The Economy - June 2009

I have missed to many monthly tips, nearly a year, the reason is simple - the economy! I have been busy and not attended to something that is important to me. I did not prioitize it to a high enough level and it fell in the crack! I did not realize the number of people that read them regularly. To those of you that have sent me e-mails to ask why no updates have been issued, Thank You! This items prioity has been changed on my action list.

Very few electrical contractors have operated in economic time similar to the economy we face today - I certainly know I have not. Everyone seems to be scrambling to just maintain what they have, be that an Owner, General Contractor, a Sub-Contractor, or anyone thinking of using us for their electrical needs. It would be foolish of them not to try to get everything they can for the lowest cost, while maintaining the same high quality they have come to expect..

In today's market I highly suggest that you work smarter not harder, certainly easier said than done. You might want to take a look at some of the previous monthly tips, ask yourself if applying these ideas might help your productivity and bottom line costs.

Several items that have always made sense to me, are to know your project and office costs. Know what your labor burden costs are, check regularly as to your current overhead costs, complete your estimate takeoffs early so that you have time to review them and know that the labor and material costs are as accurate as possible. Have you included all you non-productive labor items, have you included to much for these items? Are your quotes all included and complete? Do you have the accesories needed for all quotable items that you will need. How about spare parts? Have you had your field employees review this estimate to get their buy-in of the estimate and proposal? They may find areas that are better then yours. Having these items competed early will make your final decisions regarding you bid price on bid day less stressful and more accurate.

I am a believer in scheduling your time with an action list (or task planner- call it what you will), this can be a very valuable tool. In my reading, I have come across many good books, Brian Tracy has an outstanding book titled “Eat That Frog”, a sub-title for this book is “21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time”. I highly recommend this book, of his 21 ideas - I embrace 15. What initially caught my eye while first reading the book was his action list, the main difference between his and mine is that he prioritizes to five levels - while I only prioritize to three. Read the book, if it strikes you as a good idea, contact me through my website and I will send you a template in Excel 2003 that will help you get started at no cost. This is a simple spreadsheet that really only takes a few minutes to make, but why spend the few minutes when I will send you mine and save those few minutes for something else?

One of the byproducts of keeping a action list like this, is that if you keep it prioritized and look at it daily the odds are many items that are regularly falling through the cracks, becoming emergencies will be completed when necessary. Eliminating some of these emergencies (or fire drills as I call them) will free up more of your day so you can work on other proactive items . Working proactively will often help your firms profits.

When this works as well as I imagine it will for you, then it make sense to have your employees from the office and field began to use the same format for their own benefit? Again if it benefits them - it will also benefit you, you both win. When you begin to see benefits of this action list, I would ask that you go back and read the tip referencing three-week look ahead schedules for your projects. This is of course just an extension or another type of action list that is job specific. This can help you with day-to-day material problems, manpower requirements that come up at the last minute, and having the information that your employees need to complete their work efficiently - when they need it.

Any imput to these ideas are more then welcome.

Thank you for reading mine.