n Shop Management
Making sure your business stays busy doing the right things is crucial in maximizing your performance in the busy season. By Ron Coleman David Henry Thoreau once said, “It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” In business, it’s essential to know when you will be busy and plan for when you are not. But, unfortunately, when the busy season comes, we often forget about our personal lives. When it comes to being busy, these are two truisms in my office — we prioritize the wrong things and put off living for the wrong reasons. This is a common occurrence for most businesses. Particularly when the busy season rolls along. For many, it comes as a surprise and we react accordingly. We should prepare for the busy season to come and that it will be followed by a quieter season. Successful contractors plan ahead and even out the ebbs and flows. Last minute strategies are not the answer, however, even the best approach can take a season or two to develop, implement, and fine-tune. The sooner you start, the sooner you will be able to stop putting off living. Ask yourself “What am I busy about?”
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Plumbing & HVAC – July/August 2022
Here and now One of the first things you can do is to look at your pricing menu. You can ask yourself, what can I do to squeeze extra dollars out of each service call? For example, if you have five technicians working 160 hours per month, that totals 800 hours. If you have another $5 per hour, that would generate $4,000 in additional profit per month. At $10 per hour, that would be $8,000 per month. Try to develop premium rates for same-day callouts, evenings and weekend calls. There are other methods of charging customers that you should also consider.
These are pure profit and there is no cost to the company. One, implement a fuel surcharge or increase it if you already have one. Two, increase the time allowed for travel time. For example, if your minimum charge is for 30 minutes on-site and you charge $100 for the first half-hour on-site, increase that to $125 for the first half-hour on-site and $25 per quarter hour after that. Thirdly, add or increase the charge for supplies or consumables. Next, make sure you charge for using vacuum pumps, scopes, and other equipment as line items on your invoice. Five, have a checklist for
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