For those of you that run crews, how many people do you have per job?
For the one man show, do you have someone on standby as a part time employee?
I have a lot of commercial work so I send out one man per truck, It is me, my full-timer (my brother) and a part-timer.
I send out 2 men to any residential that takes one person 6 hours or longer and pepper in commercial work in the end of the day to fill their time out. I also send 2 men to any job that requires 32’ ladder work but don’t worry about it for 24’. Just personal preference on that.
It worked for me this year, but I’m new to having so much work so we’ll see what I do in the future. What do you do?
Between 2 and 4 guys per commercial job (building work).
I am primarily a residential guy and bring pretty much always bring one guy with me, sometimes 2. We have done some pretty large homes that have taken 3 of us 7-8 hours to complete.
I run two crews. Residential most always gets three. Larger Properties we can attack with 6 (+me if the mood strikes me) and still have time for a late lunch and a couple exterior jobs on the way back to the office. I love manpower. Commercial work most always runs with two. Either because of the load or we are training.
I’m a one man show and do only residential. If I feel the job will take over 8 hrs then I’ll bring a helper, all my helper does is screens, tracks, & frames. Simply because I limited on tools. 90% of the time it’s just me. My company is in it’s first year, and average 1 to 2 houses a week. When I get too busy then I may consider hiring a full time helper. Other then that I love working alone. I also have a janitorial contract and do that 3x a week after hours. Takes me 2 hours a visit and I also do that solo.
I am one man most of the time. I have a friend who works part time with me when needed. Lately he has been working more and more. I’ve been getting some big jobs lately. Gotta have help on some of them.
I usually have 2 or 3 together any given day, often including me. Sometimes I’ll send 2 out and do some easier stuff myself, being that my second “work vehicle” is our family minivan. I may at some point again get a real second work vehicle and be able to split crews more efficiently and not be in either of them!
Me too! “Overwhelming force” is how I put it. 
I am the only one who will work alone. I will not let employees work alone. I had a incident years ago in a box store. An employee went to work overnight and was locked in. He was supposed to have someone with him who no-call-no-showed. Instead of just scrubbing and buffing floor areas and doing the bath rooms, he tried to strip an area that was scheduled for that night by himself.
About 4 am he slipped on some stripper and fell and broke his collar bone. He laid on the foor for an hour and a half before the first stocker showed up at 5:30.
Since then, I do not allow any employee to be out working alone.
As a side note, I won’t allow a man and woman who aren’t a married couple work together alone in a building unless there is a third person working in that building too
2, occasionally 3, or 1
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What a horrible worst case scenario.
And interesting rule about the man and woman. Prevents accusation of sexual impropriety… Do you let one of your window cleaners (male) be inside a home with a female owner, while another employee is outside? Just curious.
I am a one man show. Have only used help on two occasions in the past 2 years. It does take me longer but I tout that as paying attention to detail. My current customers seem to appreciate that especially compared to my comp in town. Something about the actual owner of a company doing the job that tells the customers that it will get done right. Not to say anything about using help. I will eventually have to hire help but for now I am using this to my advantage.
Alex
Clean and Bright Window Cleaning & More
1-806-448-8965
yes I will, but all windows shades/blinds are open and all doors are unlocked. Instructions are for cleaners to be able to see or hear each other at all times. We take every precaution we can to avoid any impropriety or even a chance.
2 -3 per crew typical day is commercial work or office buildings in the early morning then 2-4 houses everyday.
Why so cautious? Did you have a problem in the past?
Yes I did. I showed up unannounced to find a couple, married to other people, naked on a couch in the customer’s lounge
Wow. You’ve had some tough situations… Even If those things never happen, though, precautions such as yours will still protect the business’ reputation from any accusations of impropriety. Some people have an axe to grind, or are just plain unstable, and could take advantage of a situation to get an employee in trouble.
