Why is my labor situation so difficult?

Question

So, we have been operating out of Des Moines IA for a little while and we seem to be having continual challenges with finding good help.  I realize most businesses have this challenge - however it is very acute right now.  Some of these issues include:

• lack of reliability
• cost of poor quality (workmanship)
• theft and site security

We are currently primarily linking up with individuals off of Craigslist - and I'm getting more and more concerned that a reasonably large % of workers (ie: more than say, 20%) that come along looking for work and are willing to work for $10/hr, are really just casing a job site for tools to steal.  We've talked about cameras, an on-boarding process, a check-in/check-out process, among other things - but ultimately we really need to do something differently.  I'm looking for brainstorming/ideas on this front!

Jerry R. · Answer

Craigslist and $10/hr are your problem right there. Up your pay and get references.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

this is a nationwide issue.

few things are working in concert.

competition for deals  mean thinner margins.. materials are basically the same cost for all

Labor is the place were folks try to save on costs.

so in the rehab world compared to new construction.. you basically can't hire top end help on a 15k rehab... were is the money for the GC... 2 to 3k ?  don't think so... they will do something else or become your competition.

my best borrowers are contractors that compete with investors then do most of the work themselves.. they are trades men.. those guys do quite well.

Daniel Baker · Answer

Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is, well you know the rest of that story. Not saying I don't know where you are, because I was crazy once thinking that  Craigslist was an easy answer to a specific need I had. But lets face it, if you really want good people you have to put in the effort to find them and speaking from experience (at least in my area-Cleveland) I was getting  the same thing you are getting. If you want to continue to use Craigslist for your people, advertise that you drug test and that you do background checks, don't be surprised if you don't get any calls after that, but if you do they may be more of what you are looking for.

Jim Goebel · Answer

Just posted this CL Ad.... :) No doubt it will get flagged soon...

What we're looking for is:A fully unreliable person. Someone who has made a series of bad life decisions. Whether or not you have a car, it's great when you don't show up when you say you are going to.We love smokers, but we especially love it when you throw your cigarette butts everywhere. Smoking on the job is encouraged, as a matter of fact, we would prefer that you spend a very large percentage of your time that you are to be 'working' standing outside for a smoke break. We also like people that steal stuff. Very much, actually. We love it when you barely do any work, too. We really value people that are able to present themselves as having vast, broad experience, but when actually performing work, haven't done much of anything, and display the behavior above.Oh, I forgot one - we really love it when you entangle your personal life into your work. In whatever form - it's always different but amazing how people can display their awesome creativity. We don't care if you make up stuff or if your life is so wonderful that it really happens!We love people who blame previous workers' bad quality for any lack of productivity / quality issues.We love it when you talk to other people/workers about trivial/non productive issues while on the job.We absolutely adore/love it when you leave your trash everywhere on the jobsite.We love it also when you try to hook up with other people that are working.Drinking is highly encouraged on the job.Tattoos everywhere, including on your forehead - very cool.Responses with as little thought and consideration as possible, are preferred.We like people that expect to get paid cash daily, and insist that we drop everything to do it. We love the profile of the person who is trying to get paid cash because they want to hide payments from other obligations such as a negative judgement or child support payments.

Jim Goebel · Answer

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm about to post another couple CL ads (gulp) and will take some of the advice to heart.  I'm going to post info that we do drug screen, do a background check, and check references.  I guess the idea there as much as anything is to determine if people are willing to go through that, and if they are they probably have little/nothing to hide, or are mentally in the right place.

@Devin, I'm not trying to be rude/denigrate, but there's gotta be a middle ground.  Sure, there's a learning curve to carpentry, but after my 2 years of working on these things, I can hold my own just fine with all the rough and finish carpentry that needs to be done.  That's not even counting any specialized education/etc (IE I'm an electrical engineer etc) - point being, someone with a reasonably keen mind and can use a tape measure, stay busy, and use various saws, is a carpenter.  If I had an ultra productive person who I can count on for things like carpentry or drywall, I'd pay them at $15-20/hour and keep them busy.

Part of the big problem, though, is that there's no 'easy' way to determine if I can count on someone and if they REALLY have the skill-set.  There's a lot of people that run around talking the talk.  When you observe their work - it just as often sucks.  With regards to licensing/union 'ladders' - perhaps there's a correlation there between achievement of (for instance) journeyman or years in a union - however even if that was true - there doesn't appear to be correlation between the 'other' important things - caring a little, not drinking on the job, not stealing stuff, etc.

I don't know.

Levi T. · Answer

Aman!

Jeff B. · Answer

@Ed S.  :grin:  Some people just know to treat others well, earn respect and loyalty - - good job & best wishes.

Why is my labor situation so difficult?

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