bringing in a partner

Seems sometimes it is my lot in life Jay..
I am a fixer..
Good example was as a plumber.
A problem would develop on a tract. I would be brought in to work the tract, find the problem(s) and find the solutions to the issues at hand. Then correct the problem. Once the problem was "fixed", I would be sent to a new problem on a job we were working.
So I will manage this one with personnel and jobs. move what I need into what scenario and get the job done. Keep moving the company in the direction it needs to go. In pieces if need be.

I'll admit I have a partner but it is my mother who is a very silent partner. She has only been on the job twice only to see the mini run and the other was a a ash removal at her house. Active partners suck! There is always a imbalance of work load and knowledge. When I started I had a partner he was just dead weight. In all fairness he could run the hell out of a pole saw and that is about it. He would daily rock a chain or five, come back with a rope that was coiled with the elbow/hand method, broken tools, broken recoils, and under bid/sold jobs.

I have a partner also and we occasionally see things differently. We balance each other out great. I'm the guy that gets the jobs done and he makes sure we get paid. He can deal with people much better than I can and also work magic on ornamentals. I take care of removals and large trims. It's been working fine for 16 years. The only major issue is I want to grow and get away from working for another company as well. Not sure if he'd ever leave his full time job. Hard to beat his benefit package. For me it's just health insurance and the comfort of knowing I got a steady paycheck.

16 years? It sounds like you've a good thing going on!

Yeah, we grew up together so we know how the other behaves. I gotta call it a partnership as we've set up a company account, insurance, and all that tax stuff. Still only part timing it though. Hard for most people to understand that everything is legit but only work on Saturdays. Gotta keep copies of the insurance on hand at all times to prove it. Might try to work 4 tens for the boss and hit two days a week this year.

I cannt imagine having a partner. I have been in business for many years and have been through many different phases. Some years I have been gun ho about work others Ive been ready to hang it all up. 4 years ago I spent more time working for Ropetek and less on the trees but that has now reversed and since buying the crane Im gun ho again. I would imagine it would be hard keeping on the same page with a partner...

I just dissolved a partnership that lasted for 25 years. Consideration and open dialogue are essential. Be sure to have a good buy/ sell agreement to implement during dissolution.

We got the Texas shoot out method. If either wants to sell they have to come up with a number they'd be willing to buy or sell at.

I advise against a partnership.

Some partnerships work,most do not.

Thanks for the bump on this thread, Mike! It has real red meat.

timbergrower15 said:

We got the Texas shoot out method. If either wants to sell they have to come up with a number they'd be willing to buy or sell at.

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I don't understand this method.

So, this situation has come up for me, Id like opinions:

This swiss-guy has been a climber for many years, moved here maybe 10 years ago and started a business. He has stoped climbing for the last couple of years, we did some really cool jobs for him this past fall. He has an extensive list of high end clients, this is what interest me the most. He is also a very knowledgeable tree guy, with a good sales attitude, people really seem to like and trust him. He has told me that he really enjoys this aspect of the work, but also still likes getting dirty. He has very good work skills as far as I can tell, the few jobs weve worked together.

I had two full time employees and one part time this year, it was kind of rough getting work for everyone, dealing with clients, doing PHC myself, coordinating everything... I also have much more equipment than him, actually he has none. He used to run like me, guys, gear, training and he confesed to me he wasn't interested in that anymore.

What do you guys think? How much is a client list worth? Should he be making as much yearly as he already was?

I'd like to get him as a salesman/foreman for my co, maybe offer him a spider lift so he can continue to get in the air if he'd like. As I said, he would be bringing an extensive work load of very nice jobs and very valuable experience. Not sure how we could make it work.

Or I could leave things as they are and just sub out work to him, but for some reason I think having him on board as an employee or mionority partner would be better, not sure. Would definetly have to seek legal advice on this.

I get along good with the guy, we have the same views on tree work and life in general, so I don't see that as being a prob.
What do you guys think? How much is a client list worth? Should he be making as much yearly as he was?

How does what he made before have anything to do with it?

As for a client list, I don't think it would be worth much unless he was on the jobs or selling them.

Are they regular maintenance contracts or just people who have had him work there once or twice?

If he can bring in regular, consistent profits then it does have some worth.

Fiddler said:

How does what he made before have anything to do with it?

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Well, we would be taking on all of his clients plus all of mine, so I don't think he would want a major drop in income/lifestyle.

He would be on the jobs and/or selling. He seems to have uber-wealthy clients with very nice propreties that have him do all their tree work. We did a 30k crane job this fall for one of them, the guy is so happy, he wants us back for another 7-8k in he spring.

I tought maybe a base salary per week with X amount of hours, work or sales, plus a commission on sales. Maybe we could have two percentages, one for his clients and one for mine.
How much do sales commission run around you guys?