Is hiring employees worth it for a small home service business?

Even those of us that have employees still ask that question lol For sure, you will have less to worry about and less overhead without employees. You'll never have to deal with interpersonal problems and you will have complete control over your final product. You won't have to spend a second training someone, or cleaning up a mess that someone else left you. The reality is hiring people is hard, and pretty much everyone learns this the hard way. There are great coaching courses to give you direction but you're going to have bad hires and it's going to be a pain.

All that being said, you need to really assess what your goals are. For GC work, you should be able to easily clear six figures on your own BUT that's only if you work. You are 100% capped by time so you will only be able to make a certain amount. Also if you ever want a day off or you get hurt, your income will go down. Now depending on your trade, you could get around this with subs. Subs won't have all the expenses that come with an employee but here in California we have very strict sub contractor laws so you have to be mindful of that.

The reality is if your goal is to get out of the day to day, you HAVE TO have employees and as long as your financially ready, just educate yourself as best as you can and dig in. Hire slow, fire fast. Always pay on time, pay a good wage so you attract the best candidates, and expect to spend a lot of time training. It's a lot of responsability to be the captain of someone else's earnings so don't take that lightly but also don't let anyone mess with your money. Give them a chance but if you know they won't work out, free them up to be a better fit somewhere else. 

I don't see it as a question of being worth it... HugeHomePros touched on this, but it's really a question of whether you want to just make a job for yourself? Or whether you actually want to build a business that generates income without you? These are two completely different things and the approach to each is totally different. And there's ranges in between - sometimes people hire others to help them with their job. 

If you want a business that works without you - yeah there's no other way, you need employees. They are your "factory". The bigger your factory, the greater revenue and profit potential, but also the more things that can go wrong. "Where there's people, there's problems." So if you're not ready to deal with problems, you're probably not ready to have employees. It's not easy, but it does unlock huge opportunities and lifestyle advantages etc. that simply aren't possible if you stay on the tools doing the job yourself.

There's also a lot to consider as far as key person risk. If you're the main income producing person - the risk is YOU. What happens if you can't work for any reason (sickness, injury etc.)? What happens when you get older (no one is young forever, and if you're doing physical work it puts a real toll on your body)? Will you be able to make enough money to achieve the lifestyle you want and retire in the way you want? 

Start thinking about what you want life to look like in 10, 20 years. Then work backwards to see what you need to do to get there. When you're clear on that, most other decisions become easy.

The "right" employees are always worth it!  They can add value to your business from their customer service skills, on the job skills and team skills.  As a small business owner you sometimes have to wear many hats, but finding employees that understand your mission, vision and are willing to follow direction and do the work is invaluable.  You as the owner/operator can free up time to concentrate on areas that may need more of your attention, you might be due for a vacation or time-off and having the staff that you can trust and rely on can make you relax, and reset where you can be your best self on the job and at home. Ask yourself these questions 1. can hiring the right employees bring in more targeted business? 2. Will it help significantly lessen team stress and allow jobs not to be rushed? 3. Will it allow for more service offerings? 4. If it is in my budget, what reservations am I having to hiring and how can I mitigate those issues?  In mitigation do I need to update or have policies and procedures in place? 

You have to look at where you business is and where you want to be in the next year to two years. Being a solopreneur is hard, stressful and a lot of mistakes and time can be lost as you are doing all the work, administrative, operations and in the field.  So truly look at how you want your business to grow.

I think it comes down to trading your time and energy for other problems. When I'm out on the field scooping, I'm the most expensive scooper because the value of my time is so much higher compared to just hiring someone at $20 an hour to scoop dog poop. If you hire someone, you need to be filling up that extra time you just made with higher leverage activities that drive revenue and growth for your business (networking, following up on leads, working on projects that you know will make the business more efficient or more money).

But having employees just means you're dealing with their issues as well, and it's a bigger burden since now you have their family relying on you to always "show up". 

Honestly, I was scared to hire my first guy too. The biggest mistake I see is hiring too early. Make sure you're actually turning down work before you bring someone on.

When you do hire, take your time picking the right person. Attitude is more important than experience. I'd rather train a good guy with no experience than deal with a skilled guy with a bad attitude.

Start with one part-timer. Way less pressure that way.

I told myself I wouldn't hire someone until I had 3 months of their salary in the bank that could disappear tomorrow and it wouldn't shutter my business. I am almost there and still feel like I am not ready to hire.

I think this question is so subjective. Think too about paying for a truck, equipment, fuel, uniforms, WSIB... all of that is part of it.

You will know when it's time and you will have to make the decision. 

You can do what I did and start with a helper, a summer student or family or friends kid looking for work. It gives a really good taste of the responsibility with out all the risk.

I feel like this is one of the hardest decisions a business owner makes. Check around your local community. Find out about interns. State programs, city programs, and unemployment programs. I have had interns from a program called Avenues to Living. Which helps find employment for youth that are ready to graduate soon with some limited disabilities. With no pressure to hire after the hours are completed. Same goes with some of the city programs around here. I just linked up with the DOL and they have a grant program here in NJ where if you hire someone through them you get up to a $10,000 reimbursement for wages. They find the employees; they make sure they have all the qualifications you are looking for and vet them. Also, no pressure to hire them permanently once the program is over. In the cleaning world turnover is crazy. Especially after covid. Only you will know when it's truly time.