Measure Once (and for All)

If only it were that easy. The reality is that as a templater, your job is not only to take accurate measurements, but also to assess each situation and take measurements of everything that could affect the fabrication of each countertop.
Missing a crucial measurement could mean a hurried return trip to the jobsite so that fabrication isn’t held up. If a homeowner or builder has to meet you there to answer a question or let you in, you may well be inconveniencing them.
And, believe me, you can’t even pretend to look competent at your job when you’re driving back for one number. Don’t bother with trying to provide a lame excuse – nobody’s buying it.
I use two strategies – and my electronic templating system – to help avoid embarrassment and wasted time, and also to provide great customer service.
The first strategy is simple: a checklist. Break down each measurement task into the most-detailed questions you can possibly ask, and then cover them step-by-step for each job. The more comprehensive your checklist, the better the chances you’ll cover every detail.
Set your list up so sections that don’t pertain to a job can be quickly skipped. If the job doesn’t have a cooktop, there’s no sense in checking through a cooktop section. Anything too long or complicated may make your templater’s eyes glaze over, completely defeating the purpose.
Better yet, set the list up with input from your measuring crew. Good measurers remember every mistake and missed measurement they’ve ever made, and can use that experience to formulate checklist strategies to avoid future miscues. A templater who creates a checklist is also probably more likely to use it on a regular basis.
Mandating the use of a tool is one thing. Having your guys use a tool because it helps them do their job better (thus making their lives easier) is another.
The second strategy I use is more-complicated, because it involves a kind of theoretical checklist that looks forward within a job and assumes that parts of the job may change. It’s helpful to have more than a little templating experience when using this strategy, but the basic components can be taught.
Let me give you an example that involves both of my strategies.
Standard operating procedure for a measure usually involves having paperwork approved by the client, Mrs. Jones, outlining in exact detail what the job will be. The templater knows the stone, edge detail, seam placement, sink, faucet, backsplash height, overhangs, and on and on. Not one question has been left unasked by the sales team, and Mrs. Jones is 100-percent sure about every choice she made.
The templater takes measurements, runs through his Strategy 1 checklist, and is out the door. He’s got time to read the latest Stone Business over coffee and a donut before he calls the boss to tell him he’s on the way to the next measure. It’s a great life.
But, Mrs. Jones doesn’t live in Stepford. Outside influences (advertising, friend’s homes, HGTV) led her to pick her countertop product and style. If you assume that those influences cease the minute she signed her contract and you put a tape measure on her kitchen, you’re the one living in a dream world.
People come up with new ideas on a continual basis, and people buying expensive products have certain expectations that their ideas, no matter how late in the ballgame, can be implemented. Can you say ‘No’ to a post-template change?
Sure, your detailed written contract allows you to nix the alternation; if the blade is already on the stone, it’s too late anyway. But to say no in the lag time between template and fabrication, when it’s actually possible to make changes? And disappoint Mrs. Jones?
Remember, the best and least-expensive form of advertising is the personal referral. If you can make the changes that the client now believes will create a great final product, the odds are in your favor they will brag you up to their friends if the rest of the job goes well. For a small independent like me, those referrals can account for nearly half my business – without spending a dime on ads.
So how can you prepare for this? Assume there will always be changes. Consider what could be done, and measure accordingly. A few minutes of mulling over the what-ifs and measuring for them may save a return trip.
Is this a waste of billable time? You’ve got a clause in your contract that says you can bill Mrs. Jones if she changes her mind and you need to remeasure, so why not just charge her for the trip?
Well, you could. And if she’s added something like full-height backsplash in her entire kitchen, you’re going to be there awhile. A charge is definitely justified; since her price is going up anyway with a major change, you can bury the cost of the return trip in the new bid.
But the vast majority of change requests deal with issues that could have been measured by a templater who was thinking ahead. Avoiding that extra trip charge for a remeasure means avoiding the aggravating phone call from Mrs. Jones complaining about it on her final bill. If you think she won’t, you don’t know her very well.
Maybe Mrs. Jones ordered standard-height backsplash for her kitchen, but then went to a friend’s house and saw a backsplash that met the bottom of a window casing. Now she wants that look.
If your templater thought ahead to that possibility, how long would it have taken to measure the casing length and measure the height left, right, and center? A minute? Maybe two, if you were measuring over existing tops, and had to look underneath to make sure they weren’t shimmed up. Even if only one in 20 jobs changes the height of the backsplash, and you’ve already got the measurements, that 20th job makes all the time well spent.
Raised snack bars are another area where it’s possible to look ahead for changes. Maybe Mrs. Jones buys new bar stools after you measure, and then wants to extend her overhang so she can push the stools in all the way to the backrest.
If the snack bar ends at a wall, have you got the measurements that would allow you to safely extend the piece? What if the wall goes around a corner before it reaches the new overhang depth? Have you recorded those measurements, just in case? Do you know how wide the walkways are near the snack bar, so you can warn Mrs. Jones if an extended overhang will be intrusive, or out-of-code?
Maybe one of the countertop runs ends near a door, and Mrs. Jones decides she wants to extend the countertop so it ends at the door casing. Have you recorded that measurement?
How about if Mrs. Jones adds standard-height backsplash to a job that has a raised snack bar above another counter? Have you recorded the height difference in the two surfaces, so you could accurately put a backsplash between them?
What if Mrs. Jones decides she wants to center her sink under her window instead of at the center of her base cabinet? Have you recorded the inside dimension of the sink base cabinet, and how much play you’ve got on both sides of it? If you haven’t, you’ll have to make a return trip in order to let her know if that’ll work.
These aren’t just theoretical situations – they are all actual change requests I was able to implement without a return measuring trip. I trusted my experience with measuring and recorded the dimensions that allowed me to make changes – even though they weren’t on the original order form.
Can you teach a new guy to do this? Keep a record of the most common post-template changes from your customers. By studying that list and getting in the habit of looking for those potential changes, there’s a good chance that the new measure will develop an instinct to measure for other potential changes.
Electronic templating can be a great tool to use for recording measurements that might be important. I use Photo Top, which allows me two options for theoretical measurements.
The first option is simply marking a point that might come into play with a dot or an arrow, and getting two good pictures of it during my normal shoot. That point will then be recorded in the X-Y-Z world of CAD when I process the photos. If a change is made involving that point, I know exactly where it is in the real world.
The second option is the ability to mark points on the pictures themselves, even if I hadn’t marked them prior to processing the photos. When I do neglect to record a theoretical measurement, or get a really wacky request, there’s a good chance I can still get the measurement I need without having to make a return trip.
Other electronic-measurement systems can be put to a similar use when recording theoretical measurements. It doesn’t take much effort to pick out a couple more points with a laser or pull out the string to record a few more measurements that may save a lot of time in the end.
Trusting your what-if measurements can be a little nerve-wracking at first. Make the effort to double-check them in the beginning with a return trip or two, just to get comfortable with the process. The first time you can confidently avoid that trip, and all the pieces fit, you’ll see the value.
Jason Nottestad, a 14-year stone-industry veteran, is co-owner of Wisconsin-based Midwest Template Services.