Before You Jump to Hiring, Make a List of What You Need Off Your Plate

If you're running a remodeling or custom home building business, you've probably said some version of this: “I need to hire someone. I can't keep doing everything myself.”

You may be right.

But before you post a job opening for a project manager, office administrator, or estimator, figure out what you actually need off your plate. Otherwise, you could hire a good person for the wrong job and still end up answering every question.

List the Work You Need Off Your Plate

For a week, write down what you do. Not just the big stuff on your calendar. Include the five-minute calls, supplier follow-ups, schedule changes, client questions, estimates, invoices, and jobsite decisions that interrupt everything else.

Group the work into sales, estimating, production, coordination, administration, and financial oversight. Then look at three things: where your time goes, where you're most valuable, and what important work keeps getting pushed aside.

Don't just make a list of tasks you hate. You might love estimating but be the only person who can close a sale. Or you might spend hours tracking down information because nobody has a clear way to share it. Those are different problems, and they call for different solutions.

Decide What Results You Need From a New Hire

Say you're convinced you need a project manager. But when you look at your week, you're spending most of your time confirming appointments, chasing client selections, organizing job details in JobTread or BuilderTrend, and checking on deliveries with suppliers.

Some of that work may belong with a project manager. Some may be better handled by a project coordinator.

The point isn't to pick a title yet. It's to separate work that requires construction experience and judgment from work that requires consistent follow-through.

Write down what success would look like. For example: client selections are confirmed before they hold up a job, suppliers get timely answers, and you aren't the person reminding everyone what happens next.

Be careful about creating a job description out of everything you don't want to do. That's how you end up looking for one person who can estimate, run jobs, answer phones, and keep the books.

Good luck finding that unicorn.

Can Your Current Team Take On Some of the Work?

Could someone already on your team take ownership of part of this work with better direction or training?

Is one person carrying tasks that don't fit their strengths?

Are you personally approving decisions that someone else should be able to make?

Sometimes the answer IS a full-time hire. Sometimes it's part-time administrative help, a specialist, or a clearer division of responsibilities.

And sometimes the real problem is that nobody has the information or authority to make a decision without you. Hire into that situation and you’ll just have one more person lining up to ask you questions.

Make Sure a New Hire Makes Financial Sense

A new employee costs more than a paycheck. Consider payroll costs, training time, and the hours you'll spend managing the role. Then look at what the hire would free you and the business to do.

Will jobs move faster?

Will estimates get out sooner?

Will you have more time to sell profitable work, review job costs, or lead your team?

Don't assume those benefits will happen automatically. Be specific, and check the cost against your actual cash flow.

Also decide what you'll stop doing once the work is handed off. If you immediately fill that time with another pile of tasks that should belong to someone else, you'll stay the bottleneck.

What to Do Before You Post a Job Opening

Before you write a job ad, make the list.

Identify the biggest gap.

Then describe the outcome you need someone to own. That gives you a much better starting point for deciding who to hire first.

If you're not sure which role would actually take pressure off you without putting more pressure on payroll, let's talk it through. The Business Remodel offers a free, 60-minute discovery call, with no obligation.