Side Work

Hello everyone, I know I have not been around lately with any impute on what everyone else is doing. I have been lurking and keeping up with what is going on. I had a employee come to me today and tell me he was in trouble. He started this roof on the side and the township shut him down because he is not licensed or have permit to do the job. He was doing on the weekend and at night. I did not know he was doing side work. Then I come to find out that a few other guys were also there working with him. Now he has this roof torn off and needs to get it done. He asked me if we could help him out. I was wondering on what everyone's policy with their employee's are when it come to doing side work. We do not have policy on side work but from here on we will have a policy about employees doing side work. >>>

They are free to do as much "side" work as they want as long as they are not using your equipment. Sounds like he doesn't have any insurance either. Tough for him. What is in it for you? Does he want you to pull the permit? Does he want you to finish the job for him? Is he going to pay you? How much? Can he afford it since he doesn't have the insurance? What is your liability?

I would just contract directly with the homeowner at whatever your rates are. Sounds like he doesn't get paid for what he did. Gee, too bad. Next time he will know and you don't have to worry about setting a "policy" He will already know what the consequences are.>>>

My first question is where did this "side" work come from. I mean the lead that sold it. Was it from one of my jobs? If so hes fired! If not then How well do you know this person. Is he one of the good ones or not? If hes a good guy and loyal to you and would truly be grateful then i would help him out explaining that this is a one time deal. Never again! Comprende' Amigo? Of course i would have to get my money back on the deal plus at least a small profit.>>>

No problem with it at all, unless as stated it stems from the companies customer base. I always worked w/ends when I could back in the day.....had to really...young and married, you want nice shit, you better work hard. I found that one shingle roof from, say someone at the wifes work would usually lead to another, then another etc Nowadays all I have to say is, "If you wanna work w/ends on the side that's fine, but you better not be draggin ass come Monday".>>>

I guess it all depends on to what extremes the employee will go to get the side work. Is it a friend of his or someone from his church that asked for a favor or is it one of your potential customers that you quoted at $5000 and he quoted at $3500? We had a lot of that going on here several years ago and it damn near bankrupted this business.

Is he using your residual supplies for the job? Things that you would normally keep in stock (coil nails, felt, flashings, etc). If so then I would spank him hard. I would give him my bid for what it would take for me to finish the job and he would have to pay my price.

If this appears to be a first-time thing that went wrong for him, maybe I would help him out for a small fee. I would most certainly have a long talk with him and his "crew". Make them realize that if they want to make the big bucks during the day, they can't steal work from the boss.

We have a loose policy about side work. We ask to be informed about it and have no problem if it is a family member or close friend but that is where we draw the line.>>>

Alright , oddly enough I find myself in alignment with Jed s post Whoa!! B) :woohoo: :woohoo: B) The H/O can pull their own permit in Fl. That wold settle that problem . As long as you are not stealing work from the company and or using equipment not requested . That is where I draw the line .>>>

It may seem compassionate to permit side work, as many of us had done. However, should the shhht hit the fan, in the eyes of a jury and a sharpie attorney, these employees could be construed as your agents, making you and your insurance carriers responsible. Moon lighting has been done forever, but the consequences for employers can be disasterous. By being a good guy, you can wind up w/ the short end of the stick.>>>

I had a foreman that started doing side jobs. I had a meeting with him and told him it was ok as long as he never used any of of my tools, materials and still was able to give me 40 hours of work per week. The hardest part of doing a tile job solo is loading the tile. I drove by the house he was doing on a Saturday and this guy had three of my other employees loading the roof with two of my marked pickups parked in front.

Sunday morning I showed up at his house and took my pickup and tools. I also left him a piece of paper showing him how his pay and benefit package that he was losing added up to over $80,000 per year.>>>

I agree with Willie, where the lead came from is the first thing I would want to know. Side work is ok as long as they are not stealing from me.>>>

There is one more serious problem with guys doing side work and thats injury's. Just suppose a guy blows a knee or injures his back and comes to work Monday morning and acts as if it just happened at work that morning and files a comp. claim on you. I had that happen.>>>

Well, the work was about a mile from our shop. He is not a foreman. He did not use any of our tools or any of our material. He got the job from a friend of his girlfriend. If they are doing side work isn't just like steal it from you. Shouldn't they refer the compnay they work for to do the job. I also worry about guys getting hurt and not being able to come to work of having a claim and saying it was from our job.>>>

They can do all the "side" work they want as long as it isn't roofing related or come from one of our jobs. If so, they're history.......

JET>>>

Jesse If you are worried about the employees scamming and scheming against the company from the outside in , Well , you need to make a statement to them that you don't trust them and what you will require of them . That is what this is mostly about anyways isn't it ? " i dunno ">>>

A variety of opinions from all sides here. Seems to me you gotta take it for what it is Jesse. Or veto it altogether, but then you have to be willing to back it up which may mean losing a good guy(s) over nothing much. If you are worried about injuries being passed off on you then have them run and circle a lampost first thing Monday mornings before they head off.........be good for a giggle anyways>>>

If they are doing side jobs then they are competition...gotta have consequences,lay the rules if they wanna work for ya.>>>

Jed, I think I might start doing that. ;) We can have races every monday. Ciak, I don't think it is about trust. I think it is about when we go to our potential customers and tell them they should be using insured contractors and then I have employees going out and doing work uninsured and no license. I also then believe they are also competition. Pete in the pick up truck is competition and there is enough of that out there.>>>