You're turning away two or three jobs a week. You're working six days, sometimes seven. Your partner barely sees you. The money's decent but you're earning every penny of it with your own hands, and there simply aren't enough hours in the day to grow any further.
That's usually when the thought first crosses your mind: what if I got someone to help?
Signs You're Ready
Turning away work is the obvious sign. But it's not the only one:
You can't take a holiday without your diary falling apart. If one week off means losing a month's worth of bookings because nobody else can cover, your business has a single point of failure — and it's you.
Jobs are taking longer because you're doing everything solo. Two-person jobs that would take a day with a helper are taking you a day and a half alone.
You're spending evenings doing admin instead of resting. If the business side is consuming your evenings because the day is entirely taken up with manual work, something needs to give.
Your customers are waiting too long. If your lead time is four to six weeks for a non-urgent job, you're losing people to competitors who can start sooner.
Your Options
Subcontractors: Bring in self-employed tradespeople for specific jobs. They invoice you, handle their own tax, and you have no ongoing commitment. This is the lowest-risk way to test whether more capacity translates to more profit.
Labourers: Hire someone to do the heavy lifting, tidying up, fetching materials, and assisting on site. They don't need trade qualifications. Typical cost: £80-120 per day.
Apprentices: Government funding covers most training costs, and wages are lower. The investment is in time: you'll spend months training them before they're genuinely useful. But a good apprentice becomes a qualified tradesperson who knows your standards.
Qualified tradesperson: Most expensive but most immediately productive. They can work independently and roughly double your capacity from day one. Expect to pay £30,000-40,000 a year.
The Real Costs
The salary is just the start. Here's what employing someone actually costs:
Employer's National Insurance: 13.8% on earnings above £9,100. On a £35,000 salary, about £3,574 per year.
Workplace pension: Mandatory minimum 3% of qualifying earnings. Roughly £780 per year.
Tools and equipment: Budget £1,000-3,000 for an initial kit.
Van: £200-400 per month for lease, insurance, and fuel if they need a separate vehicle.
Employer's liability insurance: Legal requirement, typically £100-200 per year.
PAYE admin: An accountant or payroll service charges about £15-30 per employee per month.
Total cost for a qualified tradesperson on £35,000: realistically £42,000-50,000 per year. They need to generate at least this much in additional revenue for the hire to make financial sense.
Start With Subcontractors
If you're nervous about the commitment, subcontracting is the obvious first step. Find a reliable self-employed tradesperson and offer them work on your overflow jobs. This lets you test whether more capacity actually translates to more profit.
The risk is minimal. If work dries up, you simply stop subcontracting. No redundancy process, no contractual obligations.
Finding Good People
This is the hardest part. Good tradespeople are already working. Finding the right person usually comes through word of mouth in the trade, apprenticeship programmes through local colleges, and social media posts in local Facebook groups.
The Fear of Commitment
Hiring your first employee is terrifying. Suddenly you're responsible for someone else's livelihood. That fear is healthy — it means you're taking the decision seriously. But don't let it paralyse you.
Tools like Gaffer can help you track your job volume, revenue, and capacity so you're making the decision based on real numbers rather than gut feeling. But ultimately, if you're consistently turning away profitable work because there's only one of you, the answer is already staring you in the face.
The first hire is the hardest. After that, you've got the systems, the knowledge, and the confidence to grow at whatever pace suits you.