schedules

Using QR Codes for Field Communication – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E17

March 20, 2023 Operations, Production 00:28:55

Today on the Tim Faller Show, Nick Sandifer details a new way to communicate in the field to help his team navigate the small details in elaborate projects. Nick and the Sandifer team use QR codes to help communicate better on the job site. The QR codes allow the project manager to view the electrical fixtures, architectural plans, and other information about the project. Nick discusses the effectiveness of the QR codes that lead to fewer phone calls from the team because all the data is in the QR code.

Nick Sandifer is the owner of Sandifer Design Build in Jacksonville, Florida.  Nick is a graduate of Florida State University with a degree in Real Estate Finance, Appraisal and Feasibility. He started his building career with a large national builder, Centex Homes. Later he worked as a project manager for local custom home builder Benchmark Luxury Homes. His experience working for both national and local custom builders has allowed him to focus on the schedule and the details.

Nick, Tim, and Steve talk more about…

  • Benefits of using QR codes
  • Changing plans while using the QR code
  • The work that goes into making the QR codes for all the projects
  • And more…

Hitting a Schedule Every Time With April Bettinger – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

February 27, 2023 Management, Operations, Production, The Tim Faller Show 00:35:55

Hitting a schedule every time in construction is possible if you pay proper attention to planning and have a purposeful attitude.

In this episode, April Bettinger joins Tim and Steve to talk about the best practices and the common pitfalls to avoid when creating and managing an on-time project that ends with delighted clients.

April is the founder and owner of Nip Tuck Remodeling in Snohomish, WA. For more than 30 years, she’s carved out a respected niche in the construction industry. Her father was a custom homebuilder, so April grew up watching and learning about excellent customer service, and what it takes to complete a high-quality project. April has held key roles in finance, budgeting, customer service, team building, and sales management — preparing her to own and operate her own company. Nip Tuck Remodeling was founded in 2010, with a vision and determination to create a construction company with extraordinary craftsmanship and a focus on professionalism. 

April and her estimator create the master schedule, then it’s turned over to the production manager, who is responsible for creating and  managing the job schedules on BuilderTrend. One huge factor in staying on track once you’re in production is getting the schedules done and materials ordered a month before the project starts. She talks about why that works, and other aspects of keeping your jobs on schedule, including:

  • Why the project manager has to create and own the schedule
  • Setting pivotal goals for each week in the schedule
  • Using goals for client satisfaction
  • Helping everyone buy in to the system
  • Handling change orders in the schedule
  • Getting clients to think ahead during selections
  • Building in reasonable wiggle room
  • Handling design changes and heading them off
  • And more …

Click here to listen

Building a Team, Not a Family with Jef Forward – [Best of the Tim Faller Show]

January 23, 2023 Culture, Management 00:40:45

While having a family-like culture is a well-intended premise, it is oftentimes impractical.

Companies may notice that one or two employees are intolerant of the family-like culture in place and leave the “family” dysfunctional. 

Creating an environment where there is a structure that resembles a team, rather than a family, is a way to avoid intolerance, and grow as a company.  In this episode, guest Jef Forward describes how he was able to achieve a team-like culture in his business, and why it has been successful.

Jef has a Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan and started Forward Design Build in 1997, focusing on a design and build method to ensure successful projects. He defines a successful project as a happy homeowner with a beautiful, functional home completed within ‘stated’ expectations of cost, service and schedule from the beginning of design to the end of construction.

Tim, Steve and Jef talk more about:

  • The “locus of control” 
  • How to address and correct the path of someone who is trending sideways
  • How to efficiently communicate with different team members
  • And more…

Culture in Practice with Chris Stebnitz – [Tim Faller Show] S4 E13

January 16, 2023 Culture 00:40:28

Today on the Tim Faller Show, Chris Stebnitz joins the show to discuss building a culture in a remodeling company and the impact it has on the client experience. Chris talks about how building trust with your employees can enhance the company culture. While building a culture is important, there are also ways you can destroy your company culture including gossip or being a demanding leader. Chris says if the business owner is the only way the company succeeds, you will never build a culture.

Chris Stebnitz is the owner of Stebnitz Builders located in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Chris is a Third-generation owner of Stebnitz Builders. He started as cheap labor for the family when he was in his teens. Chris then moved into sales in his 20s, marketing shortly thereafter and then focusing on sales management before purchasing the company in 2008 from his father and uncles.

Chris, Tim, and Steve talk more about:

  • How Stebnitz Builders built a company culture 
  • Why trust is important for a company culture
  • and more…

The Key to Good Management is Listening with Christine Miles [Tim Faller Show] S4 E9

November 28, 2022 Management, The Tim Faller Show 00:48:17

Today on the Tim Faller Show, Christine Miles joins the show to discuss how better listening skills lead to better communication. Christine explains why listening is so complicated and suggests some easy ways to listen better. She also highlights the importance of communication in creating trust between co-workers.

Christine is an author, professional keynote speaker, consultant, executive coach, thought leader, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder and CEO of EQuipt, a training and consulting company that helps leadership teams grow sales, develop people, and create cultures of understanding. She developed The Listening Path™, a transformational workshop on listening to understand, which has been taught at various Fortune 100 corporations, universities, law firms, and privately-held companies. She is the author of What Is It Costing You Not to Listen? which will encourage you to examine how you are listening. You’ll discover that not only are many of the problems in your life due to not listening effectively, but listening helps to solve most problems.

Tim, Steve, and Christine talk more about:

  • Failure to listen can cause culture problems within an organization
  • Improving turnover through listening
  • How listening can help your company’s bottom line
  • And more…

Design and Production: Can we really get along? with Morgan Thomas and Candice Rania [Tim Faller Show] S4 E7

November 14, 2022 Operations, Production, The Tim Faller Show 00:45:36

On this episode of The Tim Faller Show, Candice Rania and Morgan Thomas join the show to answer the question: Can design and production get along? While the production and design teams have the same overall goal of completing a project that will delight their clients, they do it differently. Morgan and Candice talk about their struggles with time constraints, delays, and change orders and how they developed new processes that involve team reviews with proposed estimates to ensure each department has the proper budgets and limit unexpected client costs.

Morgan Thomas started at Leff Design Build in Sonoma County, California 5 years ago as a project manager and was then promoted to her current role as the production department manager. She is excited and proud of her team’s input to the project’s budget, which she thinks has created an improved sense of ownership among her coworkers.  Candice Rania is the pre-production manager at Leff design-build and works closely with Morgan.  

Tim, Steve, Morgan, and Candice talk more about

  • Integrating production and design and how that creates a better customer experience
  • Evaluating current methods and creating new processes can lead to better businesses
  • And more…

The Tricks of a Lead Carpenter with Doug Horgan- Season 4 Episode 5

October 24, 2022 Operations, Production, The Tim Faller Show 00:44:29

Tim and Steve welcome Doug Horgan to the show to discuss the role of a lead carpenter. Doug talks about his responsibilities, including research, being an internal “help desk,” managing people internally and externally.  He also manages scheduling and explains the meaning behind the saying “make ready planning” and why it’s essential for a lead carpenter.

Doug Horgan is Vice President–Best Practices at BOWA, the Washington DC area’s premier custom and remodeling builder. In this training, quality, and troubleshooting role, Doug’s goal is reducing construction defects through sharing knowledge. Doug’s thirty years of tools-on carpentry, warranty troubleshooting, and instruction experience, are the foundations for visually rich presentations on how to build properly and avoid construction problems.

Tim, Steve, and Doug talk more about

  • Having an organized job site
  • Client relations and communication
  • Advice for a lead carpenter
  • And more…

Time Management for Project Managers – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E2

October 3, 2022 Operations, Production, The Tim Faller Show 00:32:29

Today on the Tim Faller Show, we welcome guest John Vendafreddo to discuss time management. John talks about how to organize jobs based on importance or urgency, and how planning can help with time management. John also discusses how to handle in-office meetings while working on job sites. John finished the show by giving some advice to new project managers.

John has been interested in building since he received his first Fisher-Price toolset. Upon graduating high school there was no question about what field John would enter. John joined the Hogan Design Build team as a laborer but his drive and eye for perfection helped develop him into the company’s head trim carpenter. As Hogan Design Build grew, John’s attention to detail led to him being promoted to Project Manager and now, Senior Project Manager. John is married and has three sons. He lives in a house that he built from the ground up in Batavia.

Tim, Steve, and John talk about:

  • How to prioritize your time
  • How much time to spend with clients
  • On the job site time management
  • And more…

The Partnership Between Owner and Production Manager With Clark Harris and Eric Bain – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E1

September 26, 2022 Operations, Production, The Tim Faller Show 00:28:22

Season 4 Starts With This Special Episode Recorded Live at The Remodelers Summit!

Listen to this episode and get tips on creating an effective and highly functional relationship between company ownership and the production team.  Clark Harris and Eric Bain of Innovative Construction discuss how they have built an open, trusting, and team-based relationship that allows them to work effectively together while creating a culture for innovation, growth, and change.  

Innovative Construction is a high-end design firm in Atlanta, GA, with the goal of improving lives through design, craftsmanship, and teamwork.  Clark and Eric run their organization with a philosophy of “do it badly and improve.”  They do this with a relationship of openness and trust.

Join Clark, Eric, Tim, and Steve as they discuss:

  • Radical Candor
  • Failure as a growth opportunity
  • Overcoming challenges and fears
  • And more…

The Impact Your Production Team Has on Marketing with Spencer Powell – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

September 12, 2022 Management, Marketing, Operations, Production, The Tim Faller Show 00:39:17

Raise your hand if you are a salesperson… Maybe a few business owners raised their hands, but most likely, our production people and our Project managers, Lead carpenters, and Production managers all kept their hands down. Not so fast!

In this episode, we step out of our comfort zone a little and talk about your production teams’ impact on sales and marketing. For this discussion, we bring in an expert in the marketing world who has worked with hundreds of remodelers and home builders all over the country, Spencer Powell.

Spencer is the President of Builder Funnel, a Colorado-based firm that provides sales and marketing services for homebuilders, remodelers & contractors. Spencer earned his Inbound Marketing, HubSpot, and HubSpot Partner Certifications in 2010 and has been practicing and teaching inbound marketing to businesses ever since.

Tim, Steve, and Spencer talk more about:

  • The impact production has on the Client Experience
  • The Top 3 things that will create negatives in the clients’ mind
  • The Top 3 things that create a positive reaction with a client
  • How the production team can create vital content for the marketing effort
  • How owners and leaders can get buy-in from the team and show the impact they have on the business