So if you have employees and a staff… How is your company structured? Operation manager
->
Office people
->
Foreman
how does it work in your company?
I’ve done it just about every way there is to do it, at one time or another; Dozens of employees, stand alone with subs, small outfit informal, small outfit formal…
Since most owners of WC Companies have been field workers themselves, morphing into an office person as the customer lists grows, I’d say the most common and efficient way is to have
[B]Owner[/B]
May or may not work in the field, but the best run companies’ owners always keep track of what their guys are doing
[B]Management [/B]
Office and/or customer contact
Day-to-day Operations (may be more than one of these depending on company size and specialty experience, and services offered)
[I]Many times the above are one person initially, until the needs of the company outgrow one person’s ability to keep up on it all[/I]
[B]Lead Man[/B]
Generally on a crew of 2-4 (based on their route size and organizational ability)
[B]Labor[/B]
At one point, as a General Manager, I oversaw:
2 Office Personnel
2 Phone Solicitors
6 Crews of Window Cleaners, 13 guys overall
2 Crews of Construction Cleaners, 9-10 people overall
2 Crews of Housekeepers, 4-5 gals overall
Weekly meetings were essential to keeping communication lines open, and to make sure everyone was on the same page. Generally speaking, folks would come on as labor at an hourly rate, and move into a salaried Lead position as their reputation and abilities grew.
It was a great group of people I rarely had a problem with, excepting of course the inevitable turnover of people at the bottom of the totem pole. Seems like I was training a greenhorn every other week, for several years.
Laying out the “do’s and don’ts” at the beginning of employment was key to having it run smoothly, as well as being available to anyone, anytime. The basic structure of the organization was sound, with a chain of command in place that we always encouraged the people to work through before contacting management or owners with problems, and with good people in charge of their specific areas and crews.
Working together to get things done was a top priority, from the top down, so any rebel employees usually took a lot of heat from the other employees.
There was an amazing amount of loyalty in this group of people because of the honest and open approach by the owners. If someone wanted to strike out on their own, we always helped them get started, encouraging them to do so, without any fear of “training our competition.” We were the best, and we knew it, but didn’t go around bragging about it.
Unfortunately, some poor financial decisions by ownership, who had become detached from the employees of the company, did it in.
This is why I’ve always been a big believer in staying in touch with as many of the people that work for, or as I prefer to say, [I]with[/I] you, as you possibly can. It gives a feeling of camaraderie to an outfit, a feeling of belonging and friendship essential to happy people, which translates into better results in the workplace.
Our Structure is basically:
1.Owner
2.Office Manager / Operation Manager
3.Office Staff / Crew Leader
4 Crew
Our number of employees has dropped substantially over the last several years, as we have pulled back from Lawn Care and Landscaping, but has also went up substantially too with the addition of Janitorial in the last five years. Window crews have dropped with the amount of lowball hacks that live in Michigan that like to do windows for pennies. The departure of jobs from our state has created a mass of men/woman that are jumping into business with no idea how to price and no long term goals for growth. Basically just trying to put food on the table. Which I completely understand and only wish and pray for the best for them. That being said, it is killing the industry for Window cleaning, Power washing, Lawn care, and even janitorial. These are all easily acquired products and a EIN makes you a business, whether you know what your doing or not.
Wow, I just went on a rant? I’ll shut up now. Sorry.
Nice rant. I think you covered all the bases, there. 
Sounds pretty bad up Mich way. Good to see you’ve made it through the worst of it. Must be pretty solid to have done so.
Just around the bend, I think I see…
For 5 years we were an s corp but now we are an c corp.
You get more right offs that way and it seems to work better.
For 25 years I work by myself with some subs.
In 1997 I started having one guy.
We have had up to 8 guys but now we have two full time
guys and my wife and I fill in during the busy season.
After 40 years I would rather invent and work in the shop
making SimPole’s which is an s-corp.
In 1967 I worked an car wash washing the inside windows as the cars went though.
In 1968 in a Conley Island Deli with my Dad. Dertoit downtown and taht year I saw Jimmie H. live.
taht was an concert to remember!
In 1969 it was mc and In 1970 window cleaning!
Phil
Do you mean Jimi Hendrix?
Owner (Me): Tracking Invoices, some job scheduling, Phone answering, mechanic (what I am able to do on my vans) ,salesman, estimator, customer service (questions in regard to quotes that have been ran, complaints over quality issues or other things of that nature), Inventory control. HR.
Office manager: handles most incoming and out going phone calls, scheduling of customers jobs, accounting, invoicing, printing quotations.
Employees: They work in pairs of two for the most part. No lead man, no foreman or supervisor present. I guess you could call the most seasoned employee the foreman but I dont. They know what to do for the most part. If questions arise, they will call me or the office manager (mostly what we charged a customer for a particular service on a previous visit).
My goal this year is to delegate some of my duties as the owner. A really good friend of mine started his own mechanic shop in November 2009 so i plan on sending him my vans for preventive maint. and repairs. I could do most of it but when were busy, some times I dont get home til midnight if I have to tear into something. Done with that.
I do enjoy quoting jobs and closing the sale. Im good at it. Even if I dont meet them face to face, I always write notes on their quotations that give it a personal touch. I have got excellent feedback from doing that. and a lot of work.
The complaint dept. is one that we all would like to have someone else handle but I cant delegate that to someone. I want to know what is going on and how we can resolve an issue quickly and satisfactorily to save a customer.
I also help fold towels:D
Some guys I’ve worked with don’t do Lead/Foremen either, and so long as they know it’s that way, it’s all good.
Yep, notes are a must, especially if there are particulars about the job that only experience knows, or if a customer specifies things about the job.
:DNice line!
When I’m out there, and folks ask me about kids, I say “I don’t do diapers. I don’t do dishes. But, I do do windows!”
What structure? Just me, me me me me. I do it all.
owner (me)
office work; scheduling,paperwork (me)
crew: myself and 1 full time employee in, spring summer,fall
hubby helps on bigger jobs and when I lay off employee in winter
son helps part time,summer/daughter helps in office in summer
I just went from sole prop to llc jan 1st .
What are the advantages and what do you need to do to become a corporation? I understand there are some tax advantages but why should I become incorporated?
Personal asset protection from business liabilities and tax savings are the primary advantages at our level of business, I believe.
Thanks Larry. Thats what I had read, just wanted to make sure.
Type:
Sole Proprietorship
My structure is:
Traditional/Functional
There are 13 positions, but only 2 of them are filled by other people. The rest of them are filled by me.
