Learning CenterGuide 19 · Building Your TeamRole sheet 5 of 8
Growth & People · When to hire
Adding a Fleet Manager
This sheet helps you decide when to add a fleet manager or in-house mechanic: the signs to watch for, what the role owns, whether the math works and how to hire it right.
When crews lose hours waiting on broken equipment, it's time.
Fleet manager or in-house mechanic · uptime & replacement planIs it time?
Tick what's true for your company todaySigns it's time · check what's true today
Does the math work?
Example pay · 20% burden · 60.3% gross marginThe example (per year)
- Base salary (example)$55,000
- + Labor burden & benefits (20%)$11,000
- + Tools & shop supplies$8,000
- = Loaded cost per year$74,000
- ÷ Gross margin60.3%
- = Added revenue to cover the role$122,720
Payback: One three-person crew idle for a day at a $65 billing rate is $1,560 of lost revenue. Prevent a few breakdowns a month and the role pays for itself.
Does the math work for you?
Put in the pay you would offer and your own gross margin.
Making the hire
Hire it right
Common mistake
Hiring a mechanic but keeping every repair outside out of habit. Track in-house versus outside spend monthly.
How to pay it
Hourly or salary plus a bonus on uptime and staying within the repair budget.
The first 90 days
Day 30: asset list and records. Day 60: preventive schedule running. Day 90: replacement plan for aging units.
Ranges reflect common green-industry practice, not rules; your margins, service mix and the owner's strengths decide the timing. Salaries are examples only; use local market pay. Revenue needed uses the example company's 60.3% gross margin.