Why Every Contractor Should Review Their Budget Right Now

We had our first company vehicle accident, so that happened while I was away, which was fun.

But thankfully, we have a really good insurance agency that we use, and they were seamless.

They're like, just get us the report.

We'll start the claim.

Go on.

Everybody moves on about their day.

So aside from that...

it was a pretty low stress week.

Uh, that was the biggest thing that happened having to deal with a couple other minor hiccups.

Um, just the real life stuff.

And I'll tell you a process that we're working on, uh, is, uh, processes that we're working on are just a little stuff that it's very easy to slip up and not do as a one or two man band.

Uh, and I have to catch myself doing it or not doing it all the time.

And Mark Bradley's talked about it to the nth degree.

One of those common things that happens in a landscape yard and a landscape company is backing into vehicles with trailers.

And we were on a customer's property a couple weeks ago and should have had a spotter out, especially in this time.

It's already been addressed and we've moved past it with our team.

should have a spotter out with the way that the angle that we were backing in and um they did not and we clipped the side of a car put a hole in the door um didn't mess our stuff up at all obviously because it's a steel trailer coming at it but uh messed the car pretty good so it's too small to file an insurance claim on uh but just enough to where it's like this is annoying um so it's like three thousand dollar repair there and those little ones twos and threes add up quickly um and that's what i'm having to like really try to get through to our team right now is the repairs like that just suck profit and what is profit profit is fuel for growth and when you have little repairs like this little things that just come in and sneak in and just steal that profit away like that's the enemy that's the waste there and it is the enemy like hands down regardless that is like that is the enemy there's no question about it and so as we are continuing to grow and add people and add new drivers and do these things we're like okay What do we have to do to make sure that we put the things in place that need to be in place for our team to win day in and day out and minimize these little menial accidents that keep happening? and i think a lot of that is like just coming down to systems and processes and having the the day in and day out like um i guess what's the word the the discipline to make sure and follow through on them make sure and follow through on the things that you put in place and if you are putting in place a policy to go and like i said go out and uh Driving down the road and saw a buddy of mine had to beat the horn out of me.

if we were in a policy and to go out and get a spotter, then we need to make sure that we're sticking to that policy.

And sometimes the hardest person to do that and to follow that is the owner.

And the hard truth of the matter is, is when the owner doesn't follow it, your team is a lot less likely to follow it.

And so you have to leave from the front and that's not always easy, especially when you're like very capable of backing a trailer up without a spotter.

Uh, that is just still the wrong mindset to have.

And we just need to embody that as a company.

And so, uh, Um, little steps, little, little things.

It's the death by a thousand paper cuts.