Adding a Production Manager

This sheet helps you decide when to add a production manager: the signs to watch for, what the role owns, whether the math works and how to hire it right.

When the owner is the scheduler and the fixer every morning, it's time.

Owns earned margin · see Who Owns What

$1M–$2MTypical revenue range

4–6+ crewsRunning in the field

$102KExample loaded cost per year

$169KAdded revenue to pay for it

Is it time?

Tick what's true for your company today

Signs it's time · check what's true today

Four or more crews are running every day
Crew leaders call the owner for every decision
Job cost variance is getting worse
Overtime and drive time keep rising
Quality callbacks and redo work are increasing
The owner can't leave the field to sell or plan

What they own

Daily schedule and crew assignments
Hitting estimated hours on every job
Labor %, overtime and drive time
Quality and safety in the field
Logging machine hours and equipment use

Their scoreboard

Job cost variance
Labor %
Revenue / labor hour
On-time completion

Does the math work?

Example pay · 20% burden · 60.3% gross margin

The example (per year)

Base salary (example)$75,000
+ Labor burden & benefits (20%)$15,000
+ Truck, fuel & phone$12,000
= Loaded cost per year$102,000
÷ Gross margin60.3%
= Added revenue to cover the role$169,154

Payback: Cutting field labor from 24% to 22% of revenue on $1.5M saves $30,000 a year, close to a third of the role's cost.

Does the math work for you?

Put in the pay you would offer and your own gross margin.

Base salary ($)

Burden & benefits (%)

Truck, fuel & phone ($)

Your gross margin (%)

Loaded cost per year

Added revenue to cover the roleLoaded cost ÷ gross margin

Making the hire

Hire it right

Promote a strong crew leader, or hire one who knows the numbers
Send them the job cost report every week
Set their scoreboard before day one
Give them authority over the schedule, not just the title

Common mistake

Promoting the best crew leader without training on job costing, then leaving them running a crew full-time. They need time to manage.

How to pay it

Salary plus a bonus on earned gross margin versus estimate, with a safety gate (no bonus with a lost-time accident).

The first 90 days

Day 30: runs the daily schedule. Day 60: reviews every closed job's variance. Day 90: owns labor % and the weekly crew plan.

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.

Key idea: Production keeps the margin sales sold. Give the manager the numbers and the authority to hit them.