Time Management Tips For Newbies

dirt diggler

here's something i need MAJOR work in ... kinda my main goal this year is to slay this dragon


thing's ive done/do


email when can
no longwinded voicemails
keep cell phone convos short unless client (saves rollover mins too)
deliveries when can vs. supply house trips
when getting gas - just fill up whole tank. None of that $10 at a time
If on phone with anyone other than client - keep it HI-BYE and short
wake up before sunrise
shower before sunrise
STAY organized - put time into that



bonus newbie tip -

don't hunt pheasant with a rifle ...

ruskent

I preach the delivery vs pickup all the time. I am going to try to not even go to the supply house all year long. I used to go in to place orders, but no i'll just fax them in.

I try to always email. I need to blackberry to communicate with clients during the day.

I always fill my truck up all the way.


My main proablem is orginazation. Hopefully this year i can work less in the field and more sitting in my truck taking care of business.

Cole

90% of my communication is through email.

I would not do it any other way.

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dirt diggler

i just would like to finish my coffee before it gets cold or my mountain dew before it gets flat

ruskent

Wait!!!!! You mean your suppose to finish coffee?!?!?! Seems like i drink two inches driving to the job. When i hop out of the truck i put it down and forget all about it for about 2 hours. I stopped buying large coffees since i never finished them.

Now during the colder times of the year, its a different story.

dirt diggler

i'll get to the point where i've got a dozen coffee mugs in my truck (like now)



i tend to (at home) drink coffee out of a glass

Bob Dylan does it ... so does Dirt Diggler

hhehe

rservices

My goals are to;
Marketing
Marketing
Marketing

Consoldate my trips, I dont live close to any of my jobs
Increase sales in new markets, to make the trips more efficant
Complete work orders (one stop shops)
Carry a larger inventory of high use items.

Mike Finley

Congrats on taking steps to become more efficient. It's a never ending battle, I seem to go in stages, with each successful completion of a step in my buisness plan it ramps up new tasks or more of them and the need for reoganizing and become more efficient seems to start all over again.



We avoid email until after a potential customer is a signed client, then email is a great way to communicate. PDFs are a must in this business.

I save some calls for the drive in the truck. Driving and making those calls saves a lot of down time. Calls like follow ups or setting appointments or calling subs back. That crap that some contractors do such as calling everybody back at the end of the day doesn't fly.

Deliveries are something we need to look into more. I probably spend 3 full working days a month just picking up and delivering products to jobsites.

Not interested in the sunrise to sunset work day, (you're younger than me so I understand the drive and applaud it.)

Software has been and will always be the #1 tool for staying ahead of the game. Last month I purchased Adobe Acrobat Professional ($450 ) just for the ability to scan in and turn into a clickable form, all the building depts permit paperwork so I could prefill in the areas that never change and also so I could send the copies prefilled in to our subs. $450 is a lot for a one time expense to save what might add up to 20 minutes of paperwork a month, but the savings of knowing something is done and streamlined and no mistakes are going to have to be checked for is priceless when it comes to picking up efficiency.

In my opinion the #1 way to become more efficient isn't so much something you do but something you don't do. Mistakes are the #1 killer of effieciency. One mistake on paperwork not caught, or 1 mistake in something ordered that will take 2 weeks to get in are devestating to efficiency. Anything you can put in place system wise to prevent a mistake is worth just about any price it cost you.

Continuing on the software issue, next month it's going to be Microsoft Project.

elvinstheman

This great information for newbies like me. Keep the info coming; you gotta love this free business education.

Man, you really can waste some time at the supply house. It seems like every time I step into one, even if I just need one dang sheet of rock or something, it’s an hour down the tubes.

__________________
Take a long, hard look at your elf.

dirt diggler

oops - i forgot to mention that


not only is it a never ending battle - but it's maintaining that efficiency


i think THAT is my big problem really - maintenance. I'm good at coming up with "systems" and then putting them in place ...

im really trying to get out of the field after 5 - just so i can put more in office work


OR - set aside a single day. I've been wanting to try this ... just haven't made the jump

Forry

Dirt- For two years now, I've been working in the field only four days.... Mondays I spend doing admin. stuff, Post office, then pay bills, then invoice jobs, then proposals, then misc office junt, then dinner and beer. In between @ 10:am and 2:pm I meet clients and discuss new jobs(Those are my "smart" times, after food has digested and coffee has leveled out). It takes a full day for the most part, and the rest of my week is left to actually WORK on the jobs. My regular clients like and respect the regularity, and new clients have compared my schedule to other contractors who "fly by the seat of their pants" and don't seem to have a reliable schedule or seem able to show up to meetings. My monday is built into overhead, and works efficiently for me, and most contractors I work with envy this, but can't seem to implement the policy. I dunno, just what I do.

dirt diggler

Nice!!! Honestly I wouldn't mind giving something like that a shot


it's hard to squeeze in work work when you're in between appointments

(not to mention, tryin to stay clean)

Tscarborough

The first thing to do is throw away your blackberry or other PDA. Get a spiral notebook or a bound daily journal and write EVERYTHING in it. Not only do I know how many calls I made (7), I know how many miles I drove (298) and what the weather was (Sunny), how much I quoted the Stimson Field school job for, and what the block order was for Pecos Construction on the Mcdonalds on October 8th, 1992; and I know it for every day since 1986.

I was taught that in my first real job and it has saved my ass, and my time, more than anything else. I will repeat it: Get a book and write down everything!

Forry

Yah Dirt, Nicer clothes on monday, same ol' dirty carhardts all the other days. Sometimes work saturdays as needed, but never on sundays. Working sundays just looks bad. Don't mind working 'til dark as long as the works interesting.

dirt diggler

no i think ya got it right Forry

workin till dark is noble --- i did it tongith and did it most of last year


but - takes away from office work - which is why im tryin to get home these days around 6

bill r

For myself, I know where the waste is: extra driving time because I didn't THINK and PLAN the day's activity. From the planning SHOULD come the lists of tiny detailed things which I need to throw into the workvan: sawblades, a can of oil, chalkline, etc. READY, SET, PLAN!

POOLMANinCT

carry a pocket size notebook always. tscar is on the money w that one.

I will never give up my treo (pocket pc blackberry device) its just fantastic for communication. in fact 80 percent of my posts are made from it.

dirt I think a have a few seasons on you. and had you're problems to an equal of further degree.
(btw go to sams club get 500 styrofoam coffe cups & lids, my mugs rarely leave the house.

I've been hunting the web for a used laptop. in the 300 dollar range. something just to run my accounting software , store pics etc. this unit will never leave the truck

I want to have my entries done on site. if I can find a decent printer ill put that in the truck also.. so I can have all at my fingertips & keep billing for time to make my entries. also tonight my sweety is coming over to "bag up" about 100 proposal kits w. me. I'm going to put them in one of those big tupperware totes. they will never see a coffe stain. I'm can be very fussy about my proposal kits & have delayed writing jobs bc I didn't have full kit w me.
BAD!!!

realpurty wrote the best post I have read on this board. to paraphrase have the little things ready to go, so you can be ready to roduce. Ms purty would you lease cut & paste that as a new thread in the pool forum, so the guys and I can run through it?

elvinstheman

I'm So gonna do this. I already keep a life diary and it has saved my butt in ways I never expected; I started it so my daughter could see what was going on for our family the first few years of her life but I can also look back and see what day two years ago our water heater went out (saved me a couple hundred bucks recently with the gas co.) But now I'm gonna get another one just for work.

Great tips - keep 'em coming. (I like having an office day too. Great idea.)

__________________
Take a long, hard look at your elf.

WNYcarpenter

Our crew works 4-10 hr days, tues. thru fri. 7-5:30. If you spend an hour a day setting up, breaking down, and cleaning then you saved yourself 1 hour per man...Office staff works normal 8 hr days 5 days, as foreman I like having a day to order material, do paperwork, schedule and oversee subs, look over a job without babysitting, and plan out a strategy for the upcomming week. Your getting the same production with a day to spare, and if the crunch comes the crew will work an extra 10 hrs and still have their weekends.

dreamwvr

go out and talk to your neighbors. let people know what you are doing. ask for work! tune into those little passing comments that can turn into jobs . sounds simple but takes effort and the ability to take a no and keep asking. i have recently found three jobs within 2 miles of home by paying attention and making cold calls. learn salesmanship! And now your business.