Scheduling is getting out of hand

[gorman]

I now find myself six weeks booked for work and it keeps getting deeper and deeper. Past years have never been more than two but this is crazy. Is anyone else experiencing this? I want to add another crew but I'm apprehensive about buying another chipper and watching it sit in the future if things don't keep busy. Know whaddymeen?

 

[climb4fun]

raise your prices for the time being. seriously. im a newb to this industry but ive worked by my fathers side for a long time and he owns the company i worked for. whenever we got really badly booked out, he'd jack up the prices a bit since it wouldnt matter if he didnt get the gig. thats how i got my busy summer bonuses :msp_biggrin:

 

[deevo]

I now find myself six weeks booked for work and it keeps getting deeper and deeper. Past years have never been more than two but this is crazy. Is anyone else experiencing this? I want to add another crew but I'm apprehensive about buying another chipper and watching it sit in the future if things don't keep busy. Know whaddymeen?

Yep i am in the same boat as you! I have been subbing some smaller jobs to other co's who aren't as busy and using a few of my friends bucket trucks to get jobs done faster. I am not budging on prices either. It's been insane this spring. I am landing 90% of my bids. I have 3 weeks booked as well. Plus insurance work in the last 2 weeks has been bonkers! Not complaining though. Still trying to decide if I am going to buy another bucket truck or lift of some sort.

 

[capecodtree]

booked

last year was a good year and my accountant says we are already 20% ahead of last year. that does not include 60k in receivables. I'm back in the field running a bucket. we just did a job last week that i bid in october. (thankfully I have patient clients)
I am finding that one thing the february blizzard did was to make people aware of their trees, the size of the tree and proximity to their house/driveway. People are scared and want any threatning trees gone.
scheduling is tough and I tell people flat out if you want your work done within the next two weeks i've got to charge more. I've had some people waiting two months already. "money talks and bs walks" never has this saying been more true.

 

[treeman82]

I've got absolutely no backlog right now. Spoken with a couple of friends, and it seems that they are coming back with the same type of situations. Regular clients are spending, but not large amounts. Estimates for new people are going for cheaper than we would like, so either drop your price or don't get the job. A few landscapers I know are quite busy, but I'm not sure to what extent.

 

[Oldmaple]

I'm about 3 weeks behind now. I would say about an average year so far. Problem this year is rain days. I'll do some work in the rain but the "dry day" jobs are backing up. Last 2 weeks have been the pits. Better next week? Just keep plugging along.

 

[squad143]

Went from zero to 100 mph once the weather got nicer. Took awhile to get here though.

Last weeks storm added a huge amount of work to our area. Thank god I have patient clients

 

[gorman]

I have a brand new chip truck coming in next week so I need the work. It's just difficult dealing with people who want to come first and trying not to let jobs slip through the cracks.

 

[BC WetCoast]

I have a brand new chip truck coming in next week so I need the work. It's just difficult dealing with people who want to come first and trying not to let jobs slip through the cracks.

What method do you use to schedule? A pile of go aheads in a filing basket? Hooks on the wall for each day of the week, with the jobs for that day attached to each hook? Some form of computer scheduler?

 

[JohnLonergan]

Sub contracting can be handy, as long as you know another good crew

 

[gorman]

It's tough subbing. Everyone is busy and finding a quality, key word quality, guy to lead another crew is pretty tough right now since I would have to very handsomely entice him over to my side. Plus I'd have to buy more equipment.

In terms of how I keep track of my workload, I plan my week on Sundays and it's first come first served unless they are going to breath down my neck and riddle me with phone calls.