LJN Blog Posts

Comments

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  Susan January 7, 2009 at 7:39am

  Nicky Great post thanks. I can relate to a lot of what you say here and we are also keeping our chin up into 2009 despite all the negativity around. We are blessed with a coupe of large projects that will take us through the next few months, but even then I have had to price the work very low just to secure it...so its tickover rates, keeping the guys in work and the bills paid.
  
  Its no mean feat finding the right guys for a team, and we have also had our fair share of extended tea breakers, early leaving-late arriving souls these last years. Streamlined the team right down last year and engage the others on a self emplyed basis-they tend to be more motivated when their time is their own! The guys we have now really love what they do and get a big kick out of doing the work really well. They get paid well and receive regular bonuses too, I am all for sharing profits with those that help to generate them. However even with the best people, I have found that the boss needs to be there almost all the time to make decisions and keep the continuity gpong. We grew too fast a couple of years ago to 10 staff and had 2 gardens going at once which was a financial disaster due to lack of supervision...it was a hard lesson to learn. So this year, definitely keeping it small.
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  Nicky @ GardenImprovements.com January 7, 2009 at 4:47pm

  Thanks for commenting on the post Susan - I am very new to this blogging thing and you may very well be the first person to have read any of them!!
  
  Yeah 'streamlining' is the word and I am down to myself and a labourer and I shall also be sub-contracting work out to other landscapers and brickies etc when required. This has to be the best solution as, as you rightly say, even those deemed trustworthy will push their luck now and then. The staff I had turned out not to be very capable despite their '"years of experience" and this proved very costly as they botched a few projects royally. Contractors on their own time have more to risk and this reduces the risk for the main contractors like us.
  
  I was saying to my previous employer recently that I wish I had set up as a partnership as they did and as I assume yourself and your husband have - this means that everything can be done accordingly both on site and off site much more efficiently. I'm fed up roaring about like a blue- arsed fly!!
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  Phil Voice January 7, 2009 at 5:01pm

  Hi Nicky
  
  I do read your posts :-0)) and I think you write very well. Thanks for your contributions.
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  Nicky @ GardenImprovements.com January 7, 2009 at 5:13pm

  Thanks Phil!! That's cheered me up!
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  Cat Fereday January 7, 2009 at 5:33pm

  Nicky,
  
  Keep writing - it's a good'un. The blogs do have a following. I sometimes worry that I'm writing to myself, but then I think, well, I'd just have to carry this round in my head anyway, so I might as well get it out of my system!
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  Susan January 7, 2009 at 9:51pm

  Niall and Nicky, have you thought of getting your wives into the business?!
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  Nicky @ GardenImprovements.com January 8, 2009 at 7:32pm

  Yeah I'm pretty much in the same boat as Niall here. I've tried the bookkeeping and some phonecalls to start but my wife is a trained chef and simply doesn't have the same passion as I have for this. She has a passion for cooking and running kitchens. At the moment her main focus is bringing our daughter and hopefully extending the family. After this she will probably rejoin her career. The work I have to offer isn't exciting or a challenge to her and in fact demoralises her and this is probably worse than me bearing the burden myself.
  
  So as much as i'd love her to get on board, because she is fantastic at projects of her own and is a great manager, unfortunately it just doesn't seem to work.