Growing

[drmiller100]

I live in a small resort town 100 miles from the nearest city over 40,000 people. Locally, there have been two landscapers. One was recently bought out by a larger regional company.

The larger regional company has decided they won't touch anything under a 30k landscaper project.

What this means is that we are growing. I have a crew that focuses on installation. They are doing 7k a week in installs. This typically includes a 4 zone sprinkler system, 4k of sod, and a few trees/ drip lines. one or two lawns a week. My average bid for the above system is probably 5k.

Summer is short. How do I increase efficiency to do more per week?

[richallseasons]

if your install crew is working well together and they are providing quality work and as much as they can get done in a week then i would say if the work is there you should look into starting a second crew and double your output in the busy season, and when the work slows down cut back to just what you need again.Its the same double edged sword we all face at some time ,cant get the work done without the laborers but paying more people makes it tough.

[hostingdiva]

If your crew is doing all they can, you really can't make them work harder than they already do. If you start cutting corners, you will get a bad reputation so I'm with richallseasons - you may need to consider looking into starting another crew during your busy season.

If you think your crew could be doing more, then you should go out with them to a job or two to see what they're doing. Could they be doing something faster? Maybe they need more training in an area? Maybe you need to upgrade to better equipment? Evaluate the tools you are using to see if there is something better / faster. Also, evaluate your crew to be sure they're using the tools properly and efficiently - no sense if having a computer if someone doesn't know how to use it - you know?