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Finding qualified help

doublewide

Senior Member
Joined
May 31, 2015
Messages
844
Location
MA
I've been self employed my whole life since my first paper route when I was 11. Always found my own way. Hired lots of guys over the years, fired most. Reached a point when I decided to only hire my own boys. Makes a big difference when everyone on the crew truly cares about each other.

Good times.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,535
Location
WWW.
And----------Working in a business that is full of family is a disaster. Nepotism has always been one of my pet peeves. The wife, the daughter, the son in-law, the sons, and daughter in-law.
Then there's grandpa and grandma. It's like a bad soap opera {As the Toilet Churns} everyday.

I would always tell anybody to take a job in that environment especially if their not qualified and don't want to work because they won't last long anyway, one of them won't like something about
the worker and he's canned.
 

AzIron

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
1,541
Location
Az
Family business sucks at times at other times it's awesome me and dad can just about get in a fist fight but we dont do it on jobs or in front of crew no one needs that

Family and work struggle because of expectations and not really anything else most times my dad expects me to be him in a sense when i deviate from that when there's problem

That said we can back into the same whole and blow it out with a cohesion that cant be replaced with anyone else i have worked with because we know where the other is moving before they move
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,425
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Worked for Hogan in STL for awhile, three boys, one daughter and Dear Old Dad running the place, two boys were playboys, daughter a witch and Dad just a A--hole but managed to keep a early 1900s start up trucking service within the family. The family is mostly out of it now, One son runs it all with hired help, multiple shops and offices, seems to be doing better than ever. The little indy garage I worked for was Parents(Both) daughter and son, Momma liked cooking worker hours to make more off the shop floor, 'Imaginative Book keeping' is what she phrased it as. Was hard to keep decent help and she seemed to not care as kept wage values Low to shop rate to customers. They have sold it off, daughter became a baby factory(Believe five so far) son moved on with his life and lost track of him, definitely NOT in the area. The old man passed from lung cancer that spread out in every direction just a few years ago, the old book cooker I have been told still lives at the old house pretty much a hermit, using up the last of their saved back retirement plan.
 

Old Doug

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
4,484
Location
Mo
I am so burnt out every time i think i will take some time off something happens. I had a ciutch to put in then i was going to take some time off. That was 3 weeks ago the first week there was other small jobs that needed done. The next week anther break down first of the week i got it apart called around found one had it delivered most of the time good place to get stuff from. Went to put it in thursday it was wrong the guy that knows clutchs has the virus and other guys guessed at what would work. Drove to parts place to find i had a ciutch set that wasnt very popular so it will take a week to get. I call to see if its in to find out its lost in shipping.There is a lot of things wrong with my job but i keep thinking if i quit i could find something worse or end up looking for a long time.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,535
Location
WWW.
In 1996 I moved to where I live now, and was working for a oil distributor re-building old under ground fuel tanks for air craft deicing fluid and skid tanks for above ground fuel storage.
Did that for about a year.
We needed a extra person to help out, so the manager goes looking a few days later he sends this young guy back to the shop--red flags flew. I asked him point blank can you fit through
that 24" explosion proof man hole, he replied no I can't. Couldn't hire him because he was too big around. No point in getting him through confined spaces training.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,535
Location
WWW.
There is one big problem with this thread-How many qualifications must one be qualified for? I love ads that say mechanic wanted-then it says welding skills a must plus a CDL.
Business people want a chief cook and bottle washer for cheap. If they are paying lets say $25.00 an hour for the mechanic title they need to add another $10.00 for welder
and $6.00 on top of that for the CDL. I think $41.00 per hour is fair.
 

AzIron

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
1,541
Location
Az
There is one big problem with this thread-How many qualifications must one be qualified for? I love ads that say mechanic wanted-then it says welding skills a must plus a CDL.
Business people want a chief cook and bottle washer for cheap. If they are paying lets say $25.00 an hour for the mechanic title they need to add another $10.00 for welder
and $6.00 on top of that for the CDL. I think $41.00 per hour is fair.

At that price a guy is incentivized to perform a cdl seems to be worth much more than anyone is willing to admit I know of 4 operators that left jobs in the last 6 months because they were needed more in a dump truck than a machine and it was not what they wanted nor were they paid a premium for being an operator with cdl
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,535
Location
WWW.
IMO anyone making 41 wouldn't care what there doing for the most part because any of those qualifications pays the same in the end. It's just your not working for 25 only.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,425
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Nearly every shop I ever worked CDL or Commercial Class License was required, just NOT paid for. Was only as I went to work at the Utility Co that I found Prescription Safety Glasses, Steel Toe Boots, gloves and the like were Furnished, some at least monetarily like boots/glasses. The gloves Welders caps, hoods, 99% of any other safety gear kept In Stock and At Hand. The Utility even paid for my Driver License as a reimbursed fee. Utility would also pay to send anyone interested to qualifications training for welder or heavy machine operator.
 
Last edited:

skyking1

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2020
Messages
7,462
Location
washington
I've got two digs coming up for the same general, and they are looking like they will coincide. The general could care less, each job is an island, but I have to make it work.
I have my friend the newly retired guy to bring in for a maximum of 50 hours a month, and possibly another retiree. I don't want to call the hall and get what they send me, I don't have time to babysit.
Traditionally the operator ( me ) gets a ground guy who knows nothing, so I spend a lot of time out of seat teaching laser and how to work a ditch. It is not hard work if you do it smart with an operator who knows what's up.
I am going to try something novel. I will ground for one operator and teach the know-nothing guy, and ramrod the job from the ground instead of the excavator seat. The old way is frustrating as all get out.
I can work the two old hands for two days twice and get 50% of the big job done in 6 working days.
Now to go sell it to the owner :)
 

Tyler d4c

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2016
Messages
1,750
Location
Salix Pa
Copied word for word off book face seem fitting for here

First, it was $600, now I’m hearing $2000.
+ unemployment figures that are way on up there.

Here’s some Jeremy brass tacks for you- If $600.00 or $2,000 is truly going to change your life, call me. I will hire you on the spot. Guaranteed.
I sprayed mud out of a skid steer today for 5 hours and would have happily paid someone else to do it. I can stack you up, with 40+ hrs a week of tasks I would love to get off my back. Week after week after week. Here’s the trick- we have to shower when we get home, not when we’re getting ready to leave- And that’s just not “sexy” I suppose.

My plumber has had a “help wanted” sign flashing for every one of the 15 years I’ve known him.

My deck & fence guys would hire 5-6 guys tomorrow.

My electrician would hire 20 guys if he could find them.

My roofer, my framer, concrete, hardwood floor, tile, actually hang on- I can simplify......

Every. Single. Professional I work with in the construction industry would hire you, train you, pay you (well), and honestly- Love on you a good bit and invite you into their families. I see it happen everyday.

Problem is, it’s hard. We’re not nice, and we will absolutely, 110% make fun of you when you screw up. It’s how all of us knuckledraggers work. It’s been that way for generations, and it won’t stop with your candy ass either.

Guess what? I’m about to blow your mind. You ready? None of them got a stimulus check.
Hang on.....Wait for it!.....THEY. ALL. MAKE. TOO. MUCH. MONEY.

So, quit the ****. You are not going to “Lose everything”, without this bill. It just gives you a few more weeks of that tit in your mouth.

If the United States saw what the United States was doing in the United States, the United States would invade the United States to liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States.
 

lantraxco

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
7,704
Location
Elsewhen
Absolutely correct... my attitude is I would rather get nothing from uncle sugar than see this porkfest pass, but godsdammit, pass it did. Gonna file that into my "Things Trump did I did not agree with" file. BTW, I need a welder, a machinist, general shop guy, painter, etc. Right now I am all of those things, and I'm a bit worn out. Luckily (??) my customers have cancelled or delayed all the build orders for the next several months, so maybe I'll just cold stack the shop and put my feet up.
 
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