Ask any trade business owner what keeps them up at night and "people" is near the top of the list. You can't find good ones, you can't keep the ones you've got, and you end up redoing their work yourself anyway. Here's how to break that cycle.
I've watched the painter I coached deal with exactly this — high staff turnover was one of the things quietly choking his business. He couldn't grow because every time he added a job, he had to be on it himself. The fix wasn't "advertise harder." It was changing how the business attracted, ran and kept people.
1. Hire for attitude, train for skill
Skills can be taught. Attitude, work ethic and how someone treats your clients usually can't. The best hire isn't always the one with the most tickets — it's the one who turns up, takes pride in the job and fits how you do things. Be slow to hire and clear about what "good" looks like before anyone starts.
2. Give people a reason to choose you
Good tradies have options. If your business looks and feels the same as every other ute on the road, you're competing on wage alone — and you'll always lose the best people to someone offering $2 more an hour. The businesses that attract and keep talent stand for something: clear values, a culture people want to be part of, and a boss who leads instead of just barks.
People don't leave jobs. They leave how the job made them feel.
3. Set the standard, then hold it
The reason you end up redoing work is usually that the standard lives in your head, not in the business. Spell out how a job should be done, what "finished" looks like, and what you expect day to day. Then hold everyone — including yourself — to it, consistently. People respect clear expectations far more than a moving goalpost.
4. Develop leaders, don't just manage workers
This is the one most owners miss. If you want to step back, someone has to step up — and that doesn't happen by accident. One of the biggest shifts I work on with clients is helping them develop leaders inside the business. When a client of mine, Leanne, the owner of AMETS, did exactly this, she went from being the bottleneck to leading a team that could run without her on every decision. That's how a business grows beyond the owner's own two hands.
5. Keep them by making it worth staying
Keeping good people is cheaper than constantly replacing them. That means fair pay, yes — but also progression, being heard, and feeling part of something. People stay where they're valued, challenged and led well. Turnover is expensive and exhausting; loyalty is built on purpose, not luck.
The bottom line
Your team is the difference between a business that depends on you forever and one that can actually grow. Hire for the right reasons, lead properly, set a clear standard, and build leaders under you. Do that, and "I can't find good people" stops being the thing that holds you back.