planning

Ep.130: Managing Growth Effectively with Kevin Schultz

December 7, 2020 00:35:35

There are many things that can destroy a company. Recession, pandemics, and yes, even growth; especially, if the growth occurs with no planning or control.

In the past few years, our economy, and our industry, have grown significantly, and many companies have struggled to keep up. Growth is usually controlled by the amount that a company can sell and subsequently produce.

Sometimes it is planned, and sometimes it just happens. If planned, the team can prepare for it and make the necessary adjustments. If it “accidental” or spontaneous, often the production team gets caught with too much work and not enough time or personnel.

So, what is the key to effectively manage growth?

Kevin Shultz, Vice President of Revision LLC outside of Minneapolis, joins Tim and Steve in this episode to talk about how he and his team have managed tremendous growth at Revision.

As a 28-year veteran of construction and residential remodeling, Kevin brings an immense amount of knowledge to the team at Revision, where they have recently celebrated their 10th year in business.

Tim, Steve and Kevin talk more about:

Background on Revision LLC (number of employees, average project size, etc.)
The growth Revision has experienced over the past 5-10 years.
Was growth planned or accidental, or spontaneous?
Managing and controlling Sales out-selling the Production team’s capacity to produce.
Forecasting tools for jobs coming through sales.
Changes made in production to anticipate and prepare for growth.
And More…

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Ep.95: Teaching People to See with Ian Schwandt

March 9, 2020 00:29:15

Today’s guest believes that training tradespeople is an overlooked part of solving the labor crisis the remodeling and construction industries continue to face.

Ian Schwandt says that lead carpenters are in the best position to have a positive effect on the development of young tradespeople. As a lead carpenter, he practices what he preaches.

In today’s episode, Ian talks to Tim and Steve about teaching young tradespeople to see, understand, and think about why they’re doing something, rather than only demonstrating the mechanics of the task.

Ian is a lead carpenter and estimator with Hudson Valley Preservation in Kent, CT. He started with the company in 2017 as lead carpenter after working with the owners as a carpentry sub. He took over estimating in 2019, and rebuilt the Excel-based estimating program. He wrote a four-part series about the idea of the Worker-Centered Crew in JLC.

Taking on the estimating task gave him added insight into how crews are put together, how they’re trained, and what they’re capable of. Ian started as a laborer out of high school, but found he loved carpentry work. He got a four-year apprenticeship program when he joined the carpenters union in Milwaukee, WI. His training there put him on a life-long path of learning. He talks about his views on training, and others can approach it, including:

The Triangle of Obligations
The importance of being organized
Setting your field team up for success
Building teaching time into the labor burden
Teaching how to cheat
The difference between working from the neck up and neck down
Explaining the “why” of the whole project at the beginning
Using YouTube videos and magazine articles to prepare your field staff
Putting a package of PDFs together that can be accessed on site
Asking the right questions to make workers think and understand the work
Creating a working environment that will attract young workers
And more …

Ian also writes his own blog at The Pen & Hammer — A Lead Carpenter’s View Inside the Office.

We Want to Hear From You

If you have a suggestion for a topic or guest for the podcast, send an email to Tim at tim@remodelersadvantage.com.

Ep.70: Mastering the Look Ahead, Part 2, with Ben Reynolds

September 9, 2019 00:31:03

When you work in a remote area, where your materials are shipped on barges to small islands, and a quick lumber yard run just isn’t possible, everything just takes longer.

So having all the details planned ahead is crucial, says Ben Reynolds.

In this episode, Ben talks to Tim and Steve about the challenges of working in Ontario’s cottage country, and how accurate look aheads are a key component in getting jobs done on time.

Ben has been the production manager at Kawartha Lakes Construction, Lakefield, ONT, Canada, for five years. Prior to that, he was a project lead — the lead carpenter managing a job site. Before joining KLC, he ran his own small company which mainly focused on new post-and-beam construction. When he was wearing the tools, his projects always hit the pre-set milestones, and he had an extremely high success rate of delivering a project on time.

KLC has different challenges than many other design-build companies, especially logistically. They deal with limited parking, moving material on boats and barges, and remote job sites. So planning ahead is key. And part of planning is looking back, keeping an accurate history of what it takes to complete a project. KLC has detailed time sheets, and can refer to experiences in the past to get accurate ideas on what it truly takes to complete a project. Ben talks about what KLC’s production process looks like, and how they plan ahead, including:

The different people that need to be involved
The two-year look ahead
The five-day plan
How to use your historical data
Eating the elephant one bite at a time
The level of detail needed in the five-day plan
The master production brief
Achieving better time management
Getting buy-in on the plan
Solving conflicts in planning
How to run an efficient production meeting
And more …

If you missed our first episode dedicated to creating your own version of the look ahead, listen to Episode 64: Job Site Look Ahead with Tom Batman & Mike Topper, of Harth Builders in Spring House, PA.

Ep.64: Job Site Look Ahead with Tom Batman & Mike Topper

July 29, 2019 00:31:50

The things on a job site that cost extra time and money could be cut down, if not eliminated, through careful, detailed planning. That’s where the job site look ahead makes a huge difference.

Lumber yard runs, selections that haven’t been made, and just about anything else that comes up can be identified if you’re planning ahead.

In this episode, Tim and Steve talk to Tom Batman and Mike Topper about how their company moved to a systemized planning process.

Tom has been with Harth Builders of Spring House, PA, for more than 15 years. He tarted as a subcontractor, and eventually was hired as a full-time employee. He worked his way up from a carpenter to Lead Carpenter to Project Manager, and is NARI-certified as a Lead Carpenter and Project Manager.

Mike Is a NARI-certified Lead Carpenter who joined Harth after relocating from Portland, OR, in 2015.

Harth turned what Tom calls a “corporate corner” and began making systems and lists to get everyone on the same page. Project Managers get involved at the front end of a project — it gives production a greater say in how the logistics must work in the real world. Lead Carpenters get involved at the handoff, when the PM and the LC put together a full schedule, and stay three weeks ahead throughout the project. It takes tracking it every day, and Tom and Mike tell you about how to incorporate the look ahead, including:

Making the time every day
The different roles the PM and LC take
Workin on clear communication
The on-site job board
The kind of information to emphasize
Labeling each day for in-house and trade work
The detail you need and what just causes extra paperwork
How to work it with your cloud-based schedule on a project management system
Scheduling deliveries
What selections can hang out for a little while
The 3-2-1-1 system
The Accountability Checklist
And more …

Including how to start your own Look Ahead system by getting it all in writing and spending the time upfront in the sales phase.

These Are the Types of Topics…

Imagine a room full of Remodeling Production Professionals… People just like you, trying to improve the way your company operates and delivers impeccable work at a high profit… The Topic of today’s podcast is a perfect example of the types of things we will cover at the 2019 Production Conference in Orlando in September.

This annual event will bring more than two hundred Production Managers, Project Managers, and Lead Carpenters together for a one-day journey through the inner workings of some of the industry’s most successful and efficient Production Departments. Click Here for More Information & to Register Today!