[Bexter]

Jeff ... I was not sure where to start this thread . Feel free to move it if this is not suitable.

Productivity

The quality and quantity of goods or services produced per unit of time.

Every one of us (competitors) probably has something that they do better.
How do you know if you are more productive? How do you measure?

[Stonehenge]

I moved it over to Management - hope you don't mind...

As for the question at hand - how do I measure productivity? Honestly, I'm not as diligent as some here about measuring. That being said, I really can only measure our company against our previous performance. Every once in awhile I get a little glimpse into another outfit's productivity; either they're working on a project next door, or we're working together on a project for our association, or we happened to land one portion of a project and they land another and I can see them in action...

But that's never very often.

Actually, I've found this place to be a good spot to compare productivity against fellow landscapers.

But I can also just tell where there are a few areas where we aren't as productive as we can be, but I'm mentally fighting changing it...Like morning prep time - loading or unloading tools...I know this would go much faster if we had trucks better suited to the task (Tony Bass, you listening?), or truck/trailer combos that held all of a crew's tools and equipment.

I'm fighting this because I know it's going to cost money and take up more space (and space we don't have at the moment). I haven't done an analysis to see what the break-even of making a change like that would be.

[Bexter]

You have touched on one thing that we improved greatly last year and are looking to get better at again this year. Last year we had foremans only start at 630 am to load trucks ... Had another guy start at 6 to load the maintenance trailers. This year we will have an additional guy at 6 to start the trucks and load as much as possible before the foreman get in. All foremans are required to write on a board their needs for the next day .. what equipment ... materials etc.
I have heard of other companys having a buzzer ...letting crews know that it's 5 minutes until they are expected to be out of the yard? Think that is to much?

Measuring against other companys is tough .... do you measure the productivity of individual functions?

[Stonehenge]

Hmmm... Because of the scale of our company, I don't think we'd be able to measure individual functions (as in individual job titles), because at our size everyone has to be able to do everything. So we are pretty much relegated to measuring tasks, not positions.

This is a timely topic - I just interviewed an ex-Marine that I think would be a good fit for our company, and I'm thinking I may lean on him to help establish operating procedures, as he's done a bit of that, and as ex-military, I'm pretty sure he's been acquainted with a few procedures..

Do your crews unload trucks every night at the end of the night (even if they're going back to the same project the next day?)

[Bexter]

Sorry I wasn't very clear, although you did touch on another part of productivity….that being, do you have the right employee in the right job etc etc...

What I meant was ... do you keep track of each function out in the field ... E.I. 2 hours on excavating ... 2 hours base and laying pavers ....soil work...planting etc.

If we are on the same site for a period of time we will leave our machine there (we take some safety precautions)... also hand tools if the site is fairly secure ... we would never leave something like a cut off saw. Since we are almost to a point where the same crew has the same truck day after day then yes they may leave some things aboard the truck.

[Stonehenge]

No, we don't track projects in that detail. Though I can see what the benefit of that would be, and would like to start some form of that tracking soon, so that I can:

• Do a better job pricing projects, and
• Know when somebody isn't pulling their weight.

[site]

Measuring productivity is hard. How about looking in the Means books? I know in my gut when we are way off, but small increments?? I wish I knew. I spend a lot of time thinking about this.
I know by looking at the competition that we are looking pretty good. We have good systems in place, which helps. I have no new employees yet this year, and 5 back with 1 to 8 years experience. We have tool trailers all set up- our biggest improvement from last year. The trucks and tractors have been gone through to prevent breakdowns. (I will admit I feel cursed in this area sometimes)
We probably all suffer from the same productivity breakdowns, and if they ever all went away I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

[Stonehenge]

Site, I think you and I must've been cursed together...Last year I had 3 trucks (F600, F700, 3500HD), with one crew. My modus operandi has always been to have redundant equipment whenever I can so if one thing breaks down there's a worthy backup ready to jump in. But it didn't help.

Last spring all three trucks had broken down within a couple days of each other. I also had 2 compactors, for the same reason. Both broke down w/in 24 hours of eachother. I was pretty sure somebody had it in for me.

Your good systems - how formal are they? Do you have a thick manual ala ISO guiding your people, or is it more that your people have been around long enough that they learned how to get things done?

The Means book is a good idea - I'm planning on picking that up soon. I also hope to take a handful of projects this year and measure them in micro-detail, and try to apply that information to the whole, and to my pricing.

[Bexter]

Forgive my ignorance ...what is the Means book?

It really doesn't take that long to measure the time of each task. Set up a worksheet to be filled out daily. Of course it won't be 100% accurate but should give you a good idea.
Some of the other things it could tell you are,
Which crew is the best at each type of task.
What is the variance between your most and least productive crew.
How accurate your current standards are for each task.

[Stonehenge]

RS Means - they have lots of estimating/costing information corraled for many different industries, including time to plant certain kinds of shrubs, trees, paver installs, etc. It sets a standard by which you should be able to begin pricing work without having detailed info on your people/crews. Of course, if yours are much slower, it could be a problem.

Their website is here: www.rsmeans.com

I've used the Site Work and Landscape Cost Data book a few times in a pinch, but I need to start cracking down on that a lot more. The Landscape Estimating book looks like it'll be my next purchase.

For your daily sheet, what would you have them fill out? Would you have a sample you'd be willing to post (or email to me and I'll post it)?

[Bexter]

Ok ... not sure if this is going to work ... I took a pic of the sheets. If it doesn't I will have to email you from work.

[Bexter]

not so clear ...darn ... here I'll try the codes

[Bexter]

It may give you an idea ... on the left of the worksheet you have the crew names ..time in time out ... right side at the top you write in the function number ... and fill in the appropriate times under each code.
Also on the worksheet is a place for what equipment was used and for how long.

[Stonehenge]

Bexter - Thanks for taking the time to post these pics.

Can I ask another favor? Can you email the full size scan of those to me? I'm at jeff@groundtradesxchange.com - I may be able to zoom in on those a bit, and turn the file into a PDF, so people can download and review it.

P.S. If you have dial up it may take a long time to send, so I can fully understand if you don't. Uploads usually take much longer than downloads.

[Bexter]

Sorry Jeff ...been real busy in the office and I keep forgetting. I'll have to tie a ribbon to my finger or something.

Hoping to keep this thread alive ….

Bid / Build versus Design / Build …. From all the data I have seen the bid build contractors tend to be more productive. Would anyone like to offer their opinion on the reasons why?