Rescuing That Lost Time

First, most of the subs at the job fell behind schedule; because of this, the pressure to get things done ramps up exponentially at the end of a job. As illogical as it may seem, the countertop crew is expected to be able to make up that lost time and get the entire job back on track. No matter what schedule you present, there’s always going to be the question of whether it can be done more-quickly.

The second difficulty is the homeowner; the excited and happy person you met months ago during the stone-selection process is now stressed-out, inevitably disappointed with some aspect of the job, and ready to be done. For this person, you can’t finish quickly enough, and the minor inconveniences that pop up get blown out of proportion due to circumstances out of your control. Miss an install date and you could face an irate end-user.

And these are just the issues on a single project. Take a normal company with a dozen or more jobs running at the same time, all with these same demands, and you’ll see why scheduling is an important part of a successful countertop business. With pressure to try and meet the demands of both the contractors and homeowners, making sure you can accurately forecast your schedule becomes a necessity.

The first thing to remember when scheduling is this: Time is the ultimate reality check. There is only so much of it during a day; you’re not able to tweak it or squeeze it to fit your needs.

Because of this, it’s vitally important to assign realistic time frames to both templating and installtion. Don’t take someone’s advice on how long these ought to take; find out the actual time you spend on them, and plan by that.

Templating is a perfect example. You drive to the jobsite, get some measurements, and go on to the next one, right? Shouldn’t take long at all.

When my dad and I first started Midwest Template Service in 2003, we purchased E-Template as our digital measuring system. The company told us how long it would take to measure a standard-sized kitchen, once we were fluent with the process, and that proved pretty accurate.

The one factor directly related to the system that they didn’t warn us about was inherent human curiosity. Lots of contractors and homeowners wanted to watch E-Template work – digital templating was fairly rare then – and ask questions about it. I even had three Amish carpenters watch me measure a kitchen at one of the job sites – even though they didn’t believe in the use of electricity.

Since these demonstrations were grass-roots advertising for our company, I didn’t want to rush though them and get to the next job. This meant that, on the whole, templating took me longer than it would for other companies – a reality that I had to factor into my schedule.

Will that same time-consuming curiosity hold true in 2010? On the whole, most contractors and high-end consumers know about digital templating, so the average template is going to go more quickly. But there’s always the chance that setting up a Laser Industries LT-55 tripod or getting out the Prodim Proliner is going to lead to an audience and a long string of questions. You don’t have to factor that kind of time in every template, but you’d better not discount it entirely when making up the day’s measuring schedule.

The next factor to consider when planning your templating time-frame is the design process. For a cookie-cutter kitchen, you measure the tops and then add standard overhangs, corner radii, sink setbacks, etc. Done deal.

For more-complicated kitchens, it’s inevitable you’ll end up working with the end-user, and sometimes their designer, on decisions that must be made before their project can go to production. Give yourself enough time to complete this process, as it serves a two-fold purpose.

First, by going over all the job details with the end users, they’ll be comforted that they’re getting exactly what they want – and you’ll be reassured that there’ll be no remakes on the job due to poor communication.

Second, if a designer is involved, it’s well worth your time to work through each detail as an educational process for him or her. They’ll be impressed that you know what you’re doing, and they’ll also speed up future templates by working with their clients to answer questions independent of you. Consider time spent with a designer onsite as an investment in the future of your company.

Scheduling installs is even more-difficult than scheduling templates due to the increase in the number of factors that can slow you down. As I’ve said before in numerous columns, the templater must be the eyes and the ears of the installer for the process to run smoothly.

Nothing can slow an install crew down more than the unexpected. (This is especially true in a remodel.) It’s not enough for the templater to simply take measurements; there also needs to be an eye for situations the installers will face and make sure they’re prepared. Once the install scheduler knows the difficulties that the crew will face on the project, time values can be assigned to them to create a realistic install schedule.

This becomes especially important when you’re trying to schedule two kitchen installs per day for each of your crews. If the first one drags on and the gang shows up at the second location at 4 p.m. to start installing a kitchen, the homeowner will be pretty discouraged if a noisy job continues until it’s time to put the kids to bed. It’s doubtful you’ll get a referral on that one – and, honestly, unless the price you gave them was unbeatable, you probably don’t deserve it.

I’m not a Murphy’s Law kind of guy who believes in worst-case scenarios, but – even with careful planning – the unexpected will continue to rear its ugly head. The best we can do from a scheduling standpoint is to plan ahead.

If traffic is an issue in your area, make sure you leave the crew enough travel time to work around possible gridlock issues. Modern navigation aids (such as GPS units) are a wonder for picking alternative routes; not always the best routes, but an alternative route nonetheless. I guarantee before long you’ll have the “I never knew there was a street here” moment.

The same is true with weather. Our installs always took longer when we were dealing with Midwestern winter conditions, and we had to factor that in. On the flip side, it’s pretty tough to move at a brisk install pace when it’s 105°F. When scheduling, don’t assume every day is sunny and 75°F. Leave enough time to deal with Mother Nature’s reality.

Care and maintenance of your vehicles and installation gear is another factor in keeping with your schedule. Heading out to the boondocks to do a template, and then realizing your gas gauge is tickling “E” is no way to start the morning. (And, yes, I found that out the hard way on a -10°F morning.)

The same is true of missing tools or install items. Discovering you don’t have enough caulk or the right-sized drill bit will throw off your schedule. Double-check the essentials before you head out to install and you’ll save a headache down the road.

Finally, be consistent with your scheduling, and only allow one person to do it. Getting mixed messages on install dates from different members of your staff is sure to upset a contractor or homeowner.

And, use all the modern tools available. Job-tracking software has come a long way and is can be customized to plan schedules around time units that you create for each job. Both Global E Sourcing’s Stone Pro and Moraware offer the user the ability to plan the entire scope of the job, and make changes as they are needed. They even allow the customer to track the progress of their job, avoiding many inquisitive phone calls.

Does all this schedule planning mean we’ll be able to avoid that contractor who tries to bully us into getting a job done or he’ll “take his business elsewhere?” Unfortunately, no. But it does help to avoid that phone call to the end-user to say the job won’t be installed on time because the crew was overbooked. More reality in scheduling should equal less disappointment.

Jason Nottestad, a 15-year veteran of the stone industry, is National Customer Service Manager for VT Stone Surfaces; he’s now on his third year of “The Installer” columns for Stone Business. He can be reached at JNottestad@vtindustries.com.

This article appeared in the December 2009 print edition of Stone Business. ©2009 Western Business Media Inc.