When should I consider hiring?

For me, it was when I realized I was spread too thin and no longer providing the level of service I strove to deliver. As an owner/operator, we were wearing multiple hats, and if you want to scale, you'll eventually need to bring on more people, but what does that entail? Review whether your current prices can accommodate one more person, and consider the pay structure for the new hire. What does the onboarding process look like? How can the person you hire be successful in the role? Once you have that done, how will you find the new hire? 

In the past, I learned that I had hired too early and wasn't ready because I hadn't thought about the above. Have your goals also been defined and a vision of where you want to go, so you can define the roles better, whether it be sales, crew members, dispatchers, or project managers. I learned through trial and error. On my current team, I have a dedicated salesperson, subcontractors for labor, and a project manager. If you need any more guidance, reach out, and we can talk through what you're experiencing. 

For me, it wasn't a specific revenue number or job count, it was when I realized I was becoming the bottleneck.

If you're consistently booked several weeks out, turning down profitable work, working nights and weekends just to keep up on estimates, scheduling, and invoicing, it's probably time to start planning for help.

I'd also make sure the work is consistent enough to support payroll beyond just a busy month. It's much easier to hire when recurring work is paying the bills rather than hoping the next job comes in.

My advice is to hire because your business has a repeatable workload, not because you're simply overwhelmed for a few weeks. A good first hire should create capacity to grow, not add financial stress.

What type of work are you doing now? Residential, commercial, or a mix?

I feel as it should be when you have more work to handle . Like if you booking jobs weeks out , it’s time to bring someone else on to help you out . 

Every time I hear about scaling, I think of Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory. It was all fun and games until the conveyor belt sped up. That's when the real bottleneck showed up. Sometimes the answer isn't working faster. It's redesigning the process.

Bookkeeper is something you should be hiring as soon as you can afford it. That's an easy win

Laborer would be my next hire - I brought another person on when I needed a second hand, then started giving them their own jobs when they were comfortable. I did this too when I didn't always NEED a second person but it was nice to have because I wanted to give them reps. When I did it, I basically told this person it was part time and I'd pay cash. Now my business was a handyman business and I boot strapped it from the beginning so that worked for me then. My business model now I couldn't do that but bringing someone on part time, supervised would be a good way to start and ultimately off load your responsabilities. The main goal early on is to get out of the field. 

Sales is something you won't be able to offload till much later in the game.