When I was in business school, one of my professors shared a story that has really stuck with me. Prior to teaching, he had worked for a company that supplied components for airplane engines. On one project he was tasked with scheduling the production of a part their client needed by a strict deadline. Carefully he plotted out how long each step would take and worked backward to determine when production needed to start.
The work got underway and all was on schedule until the deadline neared. It was then that my professor realized he had made a terrible mistake: He had completely forgotten to account for the time it would take to ship the part to the client! It was a large, oversized piece, and the only option they were left with at that point was to fly it from Europe to the US via private plane. The cost of the flight ate up their entire profit and then some.
His lesson to us: The devil is truly in the details.
This is true in the landscaping industry, too. Fail to account in your bid for all the labor a job will require, or forget to include all the materials you’ll need, and you’ll be left to eat the difference. Conversely, if you have a job come in significantly under budget, were corners cut? Or did you overestimate the time needed and lose out on work you could have done for other clients?
Details really matter. That’s why the team at Grunder Landscaping created a checklist to help ensure their bids are accurate and why they hold an estimation and standardization.
The Estimation and Standardization Meeting
This meeting is key. In it they bring together their sales designers and group leaders to review and discuss any jobs that come in under or over their budget by 15% or more.
The goal is to learn from both the wins and the losses, to listen to each other, and to get better as a team. When mistakes are made, rather than berate or shame each other, they focus on what they should do differently the next time.
They enter the notes from this meeting into their software, enabling them to adjust bids up or down for repeat work and helping them to avoid making the same mistakes twice. They also make notes and updates whenever they find a deficiency in their proposal checklist. All of this helps create a culture of continuous improvement and fosters a team committed to working together to get better.
All of us at The Grow Group wish all of you a year of continuous improvement in 2020. We hope you’ll take some time to relax over the next week or so, enjoy the holidays, and come back recharged and ready to grow.
Emily Lindley
Marketing Manager