@Francis I. Everyone is an independent contractor, so you have to have enough work to put everyone on contract. 1099 and not keeping track of hours is the legal way to do it. But in the beginning, some semblance of hours tracking is likely going to be needed under the table. The only other way is to set up a payroll system, make everyone an employee, have workers comp, and have everyone's taxes taken out immediately instead of at tax time. This involves a lot of hidden expenses, but it does automate things... and unfortunately, it seems like we're probably too big to avoid it this year.
We have a solid carpenter who can do a lot of different trades, like roofing, tuckpointing, framing, foundations, etc. and he's our most expensive guy. One guy heads up a painting crew. And we have 2-3 demo guys who can do a lot of different things, like demo, landscaping, picking up materials, etc. We're to the point now where we need 3-4 more guys, and an assistant for my gc literally just to make phone calls and pick up materials. It's a good type of busy, but you definitely have to scale comfortably so you don't bring on too many people and then one day you wake up and you have nowhere to put people because there's not enough work. I hope that made sense. Also it's 3am on a Saturday rn... so you see the type of work I've been having to put in!!!
