TEAM & HIRING GUIDES
Hiring, training, paying and keeping good techs, plus the hard parts: reviews, overtime, 1099 vs W-2, and letting someone go.
Showing 19 of 19 guides
Working with your spouse without wrecking the business or the marriage
Plenty of trade shops are run by two people married to each other. The ones that last figured out the same handful of things, and most of it has nothing to do with the work itself.
Hiring your first employee: what it really costs
The wage on the offer letter is the cheapest thing about an employee. The full loaded cost of your first hire in the trades, and a plain test for whether you can afford one.
Keeping good techs: what actually makes them stay
Recruiting gets all the attention. Retention gets almost none. What actually keeps a good tech from walking, and why it's usually not a bigger check.
Onboarding a new hire: the first week matters most
Nobody quits over one bad morning. They quit over a week that told them nobody was ready for them. How to run a new hire's first week so he stays.
How to manage a bilingual crew without things getting lost in translation
Two languages on one job site is normal now. How to keep the gap from turning into a safety incident or a lost tech: safety in both languages, pictures over words, and paying the bilingual guy for the skill.
How to handle overtime without blowing your labor budget
Overtime you choose can be the cheapest way to finish a job. Overtime you find out about after payroll is where the margin goes. How to see it coming.
How to pay your techs: hourly, salary, commission, or a mix
Every pay structure rewards something, and whatever it rewards is what you'll get more of. A plain look at hourly, salary, commission, and the mix most shops settle on.
Building a company culture when your crew is never in the same room
Your crew never sees each other. Here's how to build a culture that keeps field techs feeling like a team, and stops them walking for an extra buck an hour.
How to fire someone without getting sued
The trouble almost never comes from the firing itself. It comes from no paper trail and a last paycheck you got wrong. How to let a bad hire go clean.
When a tech is stealing from you: theft and dishonesty in a trade shop
It's rarely the guy loading a compressor at night. It's the quiet skim that runs for months. How to spot theft in a trade shop, handle it without a lawsuit, and close the gaps.
Performance reviews for field techs, and why the yearly one doesn't work
The once-a-year review off an office form is a waste for a tech you can't watch all day. Measure real numbers off his jobs, keep the talk to fifteen minutes, and act on what you find.
How to write a job ad that actually attracts good tradespeople
The tech you want already has a job. Lead with real pay, sell the seat, cut the requirements wishlist, and call back the same day. How to write a trade job ad that actually pulls good people.
Drug testing and background checks: what you can and can't do
You rarely get sued for running a check. You get sued for how you ran it. A plain guide to background checks, drug testing, and the steps most shops skip.
How to train a new tech without losing a week of productivity
A green tech costs you two people in week one. How to get a new hire to useful fast, without parking your best producer in the passenger seat.
1099 or W-2? The misclassification trap that can blow up a trades business
Calling a guy a 1099 doesn't make him one. What the IRS three-factor test actually weighs, the trades patterns that get owners burned, and the size of the bill when a state audit catches up.
Finding and keeping good techs when nobody wants to swing a hammer
Where to look when Indeed is empty, how to interview without wasting your week, and what actually keeps a good tech from walking out the door.
Getting off the tools: hiring your first office manager
Still answering quote calls from the truck and chasing receivables at 9pm? You are the bottleneck. What an office manager actually does, what they cost, and how to find someone who'll last.
Subbing to (and from) competitors: when it works, when it backfires
Subbing to (and from) competing shops can rescue both calendars. It can also cost you the customer, the warranty money, and the next call. Here's how to do it without getting burned.
Rewarding the good ones, dealing with the bad ones
Every shop has a tech you trust on the toughest jobs, and one whose callbacks land on your desk. How to reward the good and confront the bad before the good ones quietly walk.
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