Well, I guess there's no hope... Just kidding.
I need guys with industry specific knowledge and experience. For instance, we are doing a job where we are clearing a city block of debris, removing dead trees and beautifying the trees. The job requires a grapple truck, as well as a bobcat with arm attachment. There is so much work there, that someone without industry experience would screw it up. A misbid on a job this size could run a $10-20k loss.
That sounds like stuff I did for my boss when I was in high school, not stuff an Estimator should be doing. My boss payed me $11/hr to help him do urban forestry. He was retired from the forestry service and had enough business to work around the clock. My job consisted of oiling/gassing the chainsaw, sharpening the chain and loading the truck.
He shouldn't be doing stuff like this. A few years ago, the Estimator might only have had enough estimates to run for six hours out of the day, so the rest of the day he was free to float around and assist. Over the years, I've increased our monthly ad budget from like $600 a month to 10,000 right now. The calls are coming in hot and heavy, and he has zero slack time now. Many days, we get more calls than he ran in that day (i.e., he runs 12 estimates but 20 come in). In the Winter, he has enough slack time to run those errands.
I think you're a bit off here. Obviously it is easier to take a guy who has worked on the crews for 5 years and train them to do the bids. 5 years ago you weren't working on these crews and now you run the whole show. You can take a white collar worker and put them into the position you want. It just takes more work. You might have to have them job shadow your current estimator for a year. The first 6 months he is learning. The second 6 months, your current estimator is shadowing the new guy double checking all his bids to make sure you're not loosing money.
Losing $2,500 per week is painful, but even more than that are the residual benefits you're not getting, like referrals.
Nowhere within 100 miles, is anyone in my industry paying more. My guys are making double what they are at some companies around here. There is a big company around here that pays their Crew Leaders $11 an hour, and lays off for four months a year with no unemployment. It's pretty easy to beat that when my guys work 60 hours a week, in the Winter, while their counterparts are sitting at home, holding their dicks in their hands.
I'll say it again. The issue is not the pay. The last Estimator that left the company (the one that got strung out) couldn't get $11 an hour up the street. The issue is finding the right candidate with the right skillsets.
I think you have to think bigger picture. 100 miles is nothing. I'm confident there are people in California doing your estimator's job making $100,000+. Most probably make $60k+. Now granted, cost of living is much, much higher out here, but people don't think like that. They think "hey, why should I work for Lyrical who's only going to pay me $50k, when I can go to Los Angeles, start at $60k, and make 6 figures eventually. Plus I get to live near the beach".
I'm in the midwest. In the town I'm in, 50k is like 100k in other places.
Bullshit. Most of the laborers stay in the area because of family. Manual labor isn't popular any more, most people in my industry are there because it is a family tradition. I have two families that work for me, and they are all second and third generation laborers in the industry. Four of them are in one family that's been in the area for decades, and the other one is from another family where the Father owns a business and been around even longer (my Manager worked for his Dad, until he realized he could make more with me). All of my employees have been in the area at least 15 years, because of family. The one guy that left the company (by moving), moved for family reasons, and made 40% less to keep his wife happy. This is the only guy that ever left to move, and it was for less.
Really? Me too and I can most certainly tell you that is not the case.
And I when I sent Tuco my financials on FOH, he got tax returns showing that the owner draw was only 4k a month over a multi year period. I pay myself what my Manager makes, and that's been confirmed by Tuco. Mind you, I live in a 5k+ square foot house, drive a Mercedes and live in a great school system. It's pretty damn cheap here in the Midwest. When I lived in Atlanta, you couldn't live in a good neighborhood on 8k a month. We had to squeak by, and lived in a 1,200 square foot apartment because that's all we could afford.
It's more like 20k a month. We lose 2.5k a week in estimates we couldn't get to, and 2.5k in jobs that we couldn't complete in a timely manner. I've made adjustment to our ops to address the latter (bought newer and more efficient equipment and changed how the crews work so there is less slack in activity). So I expect we'll do 10k more a month from that, and I'm addressing the former problem now.
There's a thing in B-school called Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). Over the years, one Estimator has been enough. But at an annual growth rate of 15%+, it's to the point where one will not be enough.I hope you figure it out, I'm pulling for ya.
Of course, it bothers me. I have two negative reviews on my business, one is from a guy that waited too long on an estimate, another is from someone who tried to steal a check that his insurance company paid out that was supposed to go to me.
Enough with the dick waving please, no one cares.