Are teams or solo technicians better?

Residential
21

2 for small/medium jobs
3 for large jobs.

22

Im aiming to grow over the next few years to have employees and Im curious whether it is more profitable to add solo guys with vans or teams of 2? Solo guys could make more per hour of course but then there’s the costs of vans, WFP, equipment etc. I suppose in the bigger picture it could be worthwhile?

Curious to hear some more people chime in, I can definitely see advantages to both.

23

If you run with three-man crews and someone calls in sick the work will still get done … all of it. The guy who calls in sick better be sick or his team is going to be kind of angry Because-they had to do all his work for the same pay. Can you spell hustle?

PS
Three man crew puts pressure on unreliable help. Puts pressure on crew leader as well.

I still like solo. :slightly_smiling_face:

24

To each their own but I find this to be the opposite. I find 2 guys will do the work in more than half of the time so a 3 hour job would go to half plus another 15 minutes shaved off. Think about it if you’re by yourself when you’re hooking up a water fed pole, or dragging garbage cans for gutters no windows are being washed or gutters being cleaned. When there is 2 people working work is always being done while the solo guy has to do everything thus losing production time when dragging equipment, running around with screens etc.

25

One of my competitors recently had this discussion and he also said when 1 guy is working alone it is more mentally taxing and they feel like they are doing everything. You’re more likely to have guys quit, try to go compete against you or complain about money if there working alone which is something to be considered.

26

Best thing about sending them out solo is they can’t poison another employees mind about you … the boss they hate. LOL

27

so many variables/pros/cons.

ob size matters.

the more jobs there are in a day the more efficient one man crews are.

for large jobs where travel is not an issue multi person crews become more efficient.

a solo crew does not get poisoned by other employees but there is also no one there to keep them honest.

there is no definitive answer.

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28

3 man crews get a lot of work done. 2 very skilled and experienced crews can very well do just as much as 3 or 4 cleaners. Solo is great if you have the RIGHT TOOLS. I have worked with lots of people over the years-- from solo to 5 employees knocking out 15-20 homes in a day, etc…each have their pros and cons…

Generally speaking, I usually work by myself or I have my co-worker help me here and there. While it would be great to have an extra set of hands, to be honest I prefer working alone. I have been with 2-3 man crews, it is nice but I am more of a loner and would rather just do more by myself with peace and quiet. For every worker you have, you add a variable-- and this compounds with more people. One guy can have a bad day, another doesn’t show up-- puts pressure unfairly on others and the owner of business. Or, it can be a great day and you are bringing home a solid days pay while the guys/girls keep fresh because work is divided. Depends on who you have around you.

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30

it will depend on what types of jobs you have, what size of jobs you have, if you have employees who prefer to work alone or who prefer to be with others and what your vehicle situation is. Many variables, you want what is right for you, the people you have and the type of jobs you are doing and what those customers typically expect

if jobs are typically larger than 6 hours, teams are probably better

less than 6 hours and you could go either way

less than 2 or 3 hours and 1 person will probably be more efficient

but when it comes to vehicles if you are going own the fleet, you’ll want to maximize truck use putting 2-4 people in there before buying another vehicle, but if job size is tiny or distances are typically greater than 20 minutes between than not so much

but if there’s a lot of drive time between jobs that’s another issue to consider too

so you have several different things going on to evaluate what’s optimum for your specific situation

build a ‘what if’ spreadsheet with all the variables and adjust them to see the impact of one thing over another

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