Masonry Magazine June 2008 Page. 44
Business Building
By George Hedley
Replace Yourself With Systems
You can't do it all yourself.
During my first seven years starting and building my construction company, I tried to do it all myself. I did all the estimates and presented the bids; signed all the contracts, subcontracts and change orders; made the big field decisions; purchased all materials and equipment; awarded subcontracts, went to all the job meetings; supervised concrete slab pours; and made every personnel decision. This made me crazy, raised my weight and caused most of my hair to fall out!
One evening, I took my family for a "happy" meal at McDonalds. I noticed the boss wasn't there, the employees were 16 years old, customers were happy, and the food was consistent and relatively edible. I thought, "How do they do it without the owner supervising and making every decision?" I asked a server to show me the secret. He took me behind the counter where they have pictures clearly displaying how to build different hamburgers and menu items.
Good people or good systems?
Wow! A huge company runs smoothly using pictures of the finished product. This guarantees consistent quality. Plus, the owner doesn't have to be on site all the time, making every decision for every customer's order. If I could do this in my business, I could also build an organized company. This could reduce my dependence on having great people.
A systemized business produces consistent performance and results. How much money are you losing when you rely on your people to do their best, but not follow company installation and operational standards?
The results of owning a systemized business include:
* On-time projects
* Quality workmanship
* Staying on budget
* Safe projects
* Repeat customers
* Always making a profit.
All these results occur with or without you being everywhere all the time, and maybe you can take a regular vacation some day!
Good systems are simple
Excellent companies have simple systems. Outline each system on one piece of paper, writing or drawing a detailed picture of the end result desired to meet your company, customer or project spec-