Signature Series - Growth Without Burnout | Vol 4. Before Hiring Another Crew Member. Fix This First

Before You Hire Another Crew… Fix This First

Why more people without better systems will cost you more than they save

By Dave Fairburn, Co-Founder of CrewHero and North Point Outdoors

In our early years at North Point Outdoors, I used to think growth was just about adding more — more trucks, more equipment, more people.

We’d land a new contract, feel the pressure, and immediately start the hiring process.

New crew. Problem solved, right?

But it didn’t take long to learn the truth: every new crew you hire without fixing your systems makes things worse, not better.

The problem isn’t always headcount.

It’s what those people are stepping into.

More People = More Chaos… Unless You’re Ready

Hiring without strong systems is like building a house without a blueprint, it gets messy fast.

• New hires don’t know where to go in the morning.

• Equipment isn’t assigned.

• Trucks get double-booked.

• Supervisors are overwhelmed.

• Your phone starts blowing up again with questions that should’ve been answered already.

Now you’re not just managing a crew. You’re managing their confusion, which takes more time and mental energy than doing it yourself.

What I Wish I Knew Before Our First 100 Hires

There’s a pattern I’ve seen over and over again, in our company and in others:

1. Owner feels overwhelmed

2. Owner hires a crew to “lighten the load”

3. The crew adds more weight than they remove

4. Owner scrambles to build systems reactively, while under pressure

5. Everyone suffers: crew, clients, owner — and retention tanks

I get it. When you’ve got jobs lined up and teams stretched thin, hiring feels like the answer. But growth without clarity creates churn in people, in quality, and in your own energy.

You don’t need more bodies.

You need more clarity.

Ask Yourself This Before You Hire

Before you onboard another person, pause and ask:

• Do we have a consistent process for assigning crews and vehicles each morning?

• Can this person request time off without going through me?

• Will they know where to be, what to bring, and what their role is — without needing to call someone?

• If a truck goes down, do we have a reliable way to track that and pivot quickly?

If you can’t confidently say yes to these questions, you don’t have a hiring problem, you have a systems problem.