By Alicia Garceau
Ever get the feeling you're your own worst enemy? Bruce Case, vice president & director of kitchen, bath & handyman for Washington, D.C.-based Case Design/Remodeling Inc., can relate. But these days, he works smarter, thanks to learning some hard lessons. In this series of articles about controlling the uncontrollable or the variables involved with any project, he has discussed many outside factors: clients, suppliers, trade contractors, personnel and materials. In this segment, he tackles what may be the toughest factor of all: the remodeler himself.
One of the biggest challenges any remodeler faces is time management. Bruce points out that the busiest remodelers have absolutely nothing written on their calendars. Case knows that all too well. He used to write up a laundry list of to-dos each day but has seen the error of his ways.
"I've always been the kind of person who writes stuff down and stuffs notes in my pocket," he says. Often his list of tasks would take up two pages. Case enjoyed the sense of satisfaction he got from crossing tasks off, so he figured the more items the better. But often at the end of the day, he would look at his lengthy list and realize that he was only able to cross of the first few items. Worse still, there were several important items on the list that that he never got to.
"It turns out that something on that second page was pretty doggone important to do that day," Case says. A two-page to-do list without priorities is sort of like bad driving directions. You may get where you need to go, but you'll probably take many costly wrong turns in the process.
Case now uses an improved time-management system called his "daily plan," which he likens to mapping out a road trip. It has been a powerful tool, he says. Instead of referring to the two-page to-do list, he takes it a step further. Case spends 15 minutes each morning reviewing that lengthy list. First, he decides what tasks require his immediate attention and assigns them specific blocks of time during the day. "That makes sure I get through the important stuff," he says.
Next Case determines what can be postponed to another day and what he can delegate to others. Delegation is a difficult concept for most many remodelers, who are entrepreneurial and therefore independent by nature. But you can't be successful for very long if you can't delegate to other people in your company, he notes.
Case acknowledges that time management is a very personal issue. His method may or may not work for you. The important thing is to look at the system you're currently using with a critical eye and ask whether it is effective.
Look at what I've done for you!
Case also shares another important business lesson: If you do something for a client, make sure she knows about it. It wasn't uncommon for Case to visit his jobsites three times per week. "I would go visit the jobs religiously," he says. But clients, who were rarely home during those visits, saw it differently. They thought he sold the job and only showed up again to collect payment.
To assure clients that he was much more than a bill collector, he began calling the homeowners from the jobsite—with their own telephones. As part of the company's pre-construction checklist they get approval to use the client's phone. Now, when Case calls to say, "Mrs. Jones, I'm standing in your kitchen or I'm standing in your living room, and I just wanted to let you know that everything looks great," there's no mistake about how often he's on-site. The result is that the clients' perception of his service is much improved. So is communication with the client. And Case is actually multi-tasking: He's checking on the job's progress and scoring points with the client all at once.
Now that's good time management.
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