A lot of different pieces go into each and every project we tackle at Maddox. One of the most important is the crew of specialists that’s tasked to work on a particular job. By putting serious thought behind the makeup of each team, we have rarely heard a customer say the crew that worked on their project wasn’t the right set of guys. Our teams are assembled so that when our guys get to a job site, they are prepared and ready to get to work.

The first step in pulling together a team is identifying a foreman who can run the work. At Maddox, we don’t juggle foremen from project to project. Our customers have the same foreman on the job during the whole process. The foreman must be a good fit, have all of the skills needed to handle the job and, of course, must be available.

After a foreman is identified, we determine the specific skills required for the job and fill in the gaps with skilled workers. Establishing which specialties a job requires from the beginning means you’re working with a complete crew who can run the whole job from start to finish. If unskilled workers are also needed, we will consider hiring temp labor, which can be cost effective.

Many of our guys have multiple skills that translate well to jobs that require more than one specialty, which really includes most jobs. We may have a fabricator who is also good at rigging, or a certified welder with a keen sense of detail. We are calculated in applying those combinations of skills to each project.

Taking full advantage of our guys’ skills seems like a no-brainer, but evaluating their work and developing their strengths takes time and effort. Reviews of job performance and work ethic determine where a guy can excel and whether we want to develop him. Much of what we do at Maddox involves education to stretch those skill sets.

Being so deliberate in putting together teams of specialists for each job reassures customers. When a customer works with a particular guy on one project and then is assigned another guy for a different project, the customer can be assured that Maddox has chosen that skilled worker for a particular reason. He can trust our process.

Crew development should always be based on quality, not quantity. Evaluating and developing our guys’ skills, and assembling a dedicated crew for each project is time and effort well spent.