Airforce2
Mechanical
- Dec 30, 2004
- 67
Hi,
I run my own small business from home. It is a HVAC design and Drafting business. Our services range from design work, through to actual shop drawings for commercial and industrial projects.
While this is a wonderful scenario and do feel very blessed, it does at times leave me feeling isolated with not having colleagues to talk shop with.
I have a team of 6 sub-contractors that I recruit to handle a lot of my cad work. They are a good bunch of people and do good work. However, as with anyone doing "your" work, you must keep a watchful eye on what is going out to the Client or you can be very embarrassed with things missed etc.
I have always had a steady flow of work since starting my business and lately I see the workload increasing in a steady fashion (which again I am very thankful for and feel most privileged). With work growing and my business reaching some milestones, I am wanting to stop and evaluate a few things to make certain I am going in the right direction. Can anyone offer some advice or share their experience on the following;
1. Balancing time between quoting work, checking other people's work, managing the accounts and actually doing some paid work (designing)? I struggle with the balance on each of these and just don't know how to juggle it.
2. Has anyone managed sub-contractors like in my situation? The people who sub-contract a lot of my cad work for me are very good with attitude and a delight to deal with. One thing I constantly notice is they do not have my level of experience and sometimes I need to spoon feed them a bit on some things. I do my best to relate well with them and never for a second view myself as above them. I struggle to know though if I am managing them as well as I can be. Getting time to check their work is tough.
3. On the HVAC design side of things, does anyone have access to a good quality design and drafting checklist? I am currently working on one for my sub-contractors (not all that easy when I have just had my own checklist in my head).
4. With running your own business, you tend to overwork some. Nature of the beast I guess... I don't mind that too much as long as it isn't excessive and I burn out like I did a few years ago. With just me in my office, I feel like I become a little insular. Does anyone know how to lessen this effect? I have worked in a Firm with 15 other Designers and Engineers before and going to just me has been an adjustment. I do like it though as I am making the decisions, but having a team around you is pretty good.
5. I would like to create an illusion that my company is slightly larger than what it is. In the last few weeks, I created my own domain with a couple of e-mail addresses, fancied up my voice mail system and am looking at a website. I am also considering referring to my sub-contractor team a lot more and giving off to my Clients we have capabilities to handle the workload (which is all true). Is this the way to go?
I may have some more questions, but that is about all I can think of at present. Sorry for the long post. I love what I do, but would like to do it better.
Thanks in advance!
I run my own small business from home. It is a HVAC design and Drafting business. Our services range from design work, through to actual shop drawings for commercial and industrial projects.
While this is a wonderful scenario and do feel very blessed, it does at times leave me feeling isolated with not having colleagues to talk shop with.
I have a team of 6 sub-contractors that I recruit to handle a lot of my cad work. They are a good bunch of people and do good work. However, as with anyone doing "your" work, you must keep a watchful eye on what is going out to the Client or you can be very embarrassed with things missed etc.
I have always had a steady flow of work since starting my business and lately I see the workload increasing in a steady fashion (which again I am very thankful for and feel most privileged). With work growing and my business reaching some milestones, I am wanting to stop and evaluate a few things to make certain I am going in the right direction. Can anyone offer some advice or share their experience on the following;
1. Balancing time between quoting work, checking other people's work, managing the accounts and actually doing some paid work (designing)? I struggle with the balance on each of these and just don't know how to juggle it.
2. Has anyone managed sub-contractors like in my situation? The people who sub-contract a lot of my cad work for me are very good with attitude and a delight to deal with. One thing I constantly notice is they do not have my level of experience and sometimes I need to spoon feed them a bit on some things. I do my best to relate well with them and never for a second view myself as above them. I struggle to know though if I am managing them as well as I can be. Getting time to check their work is tough.
3. On the HVAC design side of things, does anyone have access to a good quality design and drafting checklist? I am currently working on one for my sub-contractors (not all that easy when I have just had my own checklist in my head).
4. With running your own business, you tend to overwork some. Nature of the beast I guess... I don't mind that too much as long as it isn't excessive and I burn out like I did a few years ago. With just me in my office, I feel like I become a little insular. Does anyone know how to lessen this effect? I have worked in a Firm with 15 other Designers and Engineers before and going to just me has been an adjustment. I do like it though as I am making the decisions, but having a team around you is pretty good.
5. I would like to create an illusion that my company is slightly larger than what it is. In the last few weeks, I created my own domain with a couple of e-mail addresses, fancied up my voice mail system and am looking at a website. I am also considering referring to my sub-contractor team a lot more and giving off to my Clients we have capabilities to handle the workload (which is all true). Is this the way to go?
I may have some more questions, but that is about all I can think of at present. Sorry for the long post. I love what I do, but would like to do it better.
Thanks in advance!