[poleman]

so have you worked out the going sub rate and compare it with employing

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

pole man guy looking for work
down yr way if yr not fixd up ova section
frequently askd questions

[cleaner-exteriors]

only my opinion but you seem a bit stressed, why are you filling up the vans and sorting the poles??? you employ people who should be able to put petrol in the van and water in the tank as for sorting the poles!!!! what are you going to do next clean the windows for them?

[Moderator David@stives]

sometimes we have the 60 ft work, i only trust certain guys at that height, poles do need swapping around quite a lot.

Sometimes the guys are good at filling the vans sometimes they work long distance and low water, i might switch that around in the planning, and put them on something different. as for the juice if they have only got a 5th of a tank and i am sending them 100 miles at 6.00am and the jet garages arent open till about 7.00 in Cornwall, then we go and fill them up.

It takes time to implement procedures, you can only address things as they arise, so far didnt see it coming, now need to put in control measures.

These are things you have to think about and deal with when you expand rapiddly

Its not as easy as some of you make it sound.

Yes I am very stressed at times.

[Window Washers]

sometimes we have the 60 ft work, i only trust certain guys at that height, poles do need swapping around quite a lot.

Sometimes the guys are good at filling the vans sometimes they work long distance and low water, i might switch that around in the planning, and put them on something different. as for the juice if they have only got a 5th of a tank and i am sending them 100 miles at 6.00am and the jet garages arent open till about 7.00 in Cornwall, then we go and fill them up.

It takes time to implement procedures, you can only address things as they arise, so far didnt see it coming, now need to put in control measures.

These are things you have to think about and deal with when you expand rapiddly

Its not as easy as some of you make it sound.

Yes I am very stressed at times.

Get the guys to fill there vans when they have finished there manual work dave, I am suprised you reley on others for water I could see that as an added headache

[Frankybadboy]

good thing dave is to add to defect books to there vans.

1 for defect to equiment.
2 for defect to vans.

these most be filled out every day.by each crew.then all you need todo is look in book,find defect if any then fix defect.if not reported and they get to the job and ie pole still broke,then well that up to up what you do.

this is a most that it filled out each day and handed into who ever in the office at the end of there day.

[StanA]

sometimes we have the 60 ft work, i only trust certain guys at that height, poles do need swapping around quite a lot.

Sometimes the guys are good at filling the vans sometimes they work long distance and low water, i might switch that around in the planning, and put them on something different. as for the juice if they have only got a 5th of a tank and i am sending them 100 miles at 6.00am and the jet garages arent open till about 7.00 in Cornwall, then we go and fill them up.

It takes time to implement procedures, you can only address things as they arise, so far didnt see it coming, now need to put in control measures.

These are things you have to think about and deal with when you expand rapiddly

Its not as easy as some of you make it sound.

Yes I am very stressed at times.

Which is one good reason why I've never tried it.  I don't do stress very well.
I hope you find solutions Dave because stress will usually kill someone much sooner than physical work.
Why not try selling it and just keep the cream for yourself?  You may even find that your current employees will want to buy it.
So less stress and probably a turnover of £50k+ a year (more if your wife is happy on the tools still).  Maybe more demanding physically but a hell of a lot easier on the head - and with a tidy lump sum in the bank too.
Another way might be to accept a reduced profit and pay a manager a wage from it while taking more of a back seat yourself - possibly even with a profit sharing scheme as an incentive.  It's finding the right person though.  Most people with the ability will be running their own businesses.  Is your business up to taking say a £30k per annum hit.  It only need be temporary as you could use your time in obtaining more work and leisure pursuits.

I once heard it said that we should all have someone else's problems because we can all solve them - but never our own  

That's £5k for the business advice please.  Cash, cheques or bank transfer all accepted  

[Moderator David@stives]

I love all this advice, keep it coming

Ian

We do make our own water, the garage is located some distance from the house.

[Richard Holt]

Hi Rich, still waiting for the nod on the work

Ok mate, still got a spare week in every month, so just keep me posted.

Back to topic.
You stated that you have 3 vans on the road, which I should imagine has a crew of 2 in each?
Why not have a supervisor in each van? Pay them a bit more, and deligate some of the lesser jobs to them, and make it their job to ensure all the paperwork is signed and in order, van sorted, tidied, filled and fueled for the next day.

It might work? And it might lighten the load a bit for you??

[DaveG]

Dave, what happened with the Bournemouth/Poole jobs?

Cheers Dave

[Wizard]

Sorry to here you are stressed with things at the moment Dave.
I have been in various businesses for nearly 40 years and also have spent time studying this subject. Your problems are a classis of rapid growth when a busy move through stages of upward movement. One just has not developed they skills to cope with this growth. The growth from a small business to a middle size to large is quite common. The biggest problem is delegating reasonability and one has always dependent on yourself.
 Your role from window clean and been hands on to managing people is a great jump with a different set of skills.
 I would not at this point farm out to much work as you could loose control of things and will find it more difficult  to set a standards practice. Rather farm out responsibility to your more  experanced staff. The manager idea is a good one. The next think to see to is that this person shears your business goals and understands how you would want things, communication is all important.
Sorry mate |I am getting a little to passionate but I am sure you get the idea.
If this is of help do ash and I will see were I can help. Relax more and do some expercise, meditate (  do something you enjoy that gets your mind of work) and get some deep reading on the subject as matter of fact its always good to expand your mind quicker that one business. Easer said than n dun as things sometime happen, when you are working hard.
Just hang in there you had the ability to grow at this rate and have the ability to achieve a lot more. Good luck Richard

[Moderator David@stives]

Hi Wizard

wise words, you have nit the nail on the head, my wife keeps telling me to go to the docs because i keep going purple.

We have just added on a totally new arm to our business, so got stress with that too.

Will be in touch soon

[Moderator David@stives]

I nearly phoned him lol

[j.v. price ltd]

Hi dave I will take on all the work for you on sub contract basis, I would be very interested short term on the retail as need to build it in that area to keep my guys busy.

With regards to stress I cope by having the weekends to my self and working as much as needed the rest of the week, it has really helped with my stress

[dai]

Business growing pains Dave, as has already been said, you need a good manager, he/she must be,
A] polite and assertive.
B] be respected by your existing staff
C] Keep a cool head in a crises
D] be able to communicate on all levels
E] Be a good organiser
F] know your area like the back of their hand
G] Be able to see what wants doing and get it done.

If you think finding such a person is a tall order, your right, but I would start at your local police HQ, a lot of bobbies look for a job to top up their pension when they retire. An ex bobby would have most of the above attributes, and I'm sure that there must be a way of getting in contact with those near retirement age.
Just a though mate, but an ex bobby would fit the bill. [no pun intended].

[Wizard]

Everyone thinks meditation is sitting with your legs crossed going Hmmmmmmm
Its mental escapism!!!!   The ability  to removing one self mentally from the reality of day to day life. This is why kids do not stress and they fantasize and play, not just the crazy things people think up.

[Wizard]

By the way Dave your wife is properly rite might have a bit of blood pressure the purple face is a give away. They say one can look as if you drink to much. Check it out asap.  I pill a day and al is well or drink a aspirin every morning it does help.

[Clive McDonald]

Giving advice- I love this.

Well the fact is from the little i know you have a ten out of ten, and you should be advising us, but turning puce, or purple as you put it is not good.

Yes, it's growing pains, and also trying to do all that networking and show attending.

As regards the business model, if you have two vans (i assume van three is basically you)  pretty much full with your own work that has to be healthy.The further away stuff, sub away. This is pretty much how you do it already, so carry on.

I like the idea that you are getting better and better kit, try and relax about how much money you are spending.In your shoes i would note that Charlie, after three generations of high end and high volume w'cleaning is still stressed.It's never going to go away.I would want to at least look at copying the spec of his vans and find out why scalability has worked so well for him.

[Sean Dyer]

i think you look and sound like you are doing great dave

Just keep at it, im sure its hard at times but all work is, just tell yourself you can only do our best and as jv price says allocate time to yourself and keep it, have time for family and exercise/hobbies that work does not encroach upon

theres more to life than work at the end of the day

work to live

[Moderator David@stives]

To tell you the truth my life is prety damn easy, i do very litttle,

 i now work with my mind now and not with my hands, for my crust, i shouldnt have to ever lift a squeegee again if i dont want to.

It's all the head tennis which drives you crazy, i think i was having the Sunday night blues ( reminder to self get drunk on Sundays)

Lifes easy, but hard at the same time.

Thanks for everyones support, you lot are brill.

Love to chat to you all some time

Dave