The Green Industry's Resource Center

pines · #1 02-28-2004, 08:41 PM

I recently bid a job that consisted of trimming 10 junipers that are extremely overgrown almost to the point of being trees. I projected out the time to perform each phase of the project from the moment of leaving home to returning home.

Well, i was awarded the job and just performed it today. When I stepped on the gas this morning i pressed my stop watch on the Timex. When I returned back to the house I was within 10 minutes of my projected forecast. The beauty of this was that I could actually just look at my watch while I was working to see how I was doing. I found this to be a valuable tool....as well as a little bit of incentive.

Have any of you tried any similiar methods to see or keep a job on track?

swim · #2 02-28-2004, 09:06 PM

It can be an incentive when things are going good.

It can cause my blood pressure to go through the roof when they are not.

pines · #3 02-28-2004, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by swim
It can be an incentive when things are going good.

It can cause my blood pressure to go through the roof when they are not.

That's true, but it let's you know where you stand.

mowinmoney · #4 02-28-2004, 09:22 PM

Nice to have a scoreboard on the job site. You know if you are winning, losing, or getting blown out!

twwlawn · #5 02-29-2004, 10:45 AM

I used a stopwatch when I first started doing lawns & other odd jobs, this was a good learning tool to use to see if I estimated the job time right. From doing that, I can estimate more efficiently than I did in the beginning.

impactlandscaping · #6 02-29-2004, 11:53 AM

We use 2 stopwatches in the truck on Mowing days. One runs non-stop for the total day's hours, and the other runs stop and start time for each account.Helps to see exactly where we are on actual production time on a weekly basis on each account.<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_5_52.gif' border=0></a>

CNYScapes · #7 02-29-2004, 12:06 PM

Thats OK, but I could foresee quality issues if you start to get behind on the stopwatch. You know, rushing the job just to get done on time.

impactlandscaping · #8 02-29-2004, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CNYScapes
Thats OK, but I could foresee quality issues if you start to get behind on the stopwatch. You know, rushing the job just to get done on time.

We don't check / stop the second timer until we are in the truck on the way out of the drive.It is not a "carrot on a stick" for the crew,it only serves to find the average production minutes spent on a job so I can compare the times to the previous month/year, etc. to see if we are improving quality with less time, or increasing time with no improvements seen. In a high turnover field, it helps to have #'s in place for new hires to track their times aginst the "regular time" built into the job. You have to have all the numbers in place to actually know what your daily production income is compared to your cost of daily operations ,etc.JMO..

dkeisala · #9 02-29-2004, 02:00 PM

We record start and stop times for the day as well as for each individual account serviced using the clock in the truck

robertsturf · #10 02-29-2004, 02:02 PM

It is imperitive to time each "job" . That is the only way to know if your prices are in line with your budget. I started doing that 4yrs ago on a part-time basis and now it is second nature . I have not had to raise mowing prices for a while because I "know" how long it takes for tasks and can track them for pricing.