[agla]

Force your guys to account for time on each task. It is a good double check for billing, helps make them be more concerned about unscheduled stops, and gives you data to reverse engineer how much you should have charged.

The method that I liked the most (remember, I have worked for a lot of companies) is one where the forman has to account for all materials and men on each task at a job and each individuall has to keep track of how much time he spent on each task at a job site.

For instance:
Jones residence: 8:00-9:30 brick walk, 9:30-11:00grading for sod,.... for each and every moment of the day. They will fudge it a little, but you can confirm it against the forman's notes. Sometimes it will find a mistake on one or the others notes that might have left something off of the bill.

At the end of the week, you have a backup for any mistakes in payroll, you get a better idea how much each piece of the job cost you, and you did not waste your time trying to track it because you had them do it.

In the offseason, you can get out all the brick walk jobs and see if there is any consistany. If there is, you can use a square foot formula. The same is true for planting estimates. You might be able to break it down to how much it costs you to plant a #5 vs. a #2, or a 2" caliper.

It may work out that you can make formulas, but at least you'll be making your estimates based on real data.

I have a good friend in the business who I have beat over the head that this works for the last five years. He keeps telling me that he does not have time for that. So he keeps on going not knowing when he is making a little money, a lot of money, or losing money. All he knows is how much he has left over after the job is done. It makes me crazy. The worst is that he will look at a price and think it sounds high or low and changes it based on a guess.

I know he makes a lot on some things and loses on others, but there is no data to support where any of that takes place. I think this is way more common than most of you think.