Virtue of the 1 man crew

The other day this friend of mine called me to ask if I can refer a gun runner to him. I promptly sent him to a guy that used to work for me that aside from exceeding the gunner skill he is also a fantastic person who I believe will fit well at this particular company.

Before referring him I asked the guy if he needed the body or if a 1 man crew would do the trick therefore cutting the payroll and improving the bottom line. He said that a set of hands was really needed for tasks that could be easily done by one guy but in his mind could not be. He is obviously still an old school thinker.

Back when I had a bunch of employees I did an experiment. Utilizing technology I broke people into 1 man crews. Almost right away my crew production jumped 30%.

My idea proved itself true, people in pairs screw around but when left alone they do more work simply because there is nothing else to do. And yes, I know this is not a genius idea and that people have been doing it for a long time.

From then on I went with only 1 man crews unless two were absolutely needed and then I would pair a crew for the day. I was able to thin my staff, have less administration, less headache and still bill the same rate therefore improving the bottom line.

Here in Arizona technology has made possible to run single person crews 80-90% of the time condition dependant.

I believe it is the wave of the future and yes even on big construction sites. Anyone been watching the Kiewit stakers on the 101? Notice how I said staker and not surveyor?

To all of the worker bees that may disagree with my thought process I will say this. Wake up, the future and technology are going to eat your job up unless you take action now and improve your position and skill set.

Personally I use a few people when I need a hand. This week I have a tree covered house topo to do. I will bring in an LS that has his own company and insurance as contract labor for this project. This is the direction that I am going in the future. Payroll employees are a thing of the past. Even office staff will be contract.

1 man crew is the future of Land Surveying.