Another hire that looked perfect on paper: great resume, solid experience, and said all the right things in the interview.
Three months in, they’re creating more problems than they’re solving.
Projects are delayed.
You’re constantly managing them instead of leading your business.
And you’re wondering why building a team feels harder than building the actual homes.
Here’s what most builders don’t realise: you’re not bad at hiring. You’re just hiring for the wrong things.
You know you need to scale. You know that means hiring a team.
But every time you bring someone on, even someone with the “right” experience, it turns into a nightmare.
They don’t fit your business. They don’t work the way you work. And suddenly, you’re spending more time managing them than you are growing your business or getting home on time.
The worst part? You start doubting yourself.
“Maybe I’m just bad at managing people. Maybe I can’t afford the right people.”
Meanwhile, projects are delayed, your stress levels are through the roof, and you’re working harder than ever and now you’ve got payroll to cover too.
You thought hiring would free you up. Instead, it’s buried you deeper.
But here’s what we’ve seen with hundreds of builders inside ELEVATE: when you stop hiring for resumes and instead, start hiring for cultural fit, values alignment, and attitude, then everything changes. Your team becomes a well-oiled machine. People show up knowing what needs to be done and actually get it done. You’re not constantly firefighting or micromanaging. And for the first time, your business starts to feel like it’s working for you, not the other way around.
Imagine:
- Walking onto site and seeing your team working together seamlessly (no drama, no handholding, just progress)
- Having the time and headspace to actually lead your business instead of just surviving it
- Trusting your team so much that you can step back, take a holiday, or focus on the growth you’ve been putting off
That’s what gets unlocked when you hire for the right things, in the right way.
Watch the video now, or read the transcript below. Be sure to also subscribe to the Live Life Build YouTube channel.
Amelia
To be able to scale your building business, you need to start hiring a team. What often happens is you hire based on the experience and skills that you think you need.
When those people don’t work out and don’t fit your business, you struggle because you think you’re hiring the right way. You’re hiring for skills and it’s turning out to be a nightmare.
Duayne
The problem with hiring the wrong team members is that it leads to delays and all sorts of hold-ups on site, you feel like you’re just constantly having to work on your team.
The team in a building business can be one of the most difficult things to manage, but it can also be one of the most exciting if you attract the right types of team members.
When you attract team members who get the flow and work together, it’s like a well-oiled machine. It’s fantastic turning up to site and seeing everybody working together, knowing what needs to be done and getting it done.
Amelia
When we work with builder members inside ELEVATE, we help them revamp the way they’re hiring. They start thinking about:
- How they’re going to hire for cultural fit in their business
- How they’re going to hire for alignment of values
- How they’re going to hire team members that have the right kind of attitude
Instead of thinking about the skills and the experience that fit in their business, they start trusting that they can upskill those team members to work more effectively.
When you see your team as an incredible asset in the growth of your building business, and you invest in the right team members that have that fit, you can then scale your business in unprecedented ways.
-Amelia
Duayne
I think the other really big thing is dollar value. Many builders hire based on how someone wants to get paid, or what they can afford to pay. This is one way that you can be hiring the wrong people.
Sometimes you need to pay a bit more to get the right person, that will allow your business to operate better. That’ll give you more time to operate your business and grow your business.
There are so many ways that you can improve the way that you’re hiring your staff, then again, it’s one of those things “you don’t know what you don’t know”. As Amelia said, we spend a lot of time inside the ELEVATE community, educating, communicating, and teaching our members about all the different ways they can attract the right staff to their business.
Amelia
When you see your team as an incredible asset in the growth of your building business and you invest in the right team members that have that fit, you can then scale your business in unprecedented ways.
It is the biggest key to free yourself up and have a team that you can trust. You know that your team is going to work really well together to deliver the vision and the goals that you have in your building business.
Duayne
So, stop hiring for the best resume, the best skills, or the cheapest price. Start hiring people that suit your team.
Your team is either your biggest asset or your biggest liability.
When you hire wrong, when you bring on people who don’t fit your culture, don’t share your values, or don’t have the right attitude, you don’t just lose time and money. You lose momentum. You lose trust in your own ability to lead. And you stay stuck in a cycle of working in your business instead of on it.
When you hire right? Everything shifts. Your projects run smoother. Your stress drops. Your team becomes self-sufficient. And you finally get the freedom and control you started this business for in the first place.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Stop hiring for resumes. Skills can be taught. Attitude and cultural fit can’t.
- Stop hiring based on price alone. The cheapest hire often costs you the most in the long run.
- Start hiring for values, attitude, and team fit. Then invest in upskilling them to work your way.
You don’t have to figure this out alone. You don’t have to keep making expensive hiring mistakes. And you don’t have to stay stuck managing people instead of leading your business.
Your team should be working for you – not the other way around.