[Pelican]

Today was about the lousiest day I've had since being in business. My guys have been real careless lately and are costing me a bundle. In the past 2 weeks, one has hit a well casing with the Z rider, $200 in parts for the machine, damaged the conduit on the casing, stuck the Z rider in the mud, and then since he hadn't caused enough problems, buried my F-550 to the axles next to the Z rider in an attempt to pull it out. Did I mention he was off route which left him working alone at the time? It will cost me between $300 to $400 to repair the clients lawn when conditions are dry enough.

Shortly after that episode the transmission went in my F-350, the third time in 60,000 miles. The truck was down for 2 weeks, fortunately the tranny was still under warranty but I had to swap in the new one myself. 1 1/2 days labor there.

Yesterday one of my guys calls me and says the walk behind blower stopped running and wouldn't restart. I had a good idea what had happened, I have 2 Fradan blowers with Briggs motors and they are notorious for using oil. I've told my guys to be sure and check the oil at every stop and there is a good supply of oil on the trailer. Checked out the blower this morning and it is seized up and the dipstick is dry. $550 for a replacement Honda engine.

Next to the Fradan lay my Red Maxx backpack, also sized up which they hadn't told me about. The gas tank was bone dry, I checked the 2 stroke mix can on the trailer and it was empty. Anyone want to guess why the Red Maxx seized? Piston was scuffed bad, I had to drive it out of the cylinder with a hammer and punch. Jug and piston will cost $130.

All this has occurred during a period where the market in my area has gone flat. My income level at this point is at a record low and I'm not sure how long we'll be working. Days like this make me seriously consider selling the whole mess and punch a clock somewhere. Talk about frustrating!! My crew will be getting a "pep talk" in the morning!

Thanks for listening

[mrusk]

I feel the same way sometimes. Some days i really wonder what the heck i got myself into starting a business.

I just finshed a small paver/stair job. It was the worse experience with a customer i have had. The customer had massive walls installed around his new pool 2 years ago and now they lean foward. I could tell he was afraid to get screwed again. He was on my butt about everything.

There were some un expected things that came up that weren't visable until i started removing the old stairs. Long story short, my contract presently isn't strong enough to protect myself from the unexpected. I had to eat extra material and extra labor. Worse part of it is the customer didn't appreciate it at all.

Worse part is i underestimated the job to begin with.

I learned alot at this one job and will never let something like this happen to me again. I'm just upset that i didn't have the right stipulations in my contract.

Matt

[Dale Wiley]

At the end of 2005, I made a list of all the bad / negative thigns that happened to my business, what they cost, what caused them and what it would take to correct them.

The cost was over $ 50,000.

What caused them was my failure as a manager to make sure the systems I had were followed, and to make sure there were systems to cover things that popped up.

I hired a construction consultant, redid ALL my contracts and general conditions, fired one person, hired another person, and looked at that list every day to remind me who was really at fault. The employees are only going to be as good as the system in which YOU give them to work in. If they are making mistakes like you describe, YOU have some issues, that if you correct, you will see a dramatic improvement in your operations.

Pelican, you have operations issues and training issues. Probably Human resources issues as well.

Automatic transmission's in a Ford F 350... thats a given there...employees that do not have specific procedures to follow in executing their daily jobs, and any potential probelms that may come up, are going to wing it and usually not he best way.

I have 5 employees currently. My foreman is responsible for overseeing the operations of those employees. We have a training program, a human resources program and an operations program that defines everything we do on a daily basis.

This foreman has a company credit card, is responsible for making sure the tools and equipment are ready every day, and for field operations. He is compensated very well, and will see a good year end bonus if he can close out the remaining jobs we have this season.

But I still desgin and implement the systems he will work in. And that the employees will work in. So if theres a problem, its on me to make sure its coverd in the PLANNING process.

2 cycle solution: RUN SYNTHETIC 2 CYCLE OIL IN ALL ENGINES.

At 50:1 ratio, it will not affect your regular gas engines. Any gas in a can around our place better be colored with 2 cycle oil. We have been doing that for 3 years now in all our smaller engines that have to be fueled from a can.

Transmission solution : DO NOT BUY AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS in vehicles that tow. We started running Ford F 350 Super Dutys with 6 speeds... sweet setup...

Institue a training program for daily preperation.

Institue a mowing standards training program .

Have a Human Resources that clearly defines what is expected in each position, monitor the employees performance and have a progressive discipline policy.

Do not allow any employee to hurt your net profits by their performance, but don't allow them to work outside of a clearly defined system, where they have no standards or performance parameters to be measured against.

The list this year will have about 4 items on it, and the lost money is under $ 2,000.

My market has tanked also, and that is all the more reason to tighten things up a bit. But make sure your giving your employees everything they need to do the job as you want them to, and make sure you are clearly communicating that to them.

[Pelican]

Thanks for the advice Dale.

My guys had been doing a pretty good job most of the season, but the past month they have become very sloppy and careless. Tomorrow I'm going to review my expectations with them and what we need to do to meet them.

Are you saying you run mixed gas in your 4 strokes too?

[cutntrim]

So you run mix in your riding mowers as well?

[johnkeegan]

Dale's response was excellant in that it points out that no matter how frustrating and helpless it can seem as a business owner, there is a silver lining. You can have alot of control over the the outcomes if you take the bull by the horns. You can adapt, innovate, research new ways of approaching situations, hire consultants, fire troublesome employees, scour GTX for ideas etc. If you are an employee, however, you forsake alot of that control and, usually, put yourself at the whim of someone else. That could make you feel even more helpless.

[nylan]

Not to rag on you, but if you have equipment that you need to put oil in at every stop, you are just living on borrowed time. This equipment was already dead and needed to be replaced. You cant blame your guys for that. My policy is if you blatantly do something to ruin a piece of equipment such as wrong gas or running without oil then I am taking half the cost out of your check. Now if the equipment is already failing then thats a different story. Your guys need to be trained to call you anytime there is a problem NO MATTER HOW SMALL, so you can be in on the solution to protect yourself. They need to know that they wont be in trouble because we all make mistakes but that it is your money and YOU get to decide how its thrown on the ground, stomped on, covered with gas and set on fire!!! I only buy quality tools and equipment , no cheap stuff and my guys know this. If they want to continue to use the good stuff they will take care of it or I'll go to the flea market and get some $2.00 shovels and they can spend every night picking the splinters out of their hands.

3 trannies???? I would want to know from the mechanic why they failed. Same parts and problem all three times?? Too much weight for the truck?? Abuse by driver? Bad installation or low fluid etc.

[Dale Wiley]

We generally fill all riding or mounted equipment from the fuel tank in the foreman's truck. If it goes into the mowers or other equipment, then it does not get 2 cycle oil in it.

If the fuel goes into a container, our standard procedure is that it gets 2 cycle oil in it. That gets dumped into the 2 cycle equipment, small engine 4 strokes. If the mower needs fuel in the field, it gets the 2 stroke mix, the generator, anything else. I only have about 4 pieces of 2 stroke, everything else is larger and 4 stroke.

Synthetic 2 cycle oil is far superior to normal base 2 cycle oil. At 50:1 ratio, the 4 strokes never notice it. It costs more, but I really don't care if it prevents a 2 stroke engine failure. Easily checked as the color tells you everything.

My policy is if you blatantly do something to ruin a piece of equipment such as wrong gas or running without oil then I am taking half the cost out of your check.

Blatently means you have a training program problem. Taking the cost of a repair or ANY cost out of an employees check without a signed pre authorization is a violation of most state labor laws.

Your guys need to be trained to call you anytime there is a problem NO MATTER HOW SMALL, so you can be in on the solution to protect yourself.

Not in my company they better not. I set up the training and operations systems to protect the company. The employees know what they can do or not do, and my foreman get's the call before I do.

If the employees are trained to operate in a system, there will be a level of issues or situation's they should be empowered to deal with before calling the foreman or myself. My foreman has dealt with most situations very well, and left me free to do the project management, sales, business planning and minor admin chores.

[Pelican]

Originally posted by nylan
Not to rag on you, but if you have equipment that you need to put oil in at every stop, you are just living on borrowed time.

These are 8 horse Briggs & Stratton and have used oil since the day they were new. They don't smoke at all, start with no problem, they just use oil excessively. Keep in mind they run wide open 99% of the time. I drill the guys every morning to check the oil at every stop to make sure they don't run dry. Someone didn't.

Originally posted by nylan 3 trannies???? I would want to know from the mechanic why they failed. Same parts and problem all three times?? Too much weight for the truck?? Abuse by driver? Bad installation or low fluid etc.

Firts one went at 22,000, Ford dealer reported the second gear sprag was bad and replaced it. Second one went at 38,000, and it was discovered the Ford dealer installed the second gear sprag upside down. This last one had a small broken spring stuck to the pan magnet and started slipping bad, I'm shipping the core back today and will report the findings once it is torn down. I fought with Ford both locally and at the Dearborn level to get compensation for their mistake for six months with no success. I won't buy another.

It's an F-350 PowerStroke, I bought the truck for working with and I do, I don't feel I abuse it at all, I work it. That's what we buy trucks for, no?

Your guys need to be trained to call you anytime there is a problem NO MATTER HOW SMALL, so you can be in on the solution to protect yourself

I hired my foreman to be able to make decisions in the field and get the jobs done so I can concentrate on other work. If they were calling me for every little thing that went wrong, I'd get nothing at all done. The unfortunate thing is his decisions lately have not been good ones.

[Mark Oomkes]

Originally posted by nylan
Not to rag on you, but if you have equipment that you need to put oil in at every stop,

You've never had one of these blowers before, have you? They are notorious for burning oil and blowing pistons. I can't count how many we've had seize up, fill it back up with oil and keep running it till the piston blew out the side. This was back before decent backpack blowers and Honda's with Oil Alert. I'm talking like 20 years ago.

For the rest, I hear you Steve. Been like that for the last year for me too and I know Dale is correct, it is ultimately my responsibility since it is just about impossible to hire someone that can think on their own anymore. Same exact thing with being a business owner too. Sometimes it really sucks.

Great idea, Dale, although I'm not sure if I have enough time to write down everything that went wrong in the past year and I sure as heck don't want to know how much it has cost me.

I think the first training will involve non-floating pieces of equipment.

[nylan]

I understand about letting your employees have a level of control and responsibility and having systems in place to deal with most situations. Now, having said that. I run a small company with 1 foreman and 2 laborers. With this year being so sporadic sales wise because of the economy and with profit margins getting tighter every year thanks to all the fly by night companies, I WATCH EVERY DIME. My employees sign equipment training and responsibility forms that state the repercussions for abuse and neglect of equipment. I dont tolerate it. As far as decision making, if it falls within their normal course of work they are free to make decisions as they see fit. When it involves anything else such as driving accross town to get one fitting when I can pick it up because I am already going that way or using their truck to pull the skid steer out of a mud hole and damaging a customers yard instead of using the bucket or whatever to push the machine out under its own power. I want to know so maybe i can save myself a couple hundred bucks on a $500.00 job. !!! Yes maybe I micro manage a little bit, but in a small company I think you need to, when gas is 2.25 a gallon and pvc prices are through the roof and customers dont want to pay the price increases I have to be able to control something and that is my overhead and "stupid tax".

[rbriggs]

We had a transmission go in one of our trucks today! Thankfully it is covered under warranty. However, that being said...I can relate to what you guys are going through. About a year or so ago, we had the brake pads fall out of one of our trucks. Thankfully the crew was able to coast into a parking lot to await a tow. One of the spare trucks was shuffled out to them to finsih their route. About two hours later, I get a call from the same crew that they had just run over a child out in the Boston area. My heart dropped. That was the worse day I can remember. Thankfully, the driver was cleared of any wrong doing...as the child had run out into the street and got caught under one of the rear wheels. Still a bad scene.
Dale, you bring up some great points with systems. As mentioned in the E-Myth book, "people dont' fail...systems do." That being said, what kind of systems do y ou have in place for maintenance, managing crews, etc. I'm to the point in my business that I need to really solidify these systems and ensure that they are working.
Thanks for any advice.
-Rich

[familyguy]

This post has gotten my business partner and I talking probly more than any other post so far.

It is Dale's reply that has sparked the discussions. I was shocked in one of Dales other post to know he is around 300k in earnings because he sounds as though he runs a multi-million dollar company; and well at that.

We have HUGE management issues. Not to say we aren't successful. We are exceeding this years goals in sales and really showing nice profit. Paid 2 trucks off in full. Paid almost all of our debts in general. Going into mid November with work booked until Jan 1 and at higher rates that usual because we are so busy. We worked with about 6 LA's this year and ALL of them are lining us up to work on their jobs next year. PLUS, my business partner is doing steady design/install projects ranging from 10k - 60k and they keep coming in!

BUT!!! We are so desperate for good systems that we have the same problems Pelican was venting about. Broken and lost equipment, employees not following directions, employees who don't know how to use equipment, MESSY shop all the time (I hate that and it's my fault as well), poor communication on all levels, no clear definitions. My foreman is a godsend, but I can't figure out how to use his abilities to improve the management on my level. My BP and I have decided to follow one of Landscape Managemnts suggestions in their newest issue (2007 business planner) and dedicate small 10 minute chunks of morning time to training. Equipment training first I am sure.

1 Day-One guy ran over a new powerhead with the chainsaw attatchment on it. $250 right there. My fault for not creating a tool center on site for the clearing job we were doing. Everything in the tool spot and nothing can get lost. Same day he lost stihl loppers at $80 cuz he kept hanging it off the back of the dumping trailer. Of course they got dumped. Same day 2 crew, who I never trained how to use a chainsaw and assumed knew the basics, dug "holes" flush cutting stumps and dulled 2 new chains instantly. $45 and $25. I bent the footstep on the backhoe by getting too tight on a tree and jerking into it (hurrying too much), $100 for my guy to fix it.

ALL MY FAULT. Dale is pretty brilliant. It is so easy to blame the guy who ran over the tool and lost the loppers. He is clearly A.D.D. but works really hard and is well liked by everyone.

So... I need systems from the most mundane of things to the way I handle difficult clients. I have always "winged" it in all respects because I have good instincts from my backround in Psychology for what makes people tick. From new employees to clients. We are just getting too big for winging anything.

I really have a lot to do this winter while recovering from getting cut up.

Thanks Dale.

[Mac]

Dale, would you be interested in explaining how you realized where you needed systems and how you went about creating them? Im thinking a flowchart is a starting point but from there I dont know a whole lot else. Thanks

[Prolawns]

Since everyone is asking dale questions, I was wondering how you got into the sports field side of things, I know you shifted your focus quickly early this year, but did you already do alot field work and just added more or was it a niche you found and decided to fill?
Sorry for the run on sentences and slight hijacking but I've been thinking about your move for a while.

Sort of back to the topic, If you had to start with new people from scratch would you tweak your systems, or keep them the same. It has to be harder to implement systems with people already in place or do you have them help with creating them?