BUILDING PROCESSES FOR THE LONG-TERM

While it’s tempting to say yes to every job, it’s worth taking a step back and considering your next move, so you can head in the right direction long-term

Lately, you may find yourself running around like a madman, with the phone ringing and lots of people calling on your time. Money is good, there’s a building boom on and it looks set to continue for some time. So, now is the obvious time to pull out all the stops, take on as much work as possible and just go for it, right?

Wrong! Especially if you are “running like a chicken with its head cut off”.

The thing is, if you are facing challenges delivering the kind of service you believe in, then simply multiplying what you are currently doing is just going to increase the difficulties – and give you much bigger headaches.

So, rather than jump in, you need to use the opportunity the current boom presents to build yourself a long-term and secure building business. That way you will be successful now, during the boom, and long after this boom is over (and it will end – we just don’t know when).

To make the most of the greater demands that the current situation is putting on you, you need to get away from the bind of being incredibly busy.

To build a smart and secure business, you need to put time into it and work on the strategies that need to be implemented to enable it to both survive and grow.

Even more important is getting those strategies in the correct order.

Here are just some of the steps you might want to follow to get your sites running smoothly.

1. Instruction

Never delegate a job unless you have given clear instructions about how you want the job to be run. Never leave a foreman to just do it his way! Sure, he may do it well, but imagine the confusion if in time you have several jobs running concurrently – all following different routines. Project managing will be a nightmare! Team members will not be able to move around easily as they will need to learn new routines for each foreman!

2.Design

Take a little time and design your onsite routine now, while you are small, and while you work on the routine yourself. Imagine that you are both the foreman and the project manager and outline the onsite management routines – meetings, reports etc. It might seem a bit odd having a meeting with yourself (as foreman), and giving a report to yourself (as project manager) but it’s worth it – when you get busy, you want these routines to be running smoothly.

3.Implement

Don’t spend heaps of time trying to get your processes perfect before you start using them. They will never be perfect! Rather, roll out your routines and systems while the business is still small and while you still have no more than two or three jobs running at a time. Work on making your routines habitual and then on improving them.

The goal is to have these routines running at such a level of effectiveness that you can leave your site managers for days on end, knowing that they will be as effective as you would be if you were running that job.

4.What to include

Your systems should include basic things such as site behaviour (culture), health and safety, tidiness, language and radios, etc. Then, of course, job-related systems such as typical job instructions to ensure your foreman approaches each section of work the way you would.

Most importantly, you need checklists to ensure each stage of a job is finished correctly.

Finally, you need some performance tools – for setting targets, allocating work and reporting on achievement of targets.

These systems and processes will ensure that your jobs deliver both what the client wants and meet your standards, your schedule and the budget that you have allowed.

Lastly, you need to monitor the performance of your onsite teams, systems and routines by having a review of all your onsite processes at least twice a year.

Building a strong and stable construction business takes time and logic.

 

Graeme Owen is a builders’ business coach at thesuccessfulbuilder.com. Since 2006, he has helped builders throughout  New Zealand get off the tools, make decent money, and get more time in their lives. Grab a copy of his free book: The 15 Minute Sales Call Guaranteed To Increase Your Conversion Rate or join Trademates and connect with builders who are scaling too.