The Systems that Scale

Start With the Problems That Keep Showing Up 

One of the easiest ways to figure out where a system belongs is to look at the problems you're repeatedly dealing with. If crews regularly arrive without the right tools, something needs to change before the truck leaves the shop. If estimates are being sent but nobody consistently follows up, the sales process needs another step. If additional work is completed but never makes it onto the invoice, the company needs a better way to document change orders.

A truck checklist might take five or ten minutes before leaving in the morning. Compare that with four employees arriving at a job, realizing something important was forgotten, and losing productive time while someone drives back to get it. The best place to start building systems is often wherever you find yourself saying, "Why does this keep happening?"

Build a Process From the First Call to the Final Payment

A system can start before a job ever hits the schedule. Years ago, John answered a potential customer's call while his crew was pouring concrete footings. He told the customer he would call back that evening, went back to dealing with the concrete, and completely forgot. The customer eventually left a bad Google review because they felt their time had been wasted.  

Today, incoming calls, emails, messages, and other inquiries funnel through the office so capturing a lead doesn't depend on John remembering a phone conversation while he's working in the field. Once an estimate is sent, automated follow ups keep the opportunity moving instead of relying on someone remembering to make another call.  

That same structure can carry through the rest of the customer experience. There should be a consistent way to move someone from an initial inquiry into an estimate, get a sold job onto the schedule, communicate the scope to the field, document changes, close out the work, invoice it, collect payment, and follow up with the customer afterward. When each part connects to the next, fewer details are left sitting in someone's head waiting to be remembered.

Your Crew Should Know the Plan Before the Work Starts

A productive morning doesn't begin when everyone climbs out of the truck. John shared how the last few minutes of the drive to a job are often used to make sure everyone knows what they're doing when they arrive. One person might grab the grease gun while someone else handles fuel or starts getting saws ready. By the time the truck stops, the crew can start moving instead of spending the first part of the morning figuring out the plan.  

That preparation becomes even more important on the first day of a project. The foreman and crew need to understand the scope that was discussed with the customer, but expecting everyone to remember every detail from a walkthrough leaves too much room for mistakes. Job notes, photos, scope details, and other important information give the field crew something to reference after the initial conversation is over.  

As the company grows, that documentation becomes increasingly important because the person who sold the job won't always be the person standing there completing it.

Stop Giving Away Work You Already Did

Missing systems can directly affect what makes it onto the final invoice. Change orders are a good example. A customer asks for something extra while the crew is already onsite, everyone agrees to take care of it, and several additional hours of labor and equipment time get added to the project. If nobody documents when the original scope stopped and the additional work began, someone has to reconstruct everything later and hope nothing gets missed.

JCP's change order process separates that additional work so labor, materials, trucking, equipment hours, import, and export can be tracked and attached to the job documentation.  

Those details become increasingly difficult to remember when several crews and projects are moving at the same time. A simple process gives the office the information it needs to invoice the work that was actually performed.

A Job Isn't Finished Just Because the Work Is Done

Pulling equipment off a project and discovering later that something was missed creates an entirely new expense. Employees have to return, equipment may need to be moved again, fuel gets burned, and another job on the schedule can be disrupted.

A closeout process gives the team an opportunity to catch those problems before leaving. The completed work can be compared against the original scope, additional work can be documented, and the information needed for the final invoice can be turned into the office while everything is still fresh.

John has seen the same principle apply outside dirt and tree work. During the years when he was heavily involved in construction, plumbing connections became a recurring headache because a small leak might not show itself immediately. Something could look finished when the plumber left and become a callback weeks later. Running the water and actually checking those connections before considering the work complete helped catch the problem while everyone was still there.  

Systems aren't something you create once and never touch again. New problems and better ideas should continue shaping the way the company operates.

Make It Easier to Bring the Right People Into the Business

As a company grows, having clear processes also changes what happens when someone new joins the team. At JCP, applicants are directed through the same application process rather than coming into the company through random texts, calls, or informal conversations. Completing the application and providing the requested information gives the company a better picture of employment history, but it also shows whether someone is willing to follow a basic process before they're hired.  

Once someone joins the company, existing checklists and procedures give them a clearer picture of how the business operates. They aren't relying entirely on another employee remembering everything they need to teach them, and expectations can be established much earlier.

That becomes especially valuable when an employee leaves. John talked about how employee turnover used to create immediate panic because replacing someone meant teaching another person how everything worked from scratch. With more of those expectations documented, a new employee can get up to speed much faster.  

Skill will always matter in the trades, but consistency matters too. An extremely talented employee who repeatedly shows up unprepared, ignores the process, or creates preventable problems can cost the company more than someone who is dependable, teachable, and willing to work within the standards already in place.  

Build Systems With the People Who Use Them

The owner isn't always the person who knows exactly what needs to be on a checklist. The employees performing the work every day know which tools are constantly forgotten, where time gets wasted, what creates frustration, and which steps are easy to overlook. Bringing those employees into the process can create a better system while also making it easier to get everyone on board with using it.

Involve your teams when identifying recurring problems and building the process that addresses them. When employees understand why something is being implemented, what problem it's solving, and what's expected from them going forward, the system becomes part of how the company operates instead of another piece of paperwork handed down by the owner.  

Accountability still has to follow. A checklist doesn't prevent anything when everyone knows they can ignore it without consequence. Once expectations have been established and employees have been given the time and resources to follow them, consistency has to become part of the standard.

Build One Better Process at a Time

Pay attention to the places where the same problems continue costing time, money, or customer trust and begin fixing those areas one at a time. Identify those recurring issues with your teams, implement simple processes around them, and create accountability so those processes actually stick.

If you missed this call on Systems That Scale, the full call is available to watch inside Dirt to Dollars now.

Next week, we're getting into Financial Leadership, including how business owners can better understand the financial side of their companies and use those numbers to make stronger decisions around cash flow, spending, and growth.