I’m looking for any helpfull hints out there from anyone. I have been in this buisness for a long time and my biggest problem over the years has nothing to do with the hands on work of building houses, but in the efficient scheduling and organizing of the projects. I’m the first to admit I’m a very unorganized person and I need to change my current methods. I’m wondering what types of things you guys are doing, such as software, charts, day planners, etc. Also any books that you may have read on the subject that impressed you.
Part of my problem is I still spend a fair amount of time in the field working, both overseeing my jobs and doing some of the hands on carpentry and cabinet work. We usually have anywheres from 1-4 houses in progress, along with some other smaller jobs and the occasional commercial project. I do spend a fair amount of time on the cell phone trying to keep on top of things. I am considering hiring some part time help to do some of the simpler tasks and act as a gopher to try and free my time up.
Any comments welcome.
Bish
Replies
The simplest method to organize your business is to use a large day planner. I could go on , but if you look at one it is self explanitory. I went to a seminar about two years ago , but it mainly told how and why to use it like a daily bible sort of thing. In a large one ," you will write more to forget nothing". But as I tried to get over to you before its like daily , every single day. A change in your life. Note cards in your wallet or shirt pocket to be transfered is a must thing to do. You will have every number , every name , every note on file till you change planners.
I dont know how much information I have gotten only to have lost it forever, with out even a burial at sea. Tips that were given to me about places to buy , people that were " the ones " to do something, sell something , or a great number of things.
They are most helpful when they are in use for a full year, with all that info stored. Like the guy that asked at a bad time if you needed any clean up? You didnt at the time , but now you do!!!!! You dont have the time to clean up the job and your hands are busy , and how will you get it done before the showing of the property to bankers, clients ,future and present ? These are only examples of what has happened to me. There are many things I can not mention for space , and Im sure Ive gotten my point to you.
Ive not used quick books yet , but Im going to try. Im sure I was worse than you are now, for I was terrible.
I disagreee with hiring a runner because they will not do the price and quality checking that I do. Too many trips back with the wrong thing . They cannot make the contacts you make while your in public. Good things have happened to me much too often on a trip to the lumber yard to be coincidence.
I believe in in hiring and paying top people to do the work. Seems you are in demand as a business man, not a cabinet maker, or such. That is why real estate brokers are successful builders. They have their hands in many tills, hoping for an exchange of money on a percentage basis. They work their best odds, if they are good. I personally dont see how you can strap on an apron with the amount of work you have and do justice to all jobs , when you are spending so much time working on one job. There should be a living in running five jobs. Isnt there ??????? That would be a good salary cap at 15 percent. Your not that fast a cabinet builder. With the amount of work you have going at one time , you should be able to save your way by shopping to a good income. My money is made, in other words, by shopping on the phone for every thing. Having the time to cover all bases on each job. Trying to not make any mistakes. This is what I came to be managing my fathers lumber yard years ago. " Son , you can make your salary being in the office to make decisions , and being on the phone gaining information to make the best business decisions".
His primary order to me was never order anything over five hundred dollars with out three quotes. I was amazed at the difference that made. Im still being amazed every year at how prices can be so different on the same things.
I have always like to watch and coach my help . Also to ask them questions , and be there to answer them. A great manager of a plant once told me " by ten oclock in the morning , "I know what every body had for breakfast" I asked him once how he became so successful, and he said " Well, you see,.....I actually saved them more money than I made them. I believe in every business, that there is an offense , and a defense. Son, Ive always been a defensive player." He inspired me .
Regards ,
Tim Mooney
Right on Tim;
I am just a litttle guy doing mainly small repairs on rentals, but it sounded like good advice about making the living as a businessman/manager instead of as cabinet maker. Highest and best use of time applies just like to real estate. Running more than even one job should probably be considered full time. Trying just to write everything down in one place has been challenging for me, but it sure can help when I do it.
Dan
I think that Tim's advice is good, if that is what you want to do. We have gone another route. We always have at least three major projects underway at any time, either new house or remodel/addition. This would be more than enough for one person to administer, not to mention selling work for the future. Fortunately we have three partners to do this management work. We all want to keep our hands in the actual production of the work for personal reasons and we get to do so. We have built a system over many years for dealing with the bookkeeping, payroll, sales and other office work and no part of this is too onerous for any one partner.
We have had to limit our growth because of our peculiar organization. If we took on much more volume it would not work. Since we are usually going for the high end of our market, the easiest way to limit our work to what we choose to handle is to raise prices. This works well for us in our business and provides good feedback if our prices are too high.
Day planner sounds good, or one of those hand held computers. Personally, I spend 8 hrs. a day on site leading production. Learned how to drive nails & dial cell phone at same time. Then , I manage bussiness, mostly after hours. Quickbooks Pro works well for me. Has time tracking, and estimating vs actual job cost tracking, plus payroll service. Learning curve can be shortened by finding an accountant that services QB. My accountant is QB authorized trainer, and uses it day to day. I drop a copy of my books on disk , he makes necessary adjustments. Then, I just load changes to my system. Quite painless, as he has all info. in his hands. Cuts down on phone time, and also his time ($). You must keep up with data entry though. Daily update time sheets, Material invoices, and expenses. Takes me about 1 hr. avg. I'm a hunt and peck typer, so could be done much faster, I suppose. I typically have 2 or 3 jobs in progresss, at once. Also, my local yards provide a comprhensive price book , of common materials to me. This saves time when estimating ( no phone calls). One actually has an online price check system, for preferred customers, quite handy. One local contractor, has laptops with all of his foremen. They are responsible for job cost data entry, daily, and also have pricing built into the system. Therefore, they invoice and bill the job, before they leave the site. This seems extreme to me, but works for him. ( He also tracks his personal time by the minute on a palm pilot). Just a thought, if you are feeling overwhelmed by organization tasks, maybe you are getting too big. Seen that senario run many a good man under, due to customer service, and quality control issues. Hardest thing to learn for me, was how to say no, to prospects. If you're gonna kill it, make sure you can eat it! Best of luck.
Brudoggie
Thanks to all for the input. Bottom line seems to be I really need to spend more time in the office than in the field or backpedal in size. Part of problem is downsizing means getting rid of employees that are also family, and I don't really want to do that. One problem I have is I don't seem to delagate things to others as well as I should. I do have good people working for me, one reason we usually have so much work. Some have been with me better than 15 years. I need to make a better effort to keep things like the day planner updated. I just started using one of those this past summer and agree that it does help a lot. I'm one of those guys that takes notes, then looses the pad of paper. Tried a pocket recorder once years ago to record notes to myself through the day, then write them down that nite. Worked great for the first week or so. Then I lost that! { am I hopeless or what} Lost my first day planner too. Maybe the answer is a cable to my wrist. All kidding aside, does anyone have any experience with scheduling sofware. Some of the large commercial companies we work with use these but the ones they have are pretty expensive. I'm not sure if it's worth the money {several thousand $} not having used them and with our amount of work?
Bish
Plop down a few bucks for a Franklin Covey course... then follow it. Your ROI will be HUGE!
I did this last Oct. and it changed my life. I had tried all the other dayplanners but never could stick to one. Seemed a waste. This system ROCKS!!!
WHW,
What is this course and where can I find out more? Sounds promising if I can get myself to commit to it. Thanks!
Bish
http://www.franklincovey.com/
Franklin has a dayplanner. The course, when I took it, not only showed how to use the different forms, but more importantly discussed WHY and HOW to set prorities.
They latter merged with Covey ("7 Haibits" books) so they might have changed the semiars somewhat, but I would expect that it anything it has even more on goals.
They now have local stores, see the web site, and I think that the seminars are done through the stores unless you are big enough to want one for your group.
I was so desparate for help I drove all night after working a 14 hour day to get to a class. Even though there was going to be one within 40 miles 2 months later. I never regretted it.
Here is a link to this class.
https://slswh02.franklincovey.com/register/moreinfo_wmm.cgi?program_id=1&source=WEB0121&varKL=null
It is a one day class and is now totally independant of their stores. It will cost you $279 plus you will want to buy a binder and a years worth of refill. They give you a cheapo 3 ring binder you can trade in for $10 credit on a real binder. 'Bout 40 bucks for the refill and anywhere from $60 to $160 for the binder. I bought a binder for $140 that is a beautiful deluxe model.
I could not aford this kind of expense... but spent the money on the nice binder to impress upon myself the importance of following this program and to impress upon myself that I was worth learning this stuff for the better life I wanted.
It is not hard but it will take 30 to 45 days to truly get into the habit. But your benefits will start immediately. I simply cannot live wthout it now.
In fact my wife was so impressed at the improvement she requested one for Christmas! Remember this was 45 days after I originally took the class. I think this is the most powerful part of my story right there.
Here is a link to an article a friend of mine wrote on this very subject. Be aware that the benefit she mentions is only a fraction of the benefits you will receive.
http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=69
Oh BTW, did I tell you all this is after I am only utilizing about 60% of what I learned? Powerful huh?
Wet,
I have married my Palm ( long but fruitful ceremony ) and am not all that interested in turning back to paper planners. Do you feel the benefit in this course lies in the binder and its contents or what is learned through the training. Could the coursework apply to a digital organizer ?
carpenter in transition
They have some excellant classes and software to integrate their training with Palms. Even have a class call "What Matters Most forpalms" (The regular class is "What Matters Most")
They teach you the same thing as the paper based platform, but only this is on a Palm based platform. They stress to use the platform that worksfor you! I love technology but a Palm based platform just gets in my way so I use paper.
Having learned what I have I would NEVER use a palm without tying it into this system. Really... it is a system YOU create withing their guidance and teaching. Which is important to an independant cuss like me.
Imagine this... you have a boss who plans your entire day. This planning will cover each minute and every action. Even before and after work. He is in TOTAL control of you. The good part is that now every action you take will move you closer to your personal goals and values.
The result would be beautiful but I would have to kill the boss!
This system does just that. The planner becomes your boss. BUT YOU CONTROL THE BOSS! So if you don't like something he/she says... change it. And it doesn't feel like you are being controlled so there isn't that conflict to deal with. Because you are controlling yourself.
One warning... this system will not work if you will not force yourself to use it for the first 30 to 45 days. After that is is second nature. I spend 15 minutes a day and an extra 30 to 60 minutes on Sunday with planning. I figure on the days I fully use the system I save 60 to 180 minutes.
Don't let my term "system" scare you. It is very simple. It is so simple you will feel as if you knew this your entire life. The power lies in applying it.
Life is beautiful.
W.
You're giving me chills.
I'm going to have to look into this.
Thanks.
Life is beautiful. It can always be a little more so.
carpenter in transition
" I have married my Palm ( long but fruitful ceremony )"
You realize of course that is illegal in 39 states and you can be arrested if you go over the state line with you Palm.