You’ve been used to working on your own, or with maybe one or two others, for a while. But now business has picked up to a point where you can’t keep up. It’s time to hire employees
It sounds easy enough, but it’s more complicated than it appears. It’s not something to just jump into. Here in this article, we will show you 7 things to know when you are ready to hire employees for your construction business.
What Is Your Company Culture?
You’ve already proven yourself as a construction company. You can’t afford to let any new hires get in the way of preserving that.
So you don’t want to hire just anyone off the street. You want to attract potential hires who will enhance your company culture. You want to hire the best.
For starters, you should be prepared to offer a livable wage and health insurance at the minimum. This will tell them that you value and appreciate good employees.
Whatever you offer, shoot for being the first place construction workers will go to apply for a job, not the last.
Don’t Be Hasty
Desperation can cause excess perspiration. Never hire someone solely because you need someone. It’s better to take a little time to make sure their right for the job, than to bring them in blindly. It could turn out to be a disaster. Most often, it does.
Don’t Sit On Things
While you don’t want to be hasty, you don’t want to procrastinate either. If you’re waiting for “Super Carpenter” with a big “S” on his or her chest, you could be waiting for a very long time, which will backlog you even more.
Clarity
Before you start hiring, make sure you have a clear idea – for you and the new employee – what is expected of them. Create a job description. It will be useful when hiring someone, and down the road, if they forget the scope of their responsibilities.
Goal: Generate Money
Keep in mind that the ideal situation for a new hire is that they’re going to help you make money, something you can’t do by yourself if you’re backed up with 10 jobs, and several weeks of work.
All of that work is booked, and needs to be done. If you can’t do it yourself, you could lose some of those jobs.
Make sure your new hire has the goods to help you get ‘er done.
Prepare to Delegate Strategically
There may be tasks common to each job. Does your candidate have the skills to knock those out, making a smoother path for the rest of the work? If so, that’s a good move, and a good hire.
Check Driving Records
At some point, your new hire could be driving your company truck or passenger van rental on their own, such as one you might get from If that’s a part of your plan, be sure and check their driving record during the application process. It might even be prudent to inform through your ads what you require as it relates to driving.
An example of this might be “Must have a clean [or fill in the blank] driving record” or something like that. Minimize your risk wherever you can.
As we’ve seen, there is a whole lot to think about when it comes to hiring an employee. It is our hope that these 7 things may prove helpful to you as you get closer to the time you will need to do so.
