Taking on owner operators

CanaryBoss

CanaryBoss

Branched out member
Location
Jacksonville
We are considering taking on owner operators. We have workload that we are not interested in. We want to focus primarily on larger jobs and some niches we prefer. That leaves us with a lot of small and medium sized trim jobs that we can either sell to other companies or preferably take on experienced tree climbers to operate our equipment on a lease/commission program. We already own the equipment but do not want to manage the personnel. You will be your own boss and get paid according to how much you work. We will provide you work but you are also free to promote and get your own jobs.

Hit me with your questions
 
Sounds like it could be a great opportunity towards ownership for ambitious climbers. Doing the tree work while hiring/managing the personnel is enough of a responsibility; awesome that you guys could to provide the jobs/sales, the equipment, equipment maintenance, business experience and infrastructure.
 
I would personally be wary of getting stuck somewhere where I have all of the responsibility of being the "boss" without any of the perks. The boon of not having to own equipment is that I also don't have to fool with logistics or the ultimate problem of "If this doesn't work right, I make less money/if I can blast it out, I will do better"
It sounds like you could avoid some trainwrecks by just incorporating a body to manage the paperwork for a new crew and just have a crew put in 40/week knocking out the stuff that you don't currently focus on. Hell, man. Another person's wages would probably be covered by just having people in positions where they expect to make less and in return, nobody treats your show like theirs (it gets gory fast) or your equipment like theirs.
 
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I know better than anybody what it means to employee and put people in these positions. I do not wish to deal with it anymore. Somebody with lower overhead that wants to be their own Climber/bucket truck operator and Lease a bucket truck and chipper for me, can make more of a profit margin on these types of jobs that I can. Do you know why I work so hard? It’s because I own the company and at the end of the day however good the company does is how good I do. That’s the point behind having somebody that is an owner/operator. If they do good, they do good! That’s all it comes down to if they don’t keep their truck running by treating it properly, then ultimately they lose. If they don’t treat customers right and do a good job, and ultimately they lose. This is not just some climbing gig this is something that is being offered at five to $10,000 a week in miscellaneous tree work that can be done by two guys. I simply do not want to deal with it I’m taking 20% off the top the rest is for the guys that are doing. I’m leasing my bucket truck and 12 inch chipper for two grand a month. The guys here in town that know me and know my company, are begging me to do it. I’ve had 15 people asked me for this position the point is that most of them I just For one reason or another am not sure is a perfect fit. One guy that I’m very interested in owns a large landscaping company, but the problem is he has to turnaround and hire a Climber. I’m really looking for an ambitious Climber that wants to come be his own boss he can work his own hours for the most part and any work that he gets above and beyond the work that I send him, is his to make 100% on. It’s really not all that crazy of an idea it’s just different. I did a similar thing with two of my excellent employees that have been with me for years. I gave them shares in the company. They’ve never worked harder, because now not only is it a job they love they are also owners in the company. They experience profit-sharing so the better we do the better they do
 
That is different. You can do a lot with skilled workers that you've known for a long time. Mutual respect is a hard thing to substitute.
If it was easy to just 'sic em' on some work and get a fifth of the bid, you would see it any place besides pickup truck quality tree work. If you want to refer someone, it's a very different critter than if you set the price.
You're the one saying "I just For one reason or another am not sure is a perfect fit"
It could probably work with a unicorn or two.
The reality, though, is that it will probably be WAY more trouble on your part than just selling the buckets and chippers if you want to and selling the bids (which you said you could do).

You should just go bigger. It's the natural order of things. If you don't, then one day the competition buys a grapplesaw. And they will get bigger.

Or do whatever. It just seems to me that every other option on the table would be less headache.
 
CanaryBoss said:
I know better than anybody what it means to employee and put people in these positions. I do not wish to deal with it anymore. Somebody with lower overhead that wants to be their own Climber/bucket truck operator and Lease a bucket truck and chipper for me, can make more of a profit margin on these types of jobs that I can. Do you know why I work so hard? It’s because I own the company and at the end of the day however good the company does is how good I do. That’s the point behind having somebody that is an owner/operator. If they do good, they do good! That’s all it comes down to if they don’t keep their truck running by treating it properly, then ultimately they lose. If they don’t treat customers right and do a good job, and ultimately they lose. This is not just some climbing gig this is something that is being offered at five to $10,000 a week in miscellaneous tree work that can be done by two guys. I simply do not want to deal with it I’m taking 20% off the top the rest is for the guys that are doing. I’m leasing my bucket truck and 12 inch chipper for two grand a month. The guys here in town that know me and know my company, are begging me to do it. I’ve had 15 people asked me for this position the point is that most of them I just For one reason or another am not sure is a perfect fit. One guy that I’m very interested in owns a large landscaping company, but the problem is he has to turnaround and hire a Climber. I’m really looking for an ambitious Climber that wants to come be his own boss he can work his own hours for the most part and any work that he gets above and beyond the work that I send him, is his to make 100% on. It’s really not all that crazy of an idea it’s just different. I did a similar thing with two of my excellent employees that have been with me for years. I gave them shares in the company. They’ve never worked harder, because now not only is it a job they love they are also owners in the company. They experience profit-sharing so the better we do the better they do
Click to expand...

Too bad Jax is so far away.


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CanaryBoss said:
I’m leasing my bucket truck and 12 inch chipper for two grand a month.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a killer deal for them and super low for you. Why not sell them? Just curious, I am not business savvy at all so may be obvious to others. The OP sounds great to me too.
 
SomethingWitty said:
That is different. You can do a lot with skilled workers that you've known for a long time. Mutual respect is a hard thing to substitute.
If it was easy to just 'sic em' on some work and get a fifth of the bid, you would see it any place besides pickup truck quality tree work. If you want to refer someone, it's a very different critter than if you set the price.
You're the one saying "I just For one reason or another am not sure is a perfect fit"
It could probably work with a unicorn or two.
The reality, though, is that it will probably be WAY more trouble on your part than just selling the buckets and chippers if you want to and selling the bids (which you said you could do).

You should just go bigger. It's the natural order of things. If you don't, then one day the competition buys a grapplesaw. And they will get bigger.

Or do whatever. It just seems to me that every other option on the table would be less headache.
Click to expand...

I have the equipment to do it, I do not want to manage it. I have done it. I was doing 70k a week last summer. Running 15 to 18 tree guys and a staff of close to 35. The problem is for every couple crews you need another salesman, ofice person, mechanic and way more repairs and follow through. Not to mention all the extra operating costs, and advertising costs to fill that schedule. I have found a sweet spot where I can make just as much profit with two crews as I can 5. No reason I should do all the extra work to make the same money. Also, no reason why I should just tell my customer I’m not interested and let the work go. I have built my market share and feel ok with making a profit on it. That’s my reason.

If there are any experts out there that could show me how to be more profitable with 5 crews without working 80 hours, I’m all ears.
 
Serf Life said:
That sounds like a killer deal for them and super low for you. Why not sell them? Just curious, I am not business savvy at all so may be obvious to others. The OP sounds great to me too.
Click to expand...
They are paid for and I want to profit on them, not get rid of them. The truck and chipper are worth 55k. I can bring in 24k a year for a half a dozen years with them.
 
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