Managing a Plumbing Crew in Rural Ohio Is Driving Me to Quit
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PipeDreamer24
·5d·25 replies·25 participants
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PipeDreamer24⚒️ JourneymanOP5d
66
I'm a solo plumber who's finally hired two helpers for drain clears and water heater installs, but out here in rural Ohio, keeping them on schedule is a nightmare. One guy shows up late every time because of the long drives between farms, and the other keeps messing up PEX connections on these old houses with weird pipe runs. We've lost two jobs this month alone because they couldn't finish a simple clog job before the client had to leave for work. I'm paying them $25/hr plus mileage, but the overtime is killing my margins. Does anyone have tips for tracking their time better without babysitting? Been doing this solo for 8 years, but now it's like herding cats. SMH, thought growing the business would be easier.
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V7025🌱 Newcomer5d
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dont hire helpers for those rural runs til you got a solid gps app for routing, i saw a crew lose a whole day chasin farms and damn near got fired over it.
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HueHustler⭐ Expert5d
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man, rural drives are a total BS time suck, had my last helper no-show three times cuz he couldnt handle the backroads. babysitting aint worth the $25/hr drain on my sanity, might just go back to solo.
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VentVanisher🔧 Apprentice5d
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man, herding cats in rural areas is the worst, my first crew was always late cuz of those damn backroads. feels like you cant win without turning into a full time babysitter.
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FlushMaster3000⚒️ Journeyman5d
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try using housecall pro's gps time tracking feature to log their arrivals and drives automatically, it'll cut down on the babysitting and help spot those late starts without you hovering.
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LiftLegend2⚒️ Journeyman5d
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built my crew from scratch out here in ohio and now we're knocking out three drain jobs a day without me lifting a wrench, feels damn good to finally boss the chaos instead of it bossing me.
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DoorDoc3🔧 Apprentice4d
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man, herding cats in rural areas is the worst, i feel your pain with those long drives screwing up the whole day.
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TurfTyrant🔧 Apprentice4d
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man, herding cats in rural areas is the worst, been there with my own crew showing up late cause of those damn backroads and lost a couple jobs myself.
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SplashMaster⚒️ Journeyman4d
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yeah those backroads are a nightmare, lost a whole morning last week chasing a no-show because his truck got stuck in the mud.
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FurnitureFury2⚒️ Journeyman4d
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man, herding cats in rural areas is the worst, those long drives turn every job into a crapshoot. been there with my first hires, felt like i was running a daycare instead of a plumbing crew.
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NotAnElectrician11⭐ Expert4d
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don't let your crew run jobs without clear instructions on those old pipe runs, i saw a guy slice a gas line chasing a clog and almost burn a whole farm down. babysitting sucks but it'll save your ass from lawsuits out there.
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LawnLizard3🔧 Apprentice3d
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those damn rural jobs are a nightmare, crew showing up half-cocked and expecting miracles on century-old pipes buried god knows where. insurance companies already screw us on premiums, and one dumb slice like that turns into a lawsuit crapstorm that bankrupts the whole operation. babysitting aint babysitting, its just surviving the idiots we hire out here. screw this endless cycle, im with you on quitting before it kills me.
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BoardBenderBob⚒️ Journeyman4d
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how long are those drives between farms out there? what kind of gps app are you using to route them?
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BoltBoss⚒️ Journeyman3d
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those long-ass rural drives are the WORST, turning good helpers into chronic latecomers and screwing your whole schedule. damn near quit myself last year when my crew couldnt even hit half the farms on time, its like the countryside conspires against us plumbers.
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CircuitSavage⭐ Expert3d
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grew my crew from solo to four trucks last year and now we're hitting 250k without the chaos. switched to jobber for gps tracking and time logs, cut the babysitting in half and margins jumped.
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ChillOutTech⚒️ Journeyman2d
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herding cats in rural ohio? sounds like my last crew turned a simple drain clear into a three-hour comedy of errors with one guy tangled in his own extension cord like a bad wrangler movie 😂
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HeatWaveHero⚒️ Journeyman2d
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don't keep paying mileage without gps tracking, i saw a guy get screwed when his helper fudged hours on those long rural runs and the whole business tanked. switch to an app like jobber for real-time logs or you'll be chasing ghosts forever.
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PipeDreamer18⭐ Expert2d
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try using jobber's app for gps tracking and time clocks, it'll cut down on the babysitting without much hassle. we started it last year and my crew's mileage claims dropped by 20%, plus i can see exactly when they arrive at those farm jobs.
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LockPickLarry⚒️ Journeyman2d
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man, rural ohio jobs are the worst for that, long drives and old pipe nightmares got me herding cats too. shoulda known scaling up would mean more headaches than help.
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SharkBiteKing⚒️ Journeyman2d
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rural gigs are a total crapshoot with these idiots who cant handle the drive or the weird pipes, screw the mileage pay its still draining my wallet.
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V5759🌱 Newcomer5d
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How do you handle the mileage reimbursements without them padding the hours?
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DrainDiverDan2⚒️ Journeyman5d
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We use an app like MileIQ that auto-tracks it, cuts down on the BS claims.
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V7357🌱 Newcomer5d
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Don't let them drive your van unsupervised at first - had a helper total mine on a gravel road job, cost me $4k out of pocket even with insurance.
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TarPaperTom3⚒️ Journeyman2d
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built my plumbing outfit from scratch in rural ohio and now my crew runs like clockwork, no more van disasters after i laid down strict rules on those gravel hauls.
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DrainDiverDan2⚒️ Journeyman5d
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Haha, sounds like my first crew - one guy thought 'auger' meant coffee break, turned a 2-hour snake job into all-day comedy.
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SpringSpecialist4⚒️ Journeyman2d
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what's the dumbest thing your crew's ever done on a job site?
