You took the family to the lake for four days. You checked your phone at the dock, at dinner and at 5:30 the next morning. By day three, a commercial bid had sat unanswered, two techs had argued over a truck, and your office lead had called twice to ask permission for things she already knew how to do.
Nobody did anything wrong. The company has one person at the top who can make a call that sticks, and that person was on a boat. That's usually when owners of HVAC, plumbing and electrical businesses start asking when to hire a general manager.
Hire a general manager when you already have at least two department leads, your week goes to refereeing between departments, your monthly numbers are clean enough for someone else to run, and you can describe what your own job becomes afterward. Revenue alone is a poor trigger. A GM hired before those pieces exist ends up as an expensive assistant.
What a GM Changes in a Trades Company
A general manager is not a bigger version of a service manager. A GM runs the business day to day across departments: service, installs, the office and often sales. You move up to owner work, such as strategy, finances, key relationships and growth.
That means the decision is less about revenue and more about whether the company has enough structure for someone else to run it. A GM walking into a shop where every process lives in your head will either become your assistant or quit. Many companies hit this wall in the same revenue band, and the reasons trades businesses stall around five million are often the same reasons a GM hire gets complicated.
Six Signals You Are Ready for a Second in Command
No single signal settles it. When three or more of these are true at once, it's time to start planning the role.
- You have at least two department leads. A service manager, an install lead, an office manager. A GM needs people to manage, not just jobs.
- Your week is mostly cross-department refereeing. Install needs a tech that service won't release. The office wants dispatch to stop changing windows. Only you can settle it.
- Strategic work keeps losing to urgent work. Pricing reviews, a new service line, a second location: all stuck in "next month" for a year.
- The business would wobble badly if you were gone for two weeks. Forget whether a buyer would want it; the question is whether it runs.
- Your numbers are good enough to hand over. You have a monthly profit and loss statement, a weekly scoreboard and job costing someone else can read.
- You know what you want your own job to become. If you can't describe your role after the hire, the GM will end up doing half your job and half theirs.
If signal one is missing, build department leaders before anything else, because a GM with nobody to lead becomes a very expensive dispatcher. If four or more are true, including the first, start drafting the role.
GM vs Operations Manager vs Promoting From Inside
Owners often blur three different hires, and the GM vs operations manager choice decides which problem you solve first.
For many companies under about five million, an operations manager is often the better first move. A general manager for a home service business makes the most sense once you have several departments and want your own role to change, not just shrink.
An internal promotion deserves special care. A great service manager may know your customers better than anyone and still have never read a balance sheet. Test that person on GM-level work, like a budget or a hiring plan, before announcing the title.
What You Must Hand Over Before the GM Starts
The hire will only work if the GM can make decisions that stick. Before their first day, put these in writing:
- Decision rights. Which calls the GM makes alone, which need your input and which stay with you. A clear decision structure your team can run is the backbone of the role.
- Spending authority. A dollar limit for purchases, credits and overtime without asking.
- The scoreboard. Five to eight numbers the GM is responsible for, with targets.
- Who reports to whom. Every department lead reports to the GM. Not to the GM "and also" to you.
- Your own job description. Owner work, written down, so neither of you drifts into the other's lane.
That fourth point is where most GM hires break. If your service manager can still walk past the GM and get a different answer from you, the GM has a title and no authority. Your team will figure that out in about a week.
Handing a business to a second-in-command goes better when the decision rights, numbers and reporting lines are settled first. That groundwork is what StratPro covers across six to nine months of leadership workshops, one-on-one coaching and follow-through. Let's talk about your timing.
Test GM Candidates on Real Shop Problems
Résumés tell you where someone has worked, not how they think on a bad Tuesday. In the interview, hand each candidate a situation lifted from your own dispatch board and ask them to walk you through it. Two techs called out, three no-heat calls are waiting and a builder wants a crew at the new subdivision by noon. What do they do first, who do they call and what do they tell the customers?
Listen for how they weigh the customer, the crew and the margin, and whether they would fix the cause or just the day. Then check references with the same lens. Ask former bosses for a specific time the candidate owned a result that needed other people to deliver it, and how they handled it when the plan fell apart.
When to Hire a General Manager Later Rather Than Now
Holding off is often wiser if:
- You can't fund the role without strain. A GM who arrives during a cash squeeze spends their first months cutting, not building.
- There are no department leads yet. Build those seats first. A GM managing ten techs directly is just an expensive service manager.
- You're not ready to let go. Be honest about this one. If you'll overrule the first three decisions they make, wait until you've practiced handing off smaller areas.
- Your numbers live in your head. Get monthly financials and a weekly scoreboard running first, so the GM inherits something they can manage.
Waiting doesn't mean doing nothing. Use the time to strengthen your department leads and document how the business runs. A sound scaling strategy for home service owners usually builds those layers in order, so the GM seat is ready when you are.
The First Six Months With a GM
A GM's first months set the pattern for years. Plan them deliberately.
Month one: the GM listens. They meet every department lead, ride along, sit in on dispatch and review the numbers. They don't change much yet.
Months two and three: the GM takes over the weekly leadership meeting and owns the scoreboard. You attend, but you ask questions instead of giving direction.
Months four to six: the GM makes the first real changes, like a process fix, a new hire or a reshuffled schedule. You review results, not decisions.
Throughout, meet weekly one-on-one. That's where you raise concerns privately, so you never undercut the GM in front of the team. Owners making this shift for the first time often find outside input helpful, and leadership advisory for executive decisions can give you a sounding board that isn't reporting to you.
Moving From Operator to Owner
Hiring a GM is one of the biggest structural moves a trades owner makes, and it changes your job more than anyone else's. Your days shift from answering questions to asking them, from the dispatch board to the bank statement, from this week to next year.
The owners who get the most from a GM are the ones who hand over decisions before the title and then put up with a few calls they would have made differently. A GM who never gets overruled in public learns fast; one who does learns to check with you first.
If you scored four or more of the six signals, it may be worth a conversation with Dale Jackson before you write the GM posting. Check next availability at Jackson Advisory Group, and bring the list of decisions you want off your desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What revenue should a trades company reach before hiring a GM?
There's no fixed number. One owner may bring in a GM early to focus on sales or a second location, while another runs a much larger company happily with a strong operations manager. Readiness depends on department leads, reliable numbers and your willingness to hand over decisions.
Can my spouse or business partner serve as the general manager?
They can, if the role is defined like any other hire with written decision rights and a scoreboard. The risk is that family or partner roles stay informal, so the team never knows who has the final say. Clear titles and reporting lines protect the relationship as well as the business.
What should a GM be measured on?
Choose a short list the GM can actually move: gross margin, revenue against plan, callback rate, on-time arrival and staff turnover are common examples. Review them weekly and discuss trends monthly. Avoid measuring a GM on dozens of numbers, which buries the few that move the business.
How do I tell my team a GM is coming?
Tell your department leads first, privately, and explain why the role exists and what it means for them. Then announce it to the whole company with the GM present. Be clear that department leads now report to the GM, and back that up from the first day by redirecting questions.
What if the GM hire doesn't work out?
Set a review point at 90 days and again at six months, with agreed measures. If it isn't working, find out whether the cause was the person or the authority you gave them. Many stalled GM hires trace back to decision rights that were agreed on paper but never fully handed over in practice.
