Are teams or solo technicians better?

So I was just wondering what you think about this issue. Do you feel it’s better to have two teams of two people, or four solo operators in four separate vehicles? The reason I ask is because I know that four different technicians in separate vehicles can accomplish more work in a day taen two teams of two. However are there other extenuating reasons that would make it better for us to go with teams?

I like this thread. I think a 3 people crew is optimal… for the main reason that the client doesn’t want you there all day.

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Teams of 2, plenty of reasons why.

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Team of three. When a guy calls in “sick” the other two can still get “all” the work done for that day if they “hustle”.

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Always preferred teams of 2 but always seem to have a solo guy in busy season.

I think the solo guys can make better money. Less chit chat and coordinating, just head down and work.

Always like trying new things, we have many days we are running 3 however this are multi-service jobs.

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Team of 2. Me and my squeegee.

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You are going to run into situations where one guy can not do something on a job. Whether it is removing a large panel on a picture window or needing a ladder footed.

Two people is optimal. Three can be better on larger jobs, but is wasteful on small ones.

There are other hidden benefits. For instance, if something goes wrong you have the word of two people over one. It is also my personal opinion there is a psychological morale benefit to working with someone. Working by yourself all the time can be bad.

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Some people love it for a dozen reasons

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Storefront - single.

Large commercial - teams of 2 or maybe 3 depending on the job.

Residential - teams of 2 work good.

The psychological issue is that say a guy can do a $300 job in 3 hours ($100 per hour). Two guys can do a $300 job in 2 hours ($75 per hour per person). Three guys can do a $300 job in 1.5 hours ($65 per hour per person).

There’s a diminishing return on how many people you want on a job.

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Also, the more traveling you do between jobs, the less efficient a multi-person crew becomes. Especially if you have 3 or 4 riding in the same truck. A 30 minute drive for one guy becomes 2 wasted man hours with a crew of 4.

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if you want to work by yourself, work on the opposit side of the house, or one guy inside, one outside

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If one guy can do the job in 3 hours why can’t two do it in an hour and a half?

Are you saying two guys would take longer than one guy?

Yup, that’s just been my experience. Also the experience of a nation wide franchise.

I think big commercial jobs can be an exception.

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He’s right. I’ve seen it happen over and over again for the last 40 years. One person is the most efficient crew unless you need that second person for a specific reason.

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Depends on what your outfit does primarily. Mid to low rise 2 teams of 2.
Residential, I’d say one team of 2 and 2 solo operators.

You could have the one team of 2 do the commercial stuff, and larger homes. The 2 solos can do route work if thats what you do, and/or smaller residential stuff, or pull one to help the team of 2 if need be.

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ABSOLUTELY.
They start to milk it.

Reasons for taking longer etc.

As long as you have a system in place for the issues or you pay piece work it can work.

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This is a great video discussing this -

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speaking of maximum production:

depends on the type of homes in your area, for typical tract homes, 1 guy can do 6k sft in and out per day

1 guy 3-5 stops a day is good

personally I love being on one house all day, seems to be a mind freeze for so many others.

2 guys make sense for homes over 6,000sft in and out, but how many of those are you going to have day in and day out?

oh, speaking of what the techs want? yeah a partner most of the time. then the babysitting comes in and the drama . . .

production = 1.5 vs 2 solo guys

Yes indeed. That is one of the big reasons the carpet cleaning company I use to work for use to send out one man in each truck. Also he made higher profits sending guys out alone. They had 15 very expensive truck mounted units, one for each guy. And the guys made way more money working alone as well. But that was carpet cleaning not window cleaning. Averaging five stops a day.

PS
A newbie in the passengers seat would always slow us down even though they were moving all the furniture for us.

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interesting the same dynamics in carpet cleaning

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