Management Tools

kcmanny

I'm new to the forum, (my 3rd posting), I was just wondering what is the best management tool available for tracking your people, jobs, and schedule? I was thinking of MS Outlook, but it's a bit over the top for me.

Any thoughts?

Jonesey

A good time card and a specific chart of accounts. A chart of accounts is the one tool I never thought I needed until I understood what its purpose was. Job tracking and cost control helps build higher profits and a more secure business. Without accurate costing the only thing you can do is bid by your gut which will eventually bite you in the a##.

Specifically, I use MS Excel to tab hours per job and per cost code. Outlook is decent for a Contact List, not really much more. If I were you I'd get a copy of MS Office Pro edition and train yourself and your wife to use it effectively. Set up an MS Office Binder for your business (or one each for larger projects) and work up a specific file naming scheme to keep projects from overlapping. I use a customer code, first four letters of the last name, first four numbers of their address and six digit date. Highly unlikely to overlap. I keep ALL records for each job in a seperate folder. It helps.

__________________
Steve Jones
steve@jonespaintingonline.com
Jones Painting Feel the difference service makes

ProWallGuy

A very efficient jobsite foreman.

But Jonesy hit it on the head too.

__________________
Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

Grumpy

Quickbooks. It does all you asked except the scheduling...

Double-A

For overall project scheduling, we use MS Project. For job specific, we use Customer:Jobs in Quickbooks for materials and equipment. For personnel, we use a separate payroll application (can't think of the name at the moment) and job codes.

The codes are on the time sheets the guys get. Reason we use job codes are for W/C coverage. I'm not gonna pay to cover a carpenter doing trim at framing carpenter rates.

Grumpy

MS Project wouldn't work for me because I am not a builder. I am a service trade contractor, roofing, siding, gutters... We are in and out usually in a day, except with siding which usually takes a week. We also run multiple crews daily so Project just wouldn't work for us. I tried, even took a class in it.

I too use multiple classifications for WC purposes. We don't use codes, however that's a brilliant idea. Usually we have the guys fill in a description and the book keeper determines the code. I think I am going to rework my time cards with codes!

Double-A

I'll look and see if I can find a list of our codes in the next few days, Grumpy. I stole mine from someone else. Trick is just to pare it down to the ones used the most, then have the guys call the shop when they have questions or to do what you're doing, write it in.