Hiring & Team•10 min read•April 22, 2026
Hiring Your First Office Admin: A Trades Owner's Playbook
When to hire, where to find them, what to pay, and the exact 30-day onboarding plan that gets you off the phone and back in the field (or out of the field).
The single highest-leverage hire for a 1–5 person trades business is an office admin. The owner gets 15–25 hours/week back. That's $3,000–$8,000/week of billable capacity unlocked.
When to hire
- You're working 55+ hours and 15+ of those are admin
- Quotes are taking >48 hours to send
- AR is creeping past 45 days
- You're missing more than 10% of inbound calls
What to pay
Remote part-time: $18–$24/hr. In-office full-time: $42k–$58k base depending on metro. Cheapest mistake: trying to hire under $15/hr and getting someone you have to retrain every month.
30-day onboarding plan
- Days 1–5: Shadow you on calls, learn the CRM, take over data entry
- Days 6–15: Send quotes from your templates, schedule jobs, send invoices
- Days 16–30: Own inbound lead intake end-to-end, manage AR follow-up
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