Keeping Your Best Crew Through the Slow Season

You finally have a crew you can count on. They know the work, know your standards and know how to get through a tough job together. Then the schedule starts thinning out.

The next project gets pushed back. A customer takes longer to make a decision. The seasonal rush ends. Whatever caused it, Friday's payroll is still coming.

For a small contractor, a slow stretch is personal. The people on that payroll have bills and families. You've invested time in training them, and they've helped build the reputation that brings customers through the door.

Cutting hours may help the numbers for a week, but it can leave good people looking for steadier work. When business picks up again, the crew you need may no longer be there.

Ben Randall, a contractor with about 20 years in the industry, is building LaborTrader with that problem in mind.

Work May Be Closer Than You Think

A gap in one company's schedule does not always mean work has dried up everywhere. Another contractor nearby may be trying to finish a project, handle a busy period or take on a job that needs more people than the business currently has available.

The difficulty is finding that opportunity at the right time.

Some contractors already make these arrangements through people they know. One owner calls another, they work out what is needed, and a crew that would have been sitting idle gets a chance to stay productive. But those opportunities depend heavily on who answers the phone and how far an owner's network reaches.

LaborTrader's planned marketplace would help businesses with available skilled labor connect with businesses that need it. The goal is to turn a gap in the schedule into an opportunity to earn revenue, help cover payroll and keep a crew together.

“Slow season is real in the trades,” Randall said. “You've got good people who want to work, and you want to keep them, but sometimes there just isn't enough work to go around. At the same time, somebody down the road is turning down jobs because they can't find help. I wanted to bring those businesses together.”

Protecting the Work You've Put Into Your Team

A strong crew takes time to build. People learn how a business operates, what its customers expect and how to work with each other. Keeping that experience in place matters when the schedule fills back up.

Temporary business-to-business labor arrangements could give an owner more options during a slowdown. A company might make some of its available labor accessible to another contractor for an agreed project, creating useful work during a gap instead of immediately losing hours or people.

Those arrangements still need to make sense for the businesses and workers involved. Skills, scheduling, qualifications and clear expectations all matter. LaborTrader is being designed around those practical details, with plans for profiles, work histories, reviews and attention to licensing, insurance and employment requirements.

Getting the Job Is Only Part of It

For a business providing labor, knowing the work is one concern. Knowing how it will get paid is another.

LaborTrader's plans include bringing agreed work, payment funding and completion into one place. The aim is to give the business providing labor more confidence that funds are available, while giving the hiring side a way to address no-shows or work that wasn't completed.

The platform is still in development, so these are the systems being built toward, rather than services contractors can use today.

For Randall, the purpose comes back to the people behind the business. A crew with an open week and a contractor who needs help may be able to solve a problem for each other. Making that connection easier could give small companies more room to get through the uneven stretches that come with the trades.

Contractors and tradespeople can preregister for free usage when LaborTrader launches at labortraders.com/signup.