Yeah, I'm an employee, and I've been here for 13 years so I've seen
almost all types of techs. You can expect most satellite installers to
be lazy and do shitty work. Been there several times. Never again.
However, there are sub-types of sat guys. The guys that started their
own Dish/DTV/Wildblue/etc contracting companies and maybe had a couple
employees of their own. Like any business owner, they want things done
right and efficiently. So they are typically very fast and detail
oriented. We picked up a couple over the years.
We had a couple 10 year guys that did everything, tower climbing
included. Both of them could do an install in under 3 hours. 2 hours
wasn't unheard of. So years of experience definitely comes into play.
Some guys get it instantly, most are average, and some are somewhat slow
learners. Our lead tower and field guy came out of the military as a
radio/satcom tech. In the beginning, it took him 4-5 hours on an
install. I'd say after 5-6 months, he got to the point of looking at a
job for a few minutes, planning it all out in his head and gets to work,
just like the experienced guys. Again, things get easier and more
efficient with experience.
Owners and experienced guys need to check your perspective. Someone else
already said it.. new guys will never be as good or as fast as you. But
you gotta give people a chance. If they're not up to standards after 6
months, then I agree, think about letting them go. For an owner, sure,
it's your business, so do what you feel is best for your company.
On 4/24/2017 9:07 AM, Adam Moffett wrote:
I'm not an owner, I'm an employee. I hustle because I never want
someone to look at what I'm doing and say, "That Adam guy, he sure
does suck."
I don't tolerate poor performance in myself, and I have a really hard
time tolerating it from others. I'm not a genius or a football star,
I just don't give up. I would not quit just because someone wanted me
to try harder. If he can do it, I can do it.
It's possible that I'm an insufferable bastard, but at least I know
I'm pulling my own weight.
Tell me to run!
------ Original Message ------
From: "Timothy Steele" <timothy.pct...@gmail.com
<mailto:timothy.pct...@gmail.com>>
To: af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
Sent: 4/24/2017 9:53:22 AM
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
If you treat your employees like crap like that there going to start
looking for a new boss I know if I was walking to the house and you
told me to run I would quit on the spot if that's what you want then
go for it
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 9:43 AM Chuck McCown <ch...@wbmfg.com
<mailto:ch...@wbmfg.com>> wrote:
You cannot expect a younger person to run for any reason until
they decide that it might benefit them, and even them real hustle
will be rare.
I would put them on piece rate or daily rate and tell them they
have to do at least 3 per day to keep their job. Once they are
doing 3, then up it to 4 or keep them on piece rate.
Have you actually said “RUN!” when they were walking from truck
to house? Have them watch the first half of full metal jacket
and give them a bit of drill sergeant treatment.
I believe in “management by telling” you actually have to tell
them, in simple and clear terms exactly what you want.
*From:* Brandon Yuchasz
*Sent:* Sunday, April 23, 2017 5:37 PM
*To:* af@afmug.com
*Subject:* [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
I was going to type a long PC type post about this (which I did
anyway sorry) . But instead I am going to just ask how you guys
go about trying to teach / train a new installer to work faster?
We have a guy right now that was hired to be an installer with
other duties as assigned. He is good at the other duties and has
a good understanding of networking, computers and even RF. The
problem is that he is very slow on installs and the primary job
he was hired to do.
I spent quite a bit of time with him last week trying to figure
out where the speed issues were coming from. So I took him on
site surveys ahead of time with me and we laid out the entire
installs during the survey. Install here, wire down here, across
here in through wall here and terminate. You could see the tower
from these sites so hanging and tuning the radio was a breeze.
I sent him out on two installs the day after that. First one I
considered a hard install. The second one easy. They took him
over 10 hours not counting drive time.
I spent the next morning doing site checks on them with the
customers permission. Both customers were happy with him and his
install and not a single thing on the install was done
incorrectly I took another installer with me and asked him to run
the time frame in his head. He came up to 3 hours for each
install. So had I but we are both experienced.
So I talked really briefly with the new guy about getting faster
and then took him to an install I had surveyed myself. Ran him
through the entire install. Radio here, wire down here….. in and
terminate. Install router. I left the more experienced guy with
him to answer questions but told him to not physically help and
explained to the new guy that if he had questions to ask because
the other guy is there to help him figure out a faster process
and would be talking with me after the install about ways to
speed up the process so we can help him. I should mention the
experienced guy is a supervisor so no hard feelings should be had
here. I left him at 9:00
I was thinking that maybe I was being unrealistic in my time
frames on installs since normally I have a helper on my installs
and we knock out three to four a day. I felt like I got my
installs done in 3 hours max when I was alone but never really
timed them. So when I left the new guy I drove a half hour to
what I considered a hard install and did it alone. Was done at
12:30 and driving back to check on the new guy. When I got there
he was just about done with the install but the truck was spread
around the driveway ( not throwing stones I have been known to do
this). So he was going past hour 4 at this point with paperwork
and packing the truck he was going to be at 5 for sure. I
stepped in did the paperwork and quietly asked the other guy to
pack up the truck some. This was done for selfish reasons ( its
Friday and I have a family) and also because we had a between 1
and 3 to hit for the final install of the day.
Grabbed subway. Scoffed it down. I bought and we headed to the
last job.
I had the supervisor guy in my truck and we have worked together
a lot 100s of installs together. So on the way to the install
which he had never seen I prep him on it. Big ladder ( 32”) up on
the gable on the back of the house. Take the little giant around
to the deck so I can access the roof. And it’s a tripod install.
So when we pull into the drive I point to the back of the house
“that’s the back” he says okay and I go to ring the doorbell and
say hello. He has the new guy with him so he told him to help
with the ladder and then instructed him to start an rj45 on a
wire. When I walked out the ladder was up and the supervisor was
at the top screwing down the tripod. I grabbed the mast, mounted
the antenna and put the wireless unit on it to tune and scurried
up the small ladder and up the roof. Ill make this short. We hung
the gear and tuned and marked the tripod and I went down and he
had just finished the RJ45. In his defense he had put one on a
3 foot scrap piece that he had confused with the rest of the wire
in the box( I don’t know) so this was his second end. Anyway we
just ran the job and he stayed out of the way. This was a hard
roof, tall and not LOS and we were done in the truck heading home
in just under two hours. But that was two guys and we ran.
Ok so this is getting long sorry about that but I just am at a
loss with this guy. I did realize on that last job I run on job
sites. I always run to the truck back from the truck and I think
ahead. This guy defiantly does not run and nothing is done with
any sense of urgency. He is certainly smart and I hate to let him
go because he has other values but I don’t know what I can do to
help him. He was hired to take the load off of me and I realize
at the beginning new guys are work but its been over two months
now he just recently took on jobs alone and he is not taking the
load off. He is adding to it.
Thoughts?
Is to wrong to say, your slow I don’t know why but I am going to
fire you if you don’t get fast. I wish I could tell you how to
get fast but Its lots of little things. Start with running
everywhere you go and see if that helps?
Seriously…. I do want to know from those of you that have hired
lots of guys what are your thoughts? Should I not be running one
man crews with the expectation of two installs in an 8 hour day
with an hour of drive time in there?
Thanks,
Brandon
