In the International Builders Show seminar “Construction Scheduling: Family First” on Feb. 13, builders and contractors learned ways to change the way they run their businesses to enable them to spend more time with the most important people in their lives: their families.
Presenter Richard Pagotto, a custom builder for 25 years and now a semi-custom production builder, first encouraged the attending builders and contractors to think more about “the warm fuzzy things” that don’t get much attention in this industry—family and staff relationships, and even relationships with trade contractors. He offered ways to foster better employee and trade contractor relationships to keep them happy and make running your business easier. Happy employees mean you can delegate more, work less, and play more.
According to Pagotto, the process starts with breaking bad work habits, effective scheduling, and reserving time for personal and family needs just as you would for business matters.
Pagotto offered several tips for builders to break bad work habits that make you less effective and divert your time and attention from the things you’d rather be doing:
Write down a daily to-do list—only by identifying what you need to accomplish can you start working toward getting them done;
Break the email-first habit—checking emails first-thing in the morning means you’ll spend time responding to them and creating a new set of tasks that push others to the back burner. Instead, do something fun for yourself first-thing in the morning. Even better, check email later in the day, after you’ve accomplished most of your to-do list;
Make time in the day for something you want to do—set aside time to do something you enjoy; whatever regenerates, energizes, or relaxes you. Construction scheduling is a necessary part of business, but Pagotto advised that it is just as important—more—to keep up with your family’s schedule of activities, special dates, vacations, and holidays. On your calendar, these dates and times should be the first things scheduled, because family comes first. Then schedule work dates, meetings, deadlines, and other activities. This way, you won’t forget your childrens’ extra-curricular or school activities, family gatherings, birthdays or anniversaries, etc., and schedule work over them.
Taking better control of your business—but not being involved in every minute detail—is a critical step towards managing your time and fitting in family.
Pagotto encouraged builders to consider hiring a full-time or part-time superintendent to take on the task of managing jobsites, rather than trying to do it all yourself. His message: no one wants to—or needs to—see your face on the jobsite every day, not even clients; no matter what you think.
He advised against encouraging clients to call you anytime, day or night, pointing out that they will, and you’ll be upset that they intruded on what should be personal time. Don’t encourage them to think you have no life outside their project, and don’t feel guilty for cordoning off evenings or weekends for yourself and your family, Pagotto said.
Builders who think they need to be involved in every aspect of running their businesses are setting themselves up to neglect their families. Eliminating, delegating, or streamlining menial tasks, such as estimates, proposals, invoicing, scheduling, advertising, take-offs, contracts, specifications, and change-order management will give you time to focus on more important things. Finding and retaining good trade contractors also helps to loosen your personal schedule, Pagotto said. He suggested asking for contractor recommendations from building inspectors, architects and engineers, local HBA offices, other contractors, and even township office clerks, among other sources; and advised always calling their references.
Pagotto also extolled builders to help their trade contractors improve their own businesses and become stronger partners by sponsoring them into the local HBA if they aren’t members, mentoring them, and asking them for suggestions on how to improve your processes on the jobsite.
Ultimately, working with better tradespeople, and keeping them happy, reduces your need to be directly involved in managing them, freeing up your time for more important things—like family.
