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Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:40 am
by Artisan
We've got a small but growing business, that is starting to outgrow the dining room office and lock up garage, and defintely starting to outgrow my limited organisational abilities. I'm happy with the work side of things, and employing teams to do the actual landscaping, but not so happy with the "clingons", the office dwellers that are needed in a bigger business. I took the mammoth step of handing my bag of recepits over to a bookkeeper earlier in the year, and am suffering from "letting go syndrome".
Was wondering how others have coped with their growing businesses, at what stage did you take on people like contracts managers, secretaries, does anyone employ people for sales and marketing? When did you take on premises? Did you get to a stage when your business took off, and seemed to take on a life of its own?
Any help, advice, stories, pitfals etc would be greatfully recieved.
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:02 pm
by flowjoe
Massive subject Artisan, and one that floors many small businesses.
Offices, yards, plant etc all follow with growth and profit, but right from the start you class anybody who doesnt have muck under their nails as "clingons & office dwellers".
Its a false economy if you are stuck in the office (dining room) doing the accounts/paperwork in a painfully slow and incorrect manner and then paying somebody else to put them right.
At some point you have to employ someone to spend time in the office, whether its for a half day or two days a week, that time is when you are sat there scratching your head and you are not out on site earning X amount a day or you are cooking the books in the early hours and losing sleep, or worse the gangs you employ are not performing because you don`t visit site anymore.
Obviously its important that you keep your books in order to some degree and that is not so difficult, "letting go" is a big step but as long as you take the time to check the records/books at the end of the month and show a keen interest you may as well pay somebody (qualified) to do it. Unless of course you have the time for night school ?.
If its your business and the main selling point is you, your knowledge and your general attitude you are a waste of a good man sat in the office pushing a pen, you should just factor the additional costs (if there are any) into your prices.
IMHO
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:26 pm
by lutonlagerlout
its very important being able to delegate to competent people, there seems to be a thread that runs through small builders where the husband does the site stuff and the mrs no matter how untrained or unsuitable does the office side of things.
i know a builder whose mrs never answers the telephone, she says ,and i quote "if they really need us they will leave a message"
???? or maybe they will go elsewhere.
same one is always moaning that its a full time job.
my mrs has an accounts background which is very convenient but even with payroll ,invoices,estimates etc .its no more than 2 days a week for a half decent office type ,which would cost you around £6-7 K PA
as joe says you can then concentrate on getting the work done
at some point all the books need to be certified by an accountant but if your book keeper is on the ball this is painless.
growing too fast can be a recipe for disaster,best to grow organically i.e. without debt load
just ask lehman bros or halifax
all the best
LLL 
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:55 am
by mouldmaker
A good book keeper will change your life. The time you spend phoning people, answering the phone, invoicing, filing, losing stuff, looking for it again, you can spend earning. You needn't even invest in office space - there are plenty of people happy to work part-time from home, all they need is a computer.
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:20 pm
by Artisan
Thanks for the replies guys. As I said, I already have a book keeper, and guess I am looking at the next steps in the growing business of employing someone like a Contracts Manager. Does anyone else employ a contract manager? What size business did you have before employing one (ie it seems to me that once you get to about 4 teams, then it is time to think about employing someone like that). Has anyone had good or bad experiences? Any other experiences of growing the business beyond the dining room office?
Many thanks in advance
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:52 am
by matt h
my business grew too quick, and found that with all the employers tax and sick pay etc, it was becoming unviable... glad to be back in small firm mode again.. less agro and more time working myself, which is how i like it.
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:49 am
by Nigel Walker
In the first 6 years of business I was working 90 hours a week - 50 hrs on site and then the rest visiting jobs, pricing, paperwork, invocing etc etc. Up till 2 am doing quotations and office work. Weekends were non existing - just work work work.
I was getting aches and pains in places i didnt know existed ! So 2 years ago decided to come off tools. I employed 2 more men on site which made 5 and I just concentrated on managing and office work. Wow what a difference - I actualy had free time for my family and my health was much better.
8 months ago i took on a part time office manager and built an office in my unit. She works 9 till 1 - 5 days a week. So now I am spending more time with clients, more time visiting lads on site and I am more able to control things. We now get quotes out within 48 hrs of the site visit and our acceptence rate percentage has increased from averaging 35% to now averaging 56%.
Work is work and home is home - now 2 seperate things and believe me what a difference that makes
Even just having someone answering the phone and taking messages gives an air of professionalism. It has resulted in much more work coming in and now the company is about to attain the Investors in People award, which will hopefully take the company forward to the next level
So I suppose the moral is - Do not try and do everything yourself.
Oh and one last thing - It also means that I never have to work in the rain 
Nigel
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:08 pm
by lutonlagerlout
another thought occured to me after reading nigel's post
saturdays
historically Saturdays were always a bit of a brucie bonus day,work till 1 and get paid a full shift either that or a job and knock
however the job we have been on lately ,we are restricted because of environmental noise and have not been able to work saturdays
the difference has been amazing,i actually feel recharged by monday and ready for work,also the lads seem more motivated
i know a lot of big firms (borras) actively discourage men from working saturdays
obviously there will come a time for the odd 1 or 2 ,but it is nice to be able to do some normal stuff for a change instead of grafting every day and just being dog tired at night
just my 2P
LLL
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:50 am
by GB_Groundworks
if it can be avoided i never work weekends i do 12 hour days in the week and sometimes longer with quotes and paper work when i get home. so weekend are for relaxing spending time with the family and recharging.
my dad whos in his 60's works every single minute of light available and then when its dark he's in the barn or workshop messing with some piece of plant or other or when he's not working for profit he's out on our land doing some drain or something, mum has to drag him in for tea etc he's lost that balance between work and life. you only get one life so enjoy i say haha.
that was a bit philosophical for the brew cabin oops
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:21 pm
by lutonlagerlout
as ronnie reagan once said"hard work never killed anyone,but i figured, why take the chance?"
LLL