Write it down before you hire the first guy

Quick answer: Before you hire, write one page each for the five jobs that make or lose you money: the estimate, the morning start, the end-of-day wrap, the closeout, and the callback. If you can't put your method on paper, you can't hand it to anybody. He'll learn your standards by missing them.

Your new helper starts Monday at 7. By 7:20 he's asked where the cords go, how you want the floor covered, whether he can park in the driveway, and what to say when the homeowner wants "just one more outlet."

You answer every question without thinking. That's the problem. You've been answering by feel for ten years, and feel doesn't transfer.

The standard lives in your head

Every good tradesman runs a hundred small rules he's never said out loud. Boots off or covers on at the door. Tools go back in the same spot. The homeowner hears about a change before the work happens, not after. The site gets swept before lunch, not just at quitting time.

A new man knows none of it. He's not lazy and he's not dumb. He just can't read your mind.

Let's talk about what that costs, using made-up numbers you should swap for your own. Say you pay a helper $22 an hour. He sets a tile backsplash with the wrong spacing because nobody told him your standard. You tear it out and redo it. That's four hours of his time ($88 in wages, before payroll taxes), the wasted tile, and a Saturday of yours. One missed instruction, and it's your name on the wall.

Now picture it happening once a month.

Write the five pages that matter

Don't write a binder. Nobody reads a binder. Write five pages, one per task, and keep each to a single side.

• The estimate. What you measure, what you ask the customer, what's included, what's extra, and the exact words you use for "that's a change order." Your helper won't price jobs yet, but he'll be standing there when the customer asks for more.
• The morning start. What gets loaded the night before, when you arrive, how you greet the customer, where you park, how you protect the house.
• The end-of-day wrap. Tools counted, site swept, materials covered, a two-line text to the customer about tomorrow.
• The closeout. Walk-through, punch list, final cleanup, photos, invoice. Say when the invoice goes out. Same day is a good answer.
• The callback. What to do when a customer says something's wrong. Who answers the phone, how fast, and who eats the cost when it's your mistake.

That last one matters most and almost nobody writes it. A customer's worst day and your best chance to earn a referral are the same day.

How to write it without losing a week

Don't sit down at a computer and stare at a blank screen. You'll quit by Tuesday.

Use your phone. For two weeks, record a voice memo whenever you do something automatically and notice yourself doing it. "Taping off the trim before I cut in, because the caulk bleeds on this house." Thirty seconds each. Snap a photo of what a finished, correct job looks like. Take one of the truck loaded the way you want it.

On a Friday afternoon, listen back and type it into five pages. You'll have most of it in an hour. The photos do half the explaining.

You'll find something odd while you're at it. Some of your rules don't survive being written down. You'll read one and think, why do I actually do that? Cut it. Others you'll realize you've been skipping for a year, and they were the ones keeping you out of trouble. Put those back.

Write down what he can expect from you

A manual that only lists what he owes you is a rulebook. A good one runs both directions.

Put in when he gets paid, and that it's never late. Put in start time and quitting time, and that you'll say so when a day runs long. Put in what happens if he's sick or the weather cancels the job. Put in that you'll tell him to his face when something's wrong, not stew on it for a week.

Then hold your own line in writing. Late means a phone call before the start time, not after. Nobody is on a ladder with earbuds in. A safety rule gets followed even when it slows the job, and that's not up for debate on a hot afternoon. If you have workers' comp or a general liability carrier, call them and ask what they require in writing. Your agent or an attorney can tell you what belongs in an employee handbook and what doesn't. This page isn't legal advice, and your manual isn't a legal document.

A man can work hard for a boss who's clear and fair. He'll leave a boss who's moody and vague, no matter the wage.

The Friday test

When the manual's done, hand it to somebody who doesn't know the work. Your wife, a buddy in another line, a neighbor's teenager. Ask them one question: "If you started Monday, what would you still not know?"

Whatever they come back with is a hole. Patch it.

Then use it for real. When your helper starts, don't hand him the pages and walk away. Walk the first job with him, one page at a time. Show the standard, let him do it, correct him on the spot, and mark any page that confused him. By the end of the second week you'll have a better manual than you wrote.

If you're still deciding whether you're even ready for help, your first helper is probably an employee, not a 1099 guy, and that changes what your paperwork needs to cover. And once he can run a job on his own with those pages in his back pocket, you've met the test in hire the second guy when the first one can run a job alone.

The closeout page connects to cash, too. An invoice that goes out the day the job ends gets paid faster than one that goes out when you finally get to your desk. If your money habits are scattered, one business account and a Friday habit beat any software is a good place to tighten them before you add payroll.

What you're really building

A manual isn't corporate. It's you deciding, on a quiet Friday, what "done right" means, so that you aren't deciding it again on a ladder with a customer watching.

Leave the job cleaner than you found it. That one's already on page three.