So, we are definitely picking up more work with me running estimates also. Only now I'm working in the business, instead of on it. But at least I don't have to worry about me stealing jobs from myself. I've noticed that I'm following the patterns of some of the douchebag bosses that I've had, and it needs to stop. Every time I outsell my employees, I tell them my dick is bigger than theirs bla bla bla, just like all Type A salespeople do. I need to encourage more, and dick measure less. There are some days where no one is signing. Some days, you get in a rut.
One of my guys just got offered $5 more an hour and left. I talked with the rest of the guys, and they all said the same thing, smaller companies offer you more, but they might run out of work in two weeks, leaving you jobless. A few years ago, a smaller company offered a guy working for me $70k a year to be a laborer. He leaves me, relocates, and as soon as he gets there, the guy pays him $100 and tells him he's run out of work. This happens in the Summer every year. But by the end of August, the phone is ringing again with people looking for work. What happens is we pay more money except for the Summer months. The smaller companies offer the guys whatever they want and then lay them off as soon as they can. Some employees jump at at the chance, but invariably, they've been unemployed in 60 days or less. It is what is.
I'm thinking about buying a small loader with a grapple for one of my crews. The main crew has a grapple truck, the other crew has to move everything by hand. It can pick up 1,000 pounds, and from what my Crew Leaders tell me, will increase productivity by $500 a day for that crew. Having it there is like having another employee, but only paying him $400 a month. We are spending way too much time removing debris, last week we went eight hours over cost doing it.