Made a Bad Hire in Construction? What to Do Now
The short answer
If you made a bad hire, act in the first weeks, not the first year. Write down what is wrong against a clear role card, give the person a short written plan with a review date, and if it doesn't improve, end it fairly in writing with the right notice. Then fix your hiring so the next one is right.
- Decide fast, fairly. A bad hire rarely gets better on its own. Give one clear chance with a date.
- Write it down. Role card, the gap, the plan, the review. No paper, no fair process.
- Probation is the time to act. Today most staff need 2 years for unfair dismissal; from 1 January 2027 it is 6 months.
- Fix the hiring, not just the hire. A paid trial day and reference calls catch most problems early.
Made a bad hire in construction and not sure what to do? You needed someone fast. They interviewed well, said the right things and started on Monday. Three weeks later you know. They are slow, the work comes back, the team is carrying them and you are paying for it.
This guide is for UK building company owners who think they've hired the wrong person. It shows how to decide quickly and fairly, how to end it properly if you have to, and how to stop it happening again.
It comes from the owner of a working London construction company who builds and runs site teams himself. If you want to talk your situation through, book a free strategy call.
Bad hire or bad start: check which you have
Not every slow start is a bad hire. Before you decide, check which one you have.
| Sign | Bad start (fixable) | Bad hire (unlikely to change) |
|---|---|---|
| Skills | Knows the trade, not your way of working | Can't do the work they said they could |
| Attitude | Asks questions, takes feedback | Argues, blames others, hides mistakes |
| Reliability | Settling in to times and travel | Late, absent or no-shows from week one |
| Team | Fitting in slowly | Others are doing their work or complaining |
If most of what you see is in the left column, the problem is usually onboarding. Nobody told them what good looks like. If most is in the right column, you probably hired the wrong person.
Either way, the next step is the same: write it down against a clear role.
Write the role card and the gap
You can't fairly judge someone against a standard that only lives in your head. Write a one-page role card if you don't have one:
- What they own For example first fix on their jobs, a tidy site at 5pm, materials booked a day ahead.
- What they decide alone What they can change without ringing you.
- What a good week looks like In things you can see and count.
Then write the gap. Three to five facts, with dates. For example: snags at Flat 3 on two Fridays, both redone by someone else. Or: arrived after 8am on 4 of the last 10 days. Facts, not feelings.
Telling the team before telling the person. It spreads fast on site, the person feels ambushed, and any later process looks unfair.
Paying someone who is costing you jobs?
Book a free call with our team. We'll help you decide what to do with this hire and set up a hiring process that works.
Give one clear, written chance
Sit down with them, show the role card and the gap, and agree a short plan. Put it in an email the same day.
- What must change Two or three things, from the gap list.
- What help you'll give Shadowing your best tradesman, a checklist, a clear daily report.
- How you'll check For example the daily report and one site visit a week.
- The review date Usually 2 to 4 weeks for site and office roles.
Acas says dismissal during probation should be a last resort, after support or an extension. A written plan is that support. It also gives you the paper trail if you do have to let them go.
Some bad hires turn round here. If they do, you have kept someone you trained. If they don't, you know, and so do they.
Not sure whether to keep or let go?
Book a free strategy call and we'll help you make the decision and set up a fair plan.
If it doesn't work, end it properly
At the review, if the plan has not worked, ending it is usually the right call for both of you. Do it properly.
Under UK rules today, most employees can only claim unfair dismissal after 2 years. From 1 January 2027 that falls to 6 months for most staff, and the cap on compensation is removed. So probation becomes the window to decide.
Some claims need no service at all. Dismissing someone for an automatically unfair reason, such as raising a safety concern or pregnancy, or for a discriminatory reason, is unlawful from day one. Your reason must be the performance or conduct you wrote down.
What fair looks like in practice:
- Invite them to a meeting Say it could end in dismissal, and let them bring a colleague or union rep.
- Give the reason in writing The gap, the plan and the result.
- Give the right notice At least 1 week after 1 month's service, or what the contract says.
- Pay what is owed Wages, notice and holiday pay earned.
This is general information, not legal advice. For anything unusual, talk to Acas or an employment solicitor first.
Fix the hiring, not just the hire
Acas makes a fair point: if several people fail probation, look at how you recruit. Most bad hires in building firms come from hiring in a hurry, for a job that was never written down.
- Role card before the advert: you know what you're hiring for.
- Photos of real work: ask for jobs they did, not a list of skills.
- Two reference calls: ring past employers or main contractors, not just read a letter.
- A paid trial day: on one of your sites, with your site lead watching.
- Onboarding checklist: first week planned, so a good hire doesn't look like a bad one.
Hire in the right order too. In Sviat's method that is admin first, then a site lead, an estimator, a project manager and a salesperson. For where to find the people, read how to find good tradesmen to hire. If the problem is your site lead, see foreman not managing the site.
Hiring well is a skill you can learn
Dima is an electrician whose story is on Sviat's YouTube channel. Once he had a clear process, he hired about 10 people in about 4 weeks.
Individual results, not typical or guaranteed.
Sviat mentors owners one to one himself, while still running his own construction company.
Every business is different. He looks at your team and your roles and builds a hiring process that fits. The aim is results in about 4 months, not the 1–3 years many coaching programs take.
Want your next hire to be the right one? Book a free strategy call. Or score your business in 4 minutes with the free Construction Business Scorecard. If you want help building a team and a hiring process that works, see our one-to-one programs.
The Business That Runs Without You
The hiring order, role cards and team checklists that help you hire the right people and keep them.
Get the free guideBefore the review meeting
- The role card is written and the person has seen it
- The gap is listed with dates and facts
- The plan and review date were sent by email
- You've checked notice in their contract and their start date
- Your next hire has a trial day and two reference calls planned
