[kitche]

Can anyone direct me to any good threads?

Or give their opinion on the following.....

Situation:  Theres a round that takes one man 5 weeks to complete.

Does he:

a)  Work like a dog and keep all the profits, just maintaining the customer base.

b)  Employ 1 person to work alongside closely (same building same street etc.) and gradually increase the customer base (share vehicle and some equipment).

c)  Increase the customer base to 8 weeks work (ie. 2 rounds worth) and employ a person to run a whole round on their own (extra van etc.).

All thoughts gratefully received.................

[WavieDavie]

Hi Kitche,

Good to see you here, hope you've read the welcome message on either of the window cleaning boards, remember to fill in your profile and signature.

I don't recall any threads on the pro's and con's of employing or staying a one-man band but there probably have been, have an experiment with the search button and see what comes up. In my outfit there's me and two employees, so you might say I'm biased!

a) If you work like a dog, what happens if you fall ill, or need time off?

b) Probably your best bet

c) Any staff problems I've had seem to have stemmed from boys off on their own in a separate van. Extra work on their run which i didn't know about. Two vans written off in addition to various lumps and bumps. Starting later than they should. Add in your own variations . . .

Now there's three of us in one van, we work 7.30am to 1.30pm which gives me time to do initial cleans for new customers as soon as possible after their initial enquiry, and then I slot them into our schedule and they're four-weekly after that. This also means I know exactly what each job entails when we go back for the regular clean. These hours allow us time to catch up if we've been held back by bad weather or illness without breaking into the weekend - which is NOT for window cleaning!

Nowadays when we take on new custom some "bad" customers get dropped, I'm happy this size and am not getting bigger.

[kitche]

Thanks for the feedback.

I will update the profile once I have something to say, my business doesn't start until November.

I am keen on the second idea for all the same reasons as you outline, however It's the lure of almost double the turnover that interests me.

I have a trusted friend who could operate the other round, so that could be both good and bad.

The boards do seem to have more "1 man bands" , than larger operations on them, maybe the employing WCs are too busy dealing with staff issues, to post!

Anyone else got any ideas?

[replacement]

Thanks for the feedback.

I will update the profile once I have something to say,

You already said something in your first post.

I like others do not reply much to questions like this untill you have more information in your profile, i mean why do i want to help someone that could be working in my area?

Justin

[martin19842]

nobody every does the job or works as hard as you do.

you really want to be able to clone yourself so they do the job just as well as you do..

expansion leads inevitably to you having to trust your employees, the only way to expand is to employ.

You could use a performance bond incentive, or the other thing would be to use a invoice bonus, so that supervisors, or driver cleaners, earn a bonus for the turnover value of the vehicle.  this will then incentivise them to do the work.

what you must remember is that most employees in any walk of life will try it on at some stage as the 'unwritten perk'.  whilst  they are happy enough to work for someone else, cause if they wanted the hassle and to do it for themselves, then they wouldnt be working for you in the first place, THEY WOULD BE THECOMPETITION

hope that helps

regards

martin

[kitche]

Thanks for the thoughts, Martin.  I will be working alone for the first 6 months and go from there.

I too thought of the incentive idea, and if someone has a round to complete, who cares when they start and when they finish...as long as the work is done.

Justin, I have looked at the profile page and there is no place to put anymore info.  But I take your point about helping people who may be in direct competition.