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7 Time Wasters and How to Avoid Them

For a contractor, nothing is worse than projects failing to progress without any good reason for the delay. Of course, there are things that are out of your control and you have to just learn to cope with those. However, there are tons of common time wasters on site that you can and should control.

Here are our tips for handling those time wasters and keeping your projects on track.

Phones

Let’s start with an easy one. Phone use on job sites (and everywhere else, basically) is a huge detriment to productivity. The solution is simple: ban them from the site. If it isn’t lunch or break time, you shouldn’t see a phone out of the car or pocket it should live in.

Warn your crew, that if you see a phone out on site, you’re going to do it school style and confiscate it until the end of the day. Alternatively, in extreme cases, you may need to threaten to dock pay for folks that simply can’t resist the bright lights of their screen. It may seem severe, but the amount of time wasted on Facebook, Instagram and a million other apps is money out of your pocket.

Cigarettes

This one is a little trickier. The simplest solution is to not hire anyone who smokes cigarettes or ban it during the work day, but I think we all know that isn’t a great option considering the sheer number of folks who smoke these days.

What you can do is put limitations on smokers to try to minimize the impact on your schedule. You can limit smokers by the number and length of their breaks. Or tell them they get ‘X’ minutes of breaks per day and their cigarette breaks come out of that. You can and should ban smoking on site, particularly if it is an occupied site. Establish penalties for anyone caught tossing butts on the ground. Cleaning up trash that shouldn’t have been dropped in the first place is its own time waster and anyone contributing to it should be penalized.

Subs

If you haven’t had a rough experience with a sub, you’re in the fortunate minority. There are about a million and one stories of subs clashing with the main crew. There are stories of subs using tools and supplies without asking or leaving garbage around the site. Chasing your tools around the site when they’ve been borrowed without asking, finding a sudden supply shortage, or cleaning up someone else’s mess are all huge time wasters.

The solution is to have clear terms set out with any sub your bring to your site. Sometimes, subs can and should use provided supplies, but that is something that should be discussed beforehand. Regarding cleanliness on site, tell subs that they are responsible for cleaning up after themselves and have it in the contract to charge them if you have to clean up. That should resolve the issue.

Clients

There is no tedium quite like that of listening to a client drone on about a project when you really just want to get back to work on that very project. You can’t let your customers control the situation on site. Lead them to believe they are controlling the situation, but don’t actually let them.

If your clients are on site and chewing your ear off, politely tell them you need to get back to work if they want you to stay on schedule. Make it seem like you’re doing them a favor by not chatting.

Another more insidious way that clients can affect a project is by making changes to the project after it has already begun. If they decide to change things in the middle of the job, add a fee to the bill. You should make it clear in the beginning that any changes to the project after the initial agreement will lead to changes in both the price and time frame of the project.

Missing tools

As mentioned in the discussion of subs, the search for missing tools can be a huge timesuck. Whether a sub, one of your guys or you yourself are responsible, a missing tool needs to be found eventually.

To limit this time waster, you have a few options, some of which you may already be equipped for. The simplest is to stay organized by creating tool bins that can be unloaded from the van or trailer and wheeled to areas where those tools are used the most. Things should come out for use and go straight back into their place in the bin.

An option for larger tools is to bar code them and have them checked in and out when they are needed. Some barcodes include GPS locators so you know where your tools are at all times (This is a great theft prevention technique as well).

Depending on the size of your crew and your resources, you can provide tool belts to workers with the basics and make them responsible for them, financially. If they lose something, they replace it. Responsibility should limit misplacement and therefore limit the amount of time spent looking for the lost items.

Waiting to work

There is no blight to productivity like standing around waiting. Whether the crew is waiting for instructions or a delivery, it’s painful to watch money go down the drain.

But this is all in your hands.

Make contact information and scheduling available for all deliveries. Post a laminated list of important telephone numbers in a key location. A crew member can call a delivery person, for example, if the delivery doesn’t arrive by a specified time or call you or the foreman for instructions.

You can also post a schedule with assigned tasks so no one needs to wait for you in the morning to get started. You should rotate the least desirable tasks among the crew and have a list of “filler” tasks, as well (cleaning up, pulling nails, etc.) in the event of late deliveries or weather limitations.

Poor planning

And now the worst one. The worst because it is so easily preventable. Skipped stepped, forgotten supplies or tools, a miscut tile or lumber, an underestimated supply need… All of these are unnecessary screw ups that can pile delays and huge costs onto your project.

Luckily, that means that they are easily avoided, too. I once heard a GC say, “We should be able to get this done today if we don’t hurry” and I think that about sums it up. Take your time. Measure twice and cut once. Order 20% more than you think you need. Be smart.

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5 Tips for Balancing Multiple Projects

It should be pretty obvious that if you work more, you make more money. Running multiple projects in parallel is a great way to up your profits, but splitting your time and your attention between sites could lead to a compromise on quality. In order to maintain an increased profit, you need to be able to not just take on multiple gigs but satisfy your clients and keep a strong reputation.

Here are our tips to do just that.

Use subs you trust

For any contractor, having reliable subs is important, but if you manage multiple sites, it’s absolutely crucial. When selecting subs, you need to be willing to pay for quality. Not just quality in terms of their work, but also their work ethic. You need to be able to trust that your subs are getting the job done and getting it right even if you aren’t on site or checking in with them.

Having trustworthy subs leaves you free to move between sites without feeling tied down to babysit on a specific site. This is vital, if you want to be able to successfully manage multiple sites. If you invest in high quality, trustworthy subs, it may cost you more, but in the end you’ll save by not having to overmanage them.

Organization

To run multiple projects in parallel, you have to be able to keep organized. If anything gets misplaced or falls through the cracks on one site, it could disrupt the workflow on several sites and you scramble to catch up.

To avoid this, keep a file on each of your projects, labelled, organized and separate. Whether you organize everything digitally, so you have access from your phone or computer, or you prefer old school physical files, just keep it organized.

You should also have a set schedule for your crew(s) and for yourself. Delegate tasks and use your people’s strengths so you can be free to float between sites and contribute where needed.

Budget smart

When you’re pricing overlapping jobs, consider that the costs may increase as your attention is divided. Plus, you will have less time on site in general, since you’ll have travel time between sites. Take this into account as you price and plan jobs.

Keep in mind that projects may also take more time to complete with your crew and your trusted subs dividing their time as well. Budgeting isn’t just a money issue, but also a time issue. Your ability to complete jobs in the quoted time frame is critical to the satisfaction of your clients and the reputation of your business. Failing to take the impact of multiple jobs on your schedule into account can have a serious impact on your business.

Communication and scheduling

If you’re not on a site, all of your guys should be checking in at the beginning and end of the day. Naturally, getting 20 separate calls or texts isn’t practical, so you should make arrangements in advance to know what’s going on with your crew. There are lots of apps you can use to organize your guys. You can use a timesheet app that attaches a GPS location to the punches so you know where and when each member of your crew starts working.

Naturally, subs don’t need to clock in and out and don’t owe you a breakdown of how they are spending their days. But subs with whom you have a relationship should be open to keeping you abreast of their progress as time goes by. That should be enough for you to keep projects on track.

You should also be available all day, every day for calls and texts from subs and crew members, not matter what site you’re on. If there is a decision to be made and you are unavailable, work could grind to a halt and cause serious delays.

Keep clients informed

Just as you expect to be kept informed by your employees and subcontractors, you should keep your clients informed of the project’s progress. Of course, this is something that you should always do, but it’s even more important if you aren’t on site every day.

If you aren’t on site, it could be perceived as a lack of interest, so make excuses to be in touch and show that you are invested and informed. Show your clients that you are not just aware of what is going on with their project, but that you care. Showing clients that your attention and focus remains with their project, regardless of your other concerns, will give them confidence and faith in your abilities and skills.

If you want to build a large business that can bring in significant revenue, running parallel projects could help you reach that goal. But as you take on simultaneous projects, you have to be aware of the extra burden that puts on you and how it will affect your budget, your time and your focus. If you don’t, you may just damaging your reputation and your business in the end.

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5 Mistakes to Avoid when Bidding a Job

Delivering a winning bid proposal is a lot more complicated than throwing some numbers together and hoping to win. Good bid preparation requires a lot of time and effort; you should learn everything you can about the project, the client and the client’s expectations. Understanding all the needs of a project and making accurate estimates is a learned skill and a critical one at that. Making even the smallest mistake in your bid proposal can mean the difference between having a winning bid proposal and missing out on a significant job.

Here are our 5 mistakes to avoid when making a bid proposal to protect your business (and profits).

Be selective

This may seem pretty basic, but don’t bid on jobs you can’t do. It will end up costing you more than not taking the job at all. During the bidding process, consider the scope of the job and your company’s abilities; if the project seems to be too much, don’t risk it. Remember, no one has ever lost a penny on a job they didn’t take.

Along the same lines, be careful about taking on too many gigs at the same time. If you spread yourself too thin, not only could it cost you money as you scramble to keep up, but it could damage your reputation with multiple clients as their projects fall behind schedule or go off track.

Speaking of clients, be selective about them, too. A customer that is focused on price over quality is almost inevitably going to cause you a headache and cost you more than the job is even worth. The client isn’t always right and when they’re wrong it can be a real disaster for you.

Visit the site (at least once)

Never take a job without having visited the site. Site location, conditions and accessibility should always be factored into your bid. A remote site means you need to arrange transport not only of supplies and equipment, but also for your crew each day. You may decide to provide transportation for your crew, which is obviously an additional cost. If the site is pure mud, you will need to figure out how to get supplies in at all. If access roads are narrow, then bringing equipment in could be problematic. And so forth…

Your pre-bid meeting should either be on site or be paired with a site visit to ensure that you fully understand that project and its context. Failing to take site conditions into consideration can lead to a severe under-bid and cost you seriously.

Qualify your subs and their pricing

With large projects, there are so many variables to consider. One of these that you can’t entirely control is subs and their quotes. If one of your subs botches his quote or his part of the job, your bid is suddenly going to be off or your project could be delayed. What you can do is vet your subs thoroughly in order to ensure that you are working with quality people and they are giving you reliable pricing.

Get multiple bids for each trade you will need to subcontract, even if you have a regular guy. If you are resistant to straying from the sub you know, have a candid convo with your guy to confirm that all is well and that his quote is accurate. Good subs can make things run smoothly and on time, but a bad sub or a bad quote from a sub can throw a serious monkey wrench into the works.

Take your time

Rushing a bid can lead to major issues moving forward. It’s better to miss out on a gig than winning with a rushed, inaccurate bill and losing money as the project goes forward. Putting together a bid takes time. You need to understand the whole scope of the project and the client’s expectations before you can accurately assess the associated costs.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that a bid can be reused from an earlier similar job. No matter how similar on the surface, no two jobs are the same. Locations, standards, budget, timeframe, etc. all vary from project to project. Take from your experiences of similar gigs in the past, but draw up every bid from scratch to avoid errors.

Take your time and focus exclusively on the bid while you’re working on it, shutting out distractions that can draw away focus and affect your accuracy.

Don’t undersell yourself

You have value. While you’re pricing jobs, remember that your work isn’t identical to other contractors in your area. If you have a lot of experience or expertise in a particular service, don’t be afraid to charge for them and defend yourself if you’re questioned. As mentioned above, overly cost sensitive clients can be a headache. If a client continuously hounds you to drop your price, drop them. They clearly don’t value the quality and service you’re offering.

If you’ve done the calculations and decided on a figure, but feel nervous asking for that amount, ask yourself why? Is it fear of overcharging? You don’t feel it’s fair? That could be, but more likely, you’re just undervaluing yourself and the services your provide.

Undercharging can not only cost you money on individuals jobs, it can devalue your company by making you seem “budget” or “cheap.” That can affect your business in the long term.

Learning to draw up accurate and fair bids takes time and a lot of experience. Everyone has botched a couple bids, but if you take from your experiences and learn from your mistakes, you’ll get quicker and more accurate each time and your business will flourish.

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5 Tips to Keep in Mind When Hiring Subcontractors

Many contractors need to work with subcontractors, and it can often get tricky, especially on larger projects. In the perfect world, everyone arrives on time and performs every task perfectly. But the world isn’t perfect and neither are we. Regardless, working smart can protect yourself and your reputation. Here are our tips for keeping projects smooth while working with subcontractors.

Consider your quality expectations

It’s important to manage your expectations of your subcontractors. Not all subcontractors are created equal. Quality varies and you need to pick subcontractors that match your brand. If you do builder grade work, you can afford to hire builder grade subs. But if you market yourself as an upscale contractor and do custom builds, you should bring subs that match your standards.

Bringing a subcontractor that works at a lower standard than you is a dangerous game. It can lead to wasted time and money, as things have to be redone to match yours and the client’s expectations. Remember, if your sub botches something, it’s your responsibility.

The same can be true of bringing a sub in that works at a higher standard. A sub that does beautiful custom work could waste time on site doing things in a way that is too rigorous and perfectionist for a less expensive project. You may end up spending too much on something that is unnecessary and will go unappreciated by the client.

Always keep an eye out

When you bring a sub that you haven’t worked with before, it’s important to keep an eye on them until you’ve built up that trust. As mentioned above, any mistakes by a subcontractor are your mistakes. A client doesn’t want to hear excuses or passing of the buck. To them, if it’s your site, your job, then it’s your responsibility.

Especially when working with a new sub (new to you, at least), take the time to ensure that they are doing things in a way that complies with the quality of work that you expect. Obviously, subcontractors are independent entities who can do their work as they see fit, within the confines of the project, but so long as you are providing the materials, they are beholden to you and your standards. Particularly if you are providing expensive materials, in the beginning, take a moment to make sure that they are measuring twice and cutting once and within your expectations.

Use your network to find the right subs

If you are just starting out, you may not have a full list of subs that you like to or have worked with. But if you have even one, the chances are that knows lots of other guys. If you really trust one of your subs and his judgement, ask him to connect you with subs in other trades.

If you have a good electrician, ask him about an HVAC tech or a plumber. A reliable painter probably has worked with a good drywall crew. Use your network to find people that you trust and that can share a site well. If others in the trades have had a good experience being a fellow sub, it’s a good sign.

The opposite is true, as well. If you are thinking of hiring a new sub, you may want to run his name by your trusted subs to see if they have had a negative experience with him. Bringing the wrong person onto your job site can jeopardize not just that project, but also your reputation and your relationship with your existing subcontractors.

Keep it simple and clear

Subcontracting can be tricky. On a large project, you could have half a dozen different teams on the site at any given time. Keeping your subcontracting terms clear and simple is key to keeping your project organized.

Establish payment terms before the gig starts. Whether you decide to pay at the completion of the individual sub’s work, the completion of the project or Net 30, you must manage expectations and stay organized. If you have a great experience with a sub, but are late paying him, he may not be willing to work with you again.

Establish standards around day to day operations. While you typically can’t dictate a sub’s hours, some sites have restrictions, especially if you’re working on an occupied homes. You can tell subs that the client wants everyone out by 5pm each day, you expect the work done by X day, and that they need to schedule accordingly.

If you have subs that will need to coordinate parts of their work (for example, demo may need to rely on an electrician and a plumber at certain stages), connect them directly and make clear that you expect communication and coordination without delays.

Insurance and Licensing

It is absolutely critical to ensure that any sub you use is properly licensed and insured, to avoid legal issues. When you employ a subcontractor that isn’t licensed for the work he is doing, you could be held liable if someone is injured or if damaged are caused.

If your subcontractor is uninsured or doesn’t carry workers’ comp for his crew and someone is injured, the injured party could sue the home or property owner, who could turn around and make a claim against you. If your contract with your client states that you and any subcontractors that you use are properly insured, a common enough clause, then you could end up in hot water.

It’s easy to avoid this. With a simple subcontractor agreement, you can protect yourself and your reputation.

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How to Increase Energy Efficiency in Electrical Contracting

Energy efficiency has two big benefits for consumers.

One is to live in a more eco-friendly way. Eco-friendly construction is about building in a more sustainable way by using green building materials, sustainable energy and energy efficient methods. This is a trend that is growing and is worth investing in for your business.

The second is one we can all relate to: saving a buck (or many). Energy efficient electrical contracting means using less power, which translates to lower bills. Customers are willing to invest more in infrastructure that will save them over time, so being able to provide those solutions is a great way to up your profits.

With those benefits, a contractor can cash in by adapting his or her business to provide green options. So here are a few ways to offer more energy efficient electrical contracting.

Solar Energy

An oldie, but a goodie. Solar energy has been developing for a while now, but usage has quintupled in the past five years. The cells are become cheaper and more efficient, so you need fewer of them to power the same thing. In addition, last year’s tax bill preserved tax credits for solar power, so you can save money by using them.

Many corporations and over 150 American cities have committed to converting entirely to clean energy, which means lots of new construction and renovations with this in mind. Many states encourage construction that has energy efficiency in mind; check your state’s standards and potential rewards for integrating solar and other renewable energy sources into your work.

Lighting Control System

Lighting control systems use a computer and sensors to provide the right amount of light where and when it’s needed. They can be used on both indoor and outdoor lighting of commercial, industrial and residential spaces. They’re used to maximize the energy savings from the lighting system, satisfy building codes, or comply with green building and energy conservation programs.

If you’re interested in really incorporating this into your business, it’s recommended to do the California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program (CALCTP), even if you are not California-based. It’s a rigorous 50-hour training class on the proper installation, programming and maintenance of lighting controls. Since these systems are more and more in demand for the financial and environmental benefits, expertise in their installation and maintenance could be a big boost to you business.

Internet of Things

The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is all of the stuff that interacts with and receives information from its environment. Think Amazon Echo or an air conditioner that turns on if it knows you’re on the way home and it’s hot outside. It’s sort of a precursor to artificial intelligence.

Basically, the IoT can be utilized to automatically manage energy efficiency of a home, skyscraper or even of a massive complex. Quality building maintenance helps these spaces to operate at optimum energy levels. They can detect failure or degradation in equipment and alert building management before the replacement or repair is actually needed, saving time and money.

Moreover, the indoor as well as outdoor environment is sensed at all times to give optimal results for ventilation, lighting, fire and security. Over the long term, this can make exceptionally energy efficient buildings. Since energy costs money, that can translate to huge savings.

Smart Meters

Smart meters record energy consumption, send it to the supplier and can display it to the consumer as well. While studies vary, there is some evidence that real-time information on power consumption causes a reduction in consumption and, thereby, cost.

Use of these meters is spotty in the States, at best. Some power companies have them as a standard and reward households that shift energy-usage to off-peak periods, particularly in Texas and California. In addition to helping households understand and adjust their energy consumption, there are other conveniences to the smart meter: power outage detection, remote readings so you don’t have to have an employee come to your home, etc.

Some consumers may start to request them for their own benefit, even where they are not mandated. A knowledge of these meters, their installation and repair could be beneficial to you.

If you want to remain relevant and competitive, you have to be able to provide these products and services. These are just a few examples of ways to expand your business with energy efficient building materials and practices. Look into it and don’t let your competitors get ahead of you on this!