Hiring Techs: Experience vs. Trainable Newcomer
By Frederick M. Hueston
Finding the right technician can make or break your stone restoration business. The person you bring onto your team will be working on expensive stone surfaces, in someone’s home or business, often under a tight schedule. That’s a big deal. So the question comes up all the time: should you hire someone with zero experience and train them, or look for someone who already knows the ropes?
Let’s break it down.
Option 1: Hiring with No Experience (and Training Them Yourself)
Pros
- Blank Slate: No bad habits. They learn your methods from day one and do things the way you want them done.
- Loyalty: Someone you invest in and train from scratch is more likely to feel connected to your business and stick around.
- Cost: Usually cheaper to start. New hires with no experience won’t expect a top technician’s pay while they learn.
- Culture Fit: You can hire for attitude and work ethic first, which often matters more than skills in the long run.
Cons
- Training Time: It takes a lot of hands-on training before they’re ready to work solo, and that means you or another tech are babysitting for a while.
- Risk of Mistakes: Newbies will make errors. Expect to redo some jobs or spend extra time supervising.
- Delayed ROI: It can take months before they’re billable at full rate, which slows your profit curve.
Option 2: Hiring Experienced Technicians
Pros
- Faster Ramp-Up: They can usually hit the ground running with minimal supervision.
- Less Training: They already know basic restoration techniques, tool handling, and jobsite etiquette.
- Immediate ROI: You can send them on jobs right away and start making money faster.
- Problem-Solving Skills: Experienced techs have already faced tricky jobs and may bring fresh ideas to the table.
Cons
- Bad Habits: They might have learned shortcuts or improper techniques that clash with your standards. Breaking those habits can be harder than teaching someone from scratch.
- Higher Pay: You’ll need to offer competitive wages to attract them, especially if they’re good.
- Less Flexibility: They might be set in their ways and resistant to doing things your way.
- Turnover Risk: Some experienced techs jump from shop to shop chasing the next pay raise.
Finding the Balance
There’s no one size fits all. If your business has a strong training program, a blank slate hire can be the best long-term investment. But if you’re swamped with work and need someone productive tomorrow, hiring an experienced tech might be the right move, even if they cost more.
A lot of contractors use a mix: they keep one or two experienced technicians to lead crews and then bring on new hires to train under them. This spreads out the risk and builds a steady pipeline of talent for the future.
