Common Mistakes in Estimating & Planning Jobs

If you read the stuff I put out there, you know I like to talk about the numbers. But today I’m going to cover a couple of practical estimating mistakes, some that I’ve made myself, or seen other people making. When you get to talk with landscape contractors from all over the country, you get to see that many of us tend to make the same mistakes.

There’s a trend here.

Maybe I can help shortcut that trend for a couple of you.

That’d be awesome.

Mistake #1:  Not bidding enough hours to cover logistics

Not bidding enough hours to cover logistics can be an easy trap to fall into. Usually more of a beginner mistake.

Example: you show up on a consultation to check out a property, eyeball it, and “eeeh… that’ll take about 3 days”, and that’s what you use on the bid. But…. what about all the man-hours associated with logistics, picking up and handling materials, dumping waste, poor site access, doing returns, drive time, etc.

Often this can stack 10-25% of man hours on top of how long it takes to do the actual work of building the patio. Remember to factor that time in.

Mistake #2:  Efficiency. Avoid unbillable time

Efficiency is a massive one.

There’s usually as much juice to squeeze out of this “efficiency” lemon as there is in the “know your numbers” lemon.

Let’s say you increase your net profits by 10% by building a budget and estimating based on your own numbers. In many cases, there’s another 10% to be squeezed out through efficiency gains.

Just an example of what I mean: When I worked at Tussey Landscaping as a foreman, in the span of about 2 seasons, I went from visiting our local landscape supply, often with my crew in the truck, multiple times a week, to be able to count on one hand how many times I had been there all season.

We did that by having materials delivered down to our shop, and increasing what we kept on hand in bulk at our shop. This allowed me to get all the products and supplies that I used to stop at the landscape supply, right from our shop. One guy could show up a few min early (before the landscape supply was even open) and grab and load the orders and items we needed from the shop. No detours. Straight to the job site we went.

For returns, we just palletized, stretch wrapped, numbered with the Job #, and placed them at our shop. Then our landscape supplier would swing down once a week or so to pick up any and all returns generated by our company, or one of us employees would run them all up in one trip on a rainy day.

Not only did the company not have the expense of the crew and me on the payroll for those hours for logistics of picking up things and returning things, but I diverted those saved hours to actually get work done. Producing billable revenue. You see, every hour you save in efficiency is a double whammy. Not only did you save that man-hour, but you can also now use it to produce revenue.

Mistake #3:  Failing to systemize the estimating process

When you first start out, you’re probably scratching out your estimate on your phone calculator and pen and paper. And then maybe you move up to spreadsheets. You might be calling your supply yard for product info on every estimate, “what was the price for that again?”

What is the number one thing that will help you win that job?

Did I hear you guess “price?” Being the cheapest?

Nope.

It’s quote turnaround time.

Study after study has proven that if you strike while the iron is hot, you’re success is a lot higher. I mean a LOT. There’s this one study that I know isn’t a direct correlation to response time for a quote for a backyard renovation, but it still makes a point. It revealed that when responding to a lead from a web form, the likelihood of converting that lead to a sale dropped 400% if you responded within 60 minutes, instead of within 5 minutes.

CRAZY!

But the same principle is true. Even when you’re selling high-dollar backyards and landscaping services. People are crazy busy and get distracted. Something else comes up, and you lost your opportunity.