Last time we checked in:
Deborah and Ira Wade were trying to find out how much revenue was coming in from enhancement work and maintenance. They planned on having a whiteboard in their office with a worker’s name and next to it the hours they spent performing maintenance or enhancement work.
Latest update:
The Wades scrapped the whiteboard idea, opting for a division of crews. Previously, maintenance and enhancement work was performed by the same crews. Now it has specialized landscaping/enhancement and maintenance crews.
“We can just look at the time cards and see how many hours the landscapers came in and how many (hours) the maintenance crew came in,” Deborah says.
The Wades hope the change will solve the revenue problem, and also result in better work.
“We need to specialize so we can keep customers and repeat customers, especially for landscaping,” she says. “The mowing crew, they’re out and they’re mowing. That’s all they’re doing.”
Deborah says they asked employees to note things that could use work at properties, so they can suggest the service to the owners.
Bill and Ed’s take:
The Wades have two large jobs pending that are close to their office, which is good for profit. The Harvesters encouraged Ira to spend more time managing jobs, but he recently had to go back in the field to do work due to staffing issues.
“Now he’s being more of a manager and leader and oversight of jobs rather than doing the job,” Bill says. “He’s actually inspecting jobs and making sure they’re performing to the quality level that we expect.”