contractor?
Hey guys and gals. I'm four years in business and I'm looking to hire a few employees. Thankfully I've gotten to a point where I need to be bidding work and sending out estimates. 2 part question... 1.) best way to hire quality employees? 2.) what AI would you recommend or have you used for sending estimates and invoices/bid proposals thanks to you all. Have a great weekend.How do you structure pay and incentives for high school employees in a small business?
I started a firewood company that services commercial accounts like grocery stores and individuals that want a premium firewood. One of my goals is to hire high schoolers and pay them a fair wage. My question is, how do I manage the cost of hourly pay and the expectation that this is only sustainable if they are able to significantly contribute to the productivity of the business? I’ve considered creating a pay incentive if they are able to hit certain metrics. I would appreciate your feedback.Thoughts on hiring experienced workers ($$$), or newbies ($) for a new/small business
I am a small fine gardening business and am seeing the need to hire someone to take over the lions share of my day to day position out in the field. I have a part time person who works with me 2 days/week and they came to me knowing very little of the work. I don't trust them to go to sites without me over and over because their knowledge and skills are not there yet. Question is: do I spend more money and hire a knowledgeable person with extensive horticultural knowledge that I would have more confidence in (but also a higher risk of them leaving to go work on their own as many of us do in this biz), or do I find another newbie and try to give that a go again? Thank you! The goal is to free up my time to do more business and design work in the office rather than be out in the field every day and do office work in the evenings.Is it good to sub-contract work or hire permanent employees?
Hello everyone Running multiple basement full renovation and I have been hiring people and doing the jobs but at time I feel it's way more easier if I sub-contract the work, much lesser stress. Any advice on which one is better would be really helpful. Thank you.How do you recruit, train, and retain skilled tradespeople?
In furniture restoration and repair, one of our biggest challenges is finding and developing skilled craftspeople. Many experienced technicians are nearing retirement, while fewer younger workers are entering the trades. As business owners, we’re not only trying to grow our companies but also preserve valuable skills and knowledge for the next generation. What strategies have worked for recruiting, training, and retaining skilled workers in your industry? Have you implemented apprenticeship programs, internal training systems, partnerships with schools, or other successful approaches? ’d love to hear what’s working in your business and what lessons you’ve learned along the way.
Commission Based Pay?
Hey guys! Wondering if anyone here has experience with paying employees commission instead of hourly. How is that working for you guys? How do you have it set up to where you’re making the profit you need and the employee is happy and motivated to work hard? At what percentage do you pay? Thanks!Pre Hiring Test - What We Use
Link to my Self Assessment I wanted to share something that's really worked for me in prequalifying candidates. Not saying I don't hire duds but this helps me save a little time and I can go back to it in the interview. Basically we start by reviewing their resume with pictures -then they get sent this self assessment. That's it. Pretty simple. What I'm looking for when I get it back is not a bunch of fives. If someone rates themselves a five in everything, that's actually a problem for me. What I want to see is an honest picture. When a guy comes back and he's high on a few things, low on a couple others, and somewhere in the middle on the rest — that's the guy I want to talk to. Because we all have gaps. Nobody does everything at the same level, and the people who are honest about that tend to be honest about everything else too. We have room for all kinds of skill levels. We might be hiring with a specific need in mind, but more than anything we're looking for good people. The skills can be built on. The character part is harder. The other thing the assessment tells me, and this one's just as important — did they actually do it? You'd be surprised how many don't send it back. There's a mentality in the trades sometimes where a guy figures he can just show up and go to work and that's all that should be required of him. And look, I get it. But if someone won't spend ten minutes on a form when they're trying to get a job, that tells me something about how they'll handle the other stuff that comes with working on a crew — the communication, the small details, the parts of the job that aren't swinging a hammer. The ones who fill it out, especially the ones who are thoughtful about it, those are the guys who are serious. It doesn't have to be long or complicated. It just has to be done. Once I have it back, it makes for a much better conversation too. I'm not sitting there grilling somebody — I'm just asking them to tell me about their own numbers. It takes the pressure off and I learn a lot more than I would from a standard interview. It's a small thing, but it's made a real difference in who I end up bringing on.How long do you train a new employee before letting them work routes alone?
We’re currently hiring 2 new scoopers, so I’ve been thinking a lot about training expectations and how quickly a new employee should be trusted to run routes independently. Right now, our training process is usually around 2 weeks. That gives them time to get comfortable with: our job flow checklists customer notes “on the way” messages completion expectations how to walk a yard properly how to identify problem areas the actual technique of scooping efficiently how to handle gates, dogs, and customer-specific instructions With pet waste removal, the job sounds simple from the outside. But there’s a big difference between “walking around picking up poop” and actually knowing how to service a yard thoroughly, efficiently, and consistently. A new employee has to learn how to scan the yard, follow patterns, avoid missing areas, manage time, respect the customer’s property, and communicate properly when something is off. I also don’t want to rush someone onto a route too fast and create callbacks, missed areas, or customer trust issues. At the same time, training too long can be expensive and slow down capacity when you’re trying to grow. So I’m curious how other route-based or service businesses handle this. How long do you typically train a new employee before they work alone?
Where do I hire a qualified box truck driver willing to do hard work?
I run a growing local food scrap hauling and composting business in Louisville, and we’re looking to hire a dependable part-time route driver for box truck and step van work. The job involves early mornings, local routes, heavy wheeled bins, liftgates, outdoor work in all weather, and a long drive down some windy country roads after backing in and out of loading docks downtown. For those of you who have hired solid delivery or route drivers before, where have you had the best luck finding hardworking, reliable people who are comfortable with physical work and independent routes? Indeed? Amazon/FedEx drivers? Word of mouth? Looking for advice from folks who have actually found good people.
