looking to cut expenses

3529 Views 33 Replies 18 Participants Last post by RyanD, Jan 5, 2007

tiedeman

Discussion Starter · Aug 23, 2003

I am trying to cut down our monthly expenses by $200 a month. I know that it may not seem like much, but it is a lot harder than it seems. Now when I say expenses I mean like phone, office supplies, print cartridges, amount of paper use, etc. We have actually switched over to PDA's to save money on ink and paper useage.

Any other ideas on how to cut expenses, not including equipment?

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 24, 2003

the reason for cut is because it's a goal that I have. I was thining about $150, but I figured $200 instead. Basically just a goal I wanted to try to see whether or not I could do it. So far, I am like probably saving around $120+ a month.

I already email invoices to some customers, like only 3 of them.

The cell phones: I have actually thought about just totally dropping the cellular minutes on my Nextel and only have 2-Way.

What I have done so far for per monthly:
take off caller id Save $10.00
buying print cartridges at a different place Save $6.00
buying teeshirts, not polo work shirts Save $80.00

And then little stuff like using PDA's instead of paper, cutting down on mile radius, loading & unloading equipment myself, not my employees, maintenance myself as well, fueling up equipment myself the night before. There are a bunch of other little stuff as well.

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #12 · Aug 25, 2003

Originally posted by Rustic Goat
What kind of employee expenses do you have, items that you furnish/pay for that might need to be cut down/eliminated?

Have you gone back over the books to see what kinds of things your buying that while nice to have are not necessities?

Of course you could always cut down on the bosses salary! Just a joke now, don't get steamed.

employee expenses are like: their uniforms, paid health insurance to full time workers, and paid cell phones. I am thinking about doing away with the cell phones though and only have 2 way.

I have went over the books made a list of eight things that I would like to cut and thought should be cut:

credit card fees, fuel, maintenance parts for equipment, workshirts, print cartridges, phone charges, cell phone charges, web site cost.

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #15 · Aug 26, 2003

Originally posted by Rustic Goat
Notice you didn't mention lowering the bosses salary any.

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #16 · Aug 26, 2003

I know that I am probably beating a dead dog to death, but I just want to try to maximize everything.

Like just yesterday I bought double window evenlopes so I don't have to have the business name and logo printed on the evenlopes. I used to only have single window, but now double.

I am actually looking over my invoices as well to see whether or not anything have to be taken off or deleted that eats up a lot of ink. I probably go through like 1 1/2 to 2 ink cartridges a month (ridiculous!!!)

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #21 · Aug 26, 2003

regarding the production and windshield time I think that I have just about totally got that down to the lowest that we can go.

The cell phone thing though is really weighing on my mind because I spend just about $180 a month for cell phones for employees. Sure when they go over the minutes it gets taken out of their paycheck, but I really only have one guy that uses the cellular minutes. We definetly though still need to stay in contact using the 2 ways throughout the season and especially during the winter time.

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #24 · Aug 29, 2003

Originally posted by Dr. Mow
do 2-3 yards every day by yourself,
25 - 35 per yard

30 x 2 = 60 / 60 x 5 = 300.00 per week with no labor to pay 300 / week = 1200 per month

cut labor do more work yourself.

I have been doing landscaping maintenance for about 4 hours a day during the week and about 5 hours on Saturday to cut down labor expense

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #26 · Sep 1, 2003

I am not cutting down on their labor hours, I am cutting down on their overtime. My guys usually get around 45 to 47 hours a week

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #28 · Sep 1, 2003

believe this or not, but almost 80% of my employees have families and so they don't like the overtime. They like the extra pay, but they also like to get home earlier to spend with their families.

I had one guy last week (we pay bi-weekly) get 94.5 hours of work. Almost 15 hours of overtime. I am currently thinking about putting together another lawn crew as well or just wait until next year to do it.

I know what you mean by the deadwood, I am currently doing my quarterly evaluations this week. Should be interesting

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tiedeman

Discussion Starter · #33 · Sep 1, 2003

Originally posted by Rustic Goat
PJB, you need to study a bit about production and the hourly rate system.
A stray OT hour once in a great while vs crews where one man gets as much as 15 hours OT is vastly different.
Your income for an OT hour is still the same income, it is not income at OT rates. You have to double income for a given hour of OT to pay for that OT.
It's a lose/lose situation, you're paying more and in effect getting paid less.
If you have 3 or 4 crews, each getting even a few hours of OT weekly, you can easily pay the expenses involved for adding another crew, plus the potential of expanding your customer base even more than is currently.
Two keys involved.
One, having enough business to keep all at work.
Two, have a NO OT rule, it really doesn't take much to put your profit % in a nose dive. As owner/boss/manager (what ever your title), it's your responsibility to make sure you have enough personnel & equipment to get the job done and that they are scheduled properly.

thank you, exactly what I was going to say

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