This economy is too brutal for anyone to scale up much.
The route to EC success that I've seen work time and again is via real estate income: the contractor made some RE bets that paid off.
These then generated enough rent to cover his nut during his early years -- and also provided him with enough of a credit line to get good trade terms.
That gambit is dead, and will stay that way for the next twenty years.
Rocketing insurance costs make hiring employees a real bet-your-company proposition.
Obamacare figures to lift above-the-line wage costs at least $ 5.00 per hour for every trooper.
So hiring apprentices should come to a complete halt until all of the j-men are back on the job.
Here in California the politicians instituted licensing electricians. As a part of the overall scheme ALL apprentices were required to receive the same benefits package as the IBEW locals. So, for California C-10s the economics of Obamacare are already in effect.
The prompt result is a collapse in the apprentice count -- and the flight of most electricians out of the state.
So if you hire talent stay away from apprentices -- they're too expensive.
You might consider hiring old semi-retired electricians. Guys in their sixties would have the skills if not the speed and strength. Assembling a crew of such part-timers might be a perfect fit for you.
If you run across grunt work -- like ditch digging -- farm it out.
Stay entirely up market in the high skills niche.
