I'm sorry, I don't want to discourage, but man?! You look for input and advice afterwards? I don't know if yer ballsy or ill prepared or just that confident in your one wrench.
Have you looked at your small business insurance, workmans comp, federal requirements... How about specific training for certain sites. A lot of customers subscribe to this insurance rating thing, where if your risk is too high, you don't work for them. What about customers who want 90 and 120 days to pay? That's most of your municipalities there. Is the business in your wifes name for women and minority owned business preference? What about tool insurance on that rig? What's she weigh in at. Over 26k? How about log books for the DOT?
I would start with your tech. Does he know anyone worth their weight to bring in? Are you going union? Have you considered it. In my area , no one works heavy equipment without union. Maybe theres a crafts guild or something of that nature you could tap for help. I would not entertain the idea of an apprentice, who would train him? A go fer, maybe or mechanics helper, but no apprentice.
Again, not bustin balls, or discouraging. I think you guys are brave "AF" for stepping in. Im just asking if you weighed it out against the benefits.
Probably all of the above... You're definitely not discouraging, and I appreciate your thoughts!
Like I mentioned before, I have no experience in this industry so I don't know what to fear.. (which I count as a positive)
I'm learning a lot about the biz, and I know I have so much more to learn... The payroll/compliance/insurance stuff I'm pretty well versed in, but I'm sure I'm gonna find some industry specific stuff there too...
To answer a couple of your questions, we are going to keep our vehicles under 26k gvwr for the time being to avoid the DOT stuff... It takes a little more work to find the rigs, but for the time being I think it's our best way to go. We are definitely starting with my partner's contacts, especially for the lube truck.. The PM side of things should be pretty busy from the jump...
We are lucky enough to be minorities ourselves, so that doesn't hurt! You're absolutely right about the apprentice, btw... My partner said the EXACT same thing almost word for word! =)
Thank you for all your input again, ... Like I said, I don't know if brave or stupid is what we are, but there's no looking back now! I do appreciate your perspective, especially when I know I don't know enough to fear!