Mike brought something up that I found interesting and thought I would pose the question to ya'll.
How does your work day go ? Are you strict on your hours and sew with typical 15 minute breaks and 30 min or an hour lunch ?
I typically sew for an hour take a 10 minute break then sew some more. I take a 30 minute lunch break and then get back to it. If I am on chemo then at noon I will lay down for a couple hours and get back up and sew till 8 pm.
How do the rest of you schedule your work time ?
Chris
Well typicly i have coffe on my patio. Leave ariu d 8 am stop for a mcmuffin. At the park overlooking the harbor. Either i have to go to somones house to pattern or i go to my shop. Today im waiti g for ups tyen i can sew. Lucnh is generaly whenever if i patterned i may have luch at 1100 when im done.
I may sew a bit go to linch and casuale friday will probly wiluit early.
I did have a lady said she would like see me at the shoP this morning
I try to do as much of the 'stand-up' work as possible done in the early part of the day, before my feet give out. Then I do all the 'sit-down' sewing work in the latter half of the day.
But of course, with each job being different, my plan doesn't always work out that way.
I'm here from 7-5 Mon-Fri, and I come in for a few hours on Sat morning to tie up loose ends. I try to do out-of-town PU/Deliveries on Sat afternoons. Since most of them are in the Dallas area, the missus and me use Saturdays to mix business with pleasure. She'll do some shopping, I'll call on a few customers, and we'll cap the evening off at a restaurant.
As for breaks, I take 'em any time I want to (like right now :D).
I ended up sewing and making the whole cover left at 3.
Ut biy sofa even the sit down part seaing kills m back id like to find a good
ChIr. I had to ly on a sewing to to streach. My. Back
out straight
I work half days, Monday through Saturday.
It really doesn't matter which half of the day I work, as long as I get my 12 hours in. :)
ba da boom!
Or, maybe it's more like 8a.m. to 9a.m. for paper work then to the studio till 6 or 6:30 Mon - Fri and 4 or 5 hours at work on Saturday.
I enjoy what I do so I seem not to mind the long hours. It's kind of like a CEO of a big company who spends his/her life at the job, except I don't have the money, benefits, status, or prestige of a big company CEO. It's more like a working class stiff trying to make ends meet.
gene
One thing I think is important here is the number of employees or none at all. From what I think I know, those who have responded so far work alone like me. That makes it easier to see the hours worked since it's only one person. Gene, it seems like you manage to put in a lot of hours doing actual productive work vs. administrative time. I find it difficult to do that. My mix is more like 50/50 most days unless I''m out on the road where it will be 90/10 (productive/admin) for that day. But, there are the days after and before where the administrative hours for that job balance it out. So, over all, 50/50 is about it for me. I'm just curious, if you don't mind my digressing Chris, what are the hour mixes for others posting here?
Rich
When I had my own shop I would have been 50% like Rich. Answer the phone,order material----it all takes time that ; at least in my market,you couldn't bill without pricing yourself out of the job.
I would have to say that my hourly split is probably 70/30. 70 % spent in the shop sewing and 30 % spent on admin work. Most of my admin work is spent answering e-mails. My wife commented the other day when I was answering a question for a customer " it is 10 PM......do you ever set this business down ? ". I prefer to do all the admin work at night when I am tired and out of energy.
During the day time hours when I am filled with energy I get right after the labor portion of this work.
Maybe my admin hourly split is a little low because my wife handles all the invoicing.
Chris
It's hard for me to even factor administrative time.
I'll reply to a few e-mails while sitting in front of the TV every evening. I do most of my estimates from an e-mail photo. I rarely do in-home estimates anymore.
It takes less than 30 minutes per week to pay all the invoices from my suppliers.
And I keep MY invoices to customers short and sweet. No long drawn out itemizations.
Other than Chris, who takes in most of his work via the miracle of the inter-web.........What are the rest of you guys doing (administratively) that consumes so much of your time?
For me it was phone calls "how much to fix my boat top?", drive/boat over for measurements, draw up a cutting schedule to find yardage,write up the free quote and phone them back. then if they went with me vs. a competitor;Phone in the order, carry the material from the house out to the shop, and then put the paperwork into my ledgers after the job was done. I did upgrade to tablet and pencil 1.3 which featured an eraser and incandescent light---but it was still slow.
Quote from: sofadoc on June 02, 2013, 06:07:55 am
It's hard for me to even factor administrative time.
I'll reply to a few e-mails while sitting in front of the TV every evening. I do most of my estimates from an e-mail photo. I rarely do in-home estimates anymore.
It takes less than 30 minutes per week to pay all the invoices from my suppliers.
And I keep MY invoices to customers short and sweet. No long drawn out itemizations.
Other than Chris, who takes in most of his work via the miracle of the inter-web.........What are the rest of you guys doing (administratively) that consumes so much of your time?
From a previous reply to a similar topic on this forum last August:
"I operate my business mostly myself. Of course, I couldn't do it without the help of my wife who keeps the office in order (and a million other tasks) part time. But, all of the productive work, you know, the stuff customers will actually pay for, is done by me. I don't get off the hook for much of the related stuff, however, since I still have to make phone calls, write up quotes on the more intricate jobs, talk to customers both in person and over the phone, reply to emails etc."
I didn't realize you guys are mixing work stuff with personal time. I guess I could say I do that to an extent, but for me it's working on a new spreadsheet, working on a new method, etc. things that would help my business in general, but not specifically related to the jobs I do. For that reason, I don't count it as administrative time (is it R&D time?) So, for those that do emails in front of the TV, or while driving (let's hope not!) I guess you couldn't really say how many total hours you put in to your businesses right?
Rich
Rich:
In all fairness I may do more then 30 % admin time. Like Dennis I do answer e-mails and even wind bobbins at night while sitting in front of the TV. So if that time was included then yes I may be at 50 %.
I was basically thinking of my work day and during those hours I spend as much time as possible in the shop sewing. I do not even take my phone into the shop with me most days so I am not disturbed. I can do this since 95 % of my orders all come in via e-mails. I check my voice mails throughout the day and return calls right away if need be. If I am waiting for a specific call I will keep the phone near me but otherwise and on most days It stays in the living room.
The daytime, especially mornings, are my most productive times. Evenings roll around and I am typically to damn tired to sew. But lately, because of a large backup of orders I have been sewing till 8 or 9 pm. This is one of the benefits of having a shop at home but it also can be a real PITA because it is hard for me to relax in the living room when I know 30 ft down the hall way sits a backlog of orders.
Like my wife says sometimes " you need to slow down and not let this business consume you ". That is easier said then done considering my OCD takes over and I feel I should be working. :)
Chris
Today i sewed on some reinforcement pads to a cover i made friday. Then install it on the lift.
Lunch and thats a day. Not much point starting ampattern across county now
Ps started pourin g anyway
I forgot to mention one item that consumes a lot of my time and that is quotation follow up calls. And there can be a lot of them. When I had my auto trim shop, I never did this. customers would come in, get an estimate and then bargain for the best price. Usually, they would have the work done. If they didn't come back, that was that. In my business now, I'm making phone calls after about a week or two to find out what the doctor has decided and many times it's either, "He hasn't made a decision yet" or "She's decided to put this on the back burner" which really means, "she had no idea reupholstery of her chair would cost so much and she's looking for someone to do it for less". I think it's mainly an issue of auto owners who really wanted to customize their cars vs. doctors who have better things to do than to encounter another expense for maintenance.
Every few weeks my wife will present me with a stack of customer folders saying "you really need to call these people".
Takes more of my time than I would like to spend on it, but it does result in more work, so I do it.
Rich
Rich:
People think I am nuts for doing free slide topper inspections but it represents future business as well as data collection. I should mention I also inspect everything on the roof - caulking condition, antenaes, air con covers, sky dome condition, etc. I hate climbing on top of these big damn buses and doing inspections but I do them for several reasons. Some of these owners are too old to get on top and inspect them and they really appreciate me doing it for them. Some haven't a clue as to how to inspect the thread for rot. And the main reason is it gives me the opportunity to meet a potential customer, give him my business card, inspect his coach canvas and give him an estimate if needed.
But the beauty is I have amassed a large filing system of coach reports for future business. I keep a record of each inspection including measurements, fabric colors, awning assembly models and brands, coach type, coach manufacturer, coach model designation, etc. These inspection reports all go into my file and if a year down the road the owner decides to replace his canvas he can make one call to me and I have all the info I need.
One of these days I want to build a database and enter all this data and be able to generate reports on who may be in need of new toppers based on age and condition at the time of my inspection. My idea was to use these to generate new business when things are slow but to be honest I am so busy all the time I have never had to resort to calling owners based on these reports. But these reports have not been a waste as 1.) I convert many inspections into instant orders 2.) I have got alot of orders from them down the road since they all know I have all the the info and can just call me.
Chris
Sounds like a good pro-active business practice to me. I assume you can find a group of these owners in one place so you don't have to rack up time and miles seeing each one in a different location.
Rich
I have a number of job quotes I my notebook that they don't say go ahead at the time and ill call back a later and see what they decided sometimes I get " oh we went with a lower price" or " oh ya I want to do it now" chris have you had many call from your free inspetions say a year later after a canvas failed?
Rich: The only time I offer free inspections is at coach rallys. I have them all there in one central location ( typically inside a fairgrounds or RV resort ). I no longer do outside quotes or inspections. I do not have the time to leave the shop and most of my customers can get the measurements themselves. I have included instructions on how to measure on my website so if they do not know they can view the instructions and learn how. It is not very hard. One guy who wasn't physically able to climb up on his coach had his wife get them once. :)
I do very little local work. I just got a local job the other day and that was the first in a long time. Most come from out of the area and the majority out of State.
Mike: I get a decent return on the inspections. I do not know percentages but I convert several inspections into sales down the road. They save me ( and the owner ) alot of headaches because I can get exact measurements and more importantly the fabric color. That seems to be my biggest issue, getting the fabric colors right. I have some customers who cannot distinquish between a beige and a beige tweed and in one case last week I had to mail out a sample of each piece of fabric. Then I have to figure out if some are faded so bad that they appear to be a different color. I did a large patio awning in a dark tan tweed because the customer said it was a dark tan tweed. Turned out it was older sunbrella that faded and was actually charcoal tweed that turned a brown color.
Most customers do not care in regards to toppers as they are not seen but the majority are very anal with window and patio awnings. They want them to be exact and match.
Chris
Quote from: Mojo on June 04, 2013, 05:03:35 pm
the majority are very anal with window and patio awnings. They want them to be exact and match.
Chris
ya you want the right color sometime customers ask me what color I think ill advise but its what ever they like I say.
did you get that job from the guy in PC ?
I am not sure Mike. I have completely lost track of orders. It seems like I did an order for someone down your way...lol......I dropped off five shipments yesterday to UPS and this morning cannot tell you who the hell they went to without going back through my invoices. I know they all went out of State though. My eyes have been glued to the order board and just been busy sewing and not paying much attention to anything else. :)
I called June a couple weeks ago because I have a customer who needs a bra made for the front of his bus. He lives in her area and I really do not want to do the job. June has forgot more about vinyl then I will ever learn and felt it would be better if she did it. But I never heard back from her. I haven't seen her on here either so am a little worried about her. I will drop her an e-mail today to make sure she is OK. Hopefully she hasn't been sick or anything.
Chris
Quote from: Mojo on June 05, 2013, 05:44:51 am
I called June a couple weeks ago because I have a customer who needs a bra made for the front of his bus. He lives in her area and I really do not want to do the job. June has forgot more about vinyl then I will ever learn and felt it would be better if she did it. But I never heard back from her. I haven't seen her on here either so am a little worried about her. I will drop her an e-mail today to make sure she is OK. Hopefully she hasn't been sick or anything.
Chris
You did? Your call must have gotten lost in my phone transition. I switched from iPhone to Samsung and a new plan but still AT&T, and for whatever reason, all my old voicemails and my phone call log went into the bit bucket. Your timing must have been spot on. BTW, the Samsung is a dream compared to the iPhone.
I've been reading here on occasion, but posting little. Busy. In any case, I'm not really looking to "expand my horizons" into RV's. In fact, I'm trying to narrow my focus so I can be better and more profitable. I'm out of the canvas business pretty much, focusing on upholstery. I might do a very small canvas job here and there, but nothing big. Just turned down a full cover for a 29 footer and full enclosure on a 42' Bertram flybridge. It's hard to turn down work that comes my way, but I am learning to say "no - call someone else". I have had a bad habit of trying to be all things to all people.
June
Ha, as someone who spent a good deal of his life dealing with 360/370 assembler, I know that term.
Quote from: JuneC on June 05, 2013, 06:39:07 am
my phone call log went into the bit bucket.
June
good to see you June ,
doing too much can spread you too thin. did you ever get the
Baja wet yet? its been awhile sence you were doing the upholstery in her
I'm another "one-man" shop though hubby does help answer the phones, lifts and totes heavy stuff, etc for me.
I'm trying to be downstairs and productive by 8:30. Usually break about 11:30 and go outside and weed flower bed for 30 minutes before lunch. Hubby is cooking while I'm weeding. After I get the kitchen clean, we go for a 30-45 minute walk and then I head back downstairs again. I usually go back upstairs about 5:30. We eat supper, I clean the kitchen up again, watch a show with our after dinner coffee and then I head downstairs for 30-45 minutes.
I've been working similar hours on Saturday and probably 4 hours on Sundays as I'm trying to catch up. I had a wedding dress that needed alterations on a short time line. I knew it was going to be good money so I accepted it. Now, I'm trying to get caught up on everything that slid while I worked on it. Also, discovered that I had to go online to order the zippers I needed for cushions. That was why I could get by with doing the wedding dress. I was in a holding pattern on 3 jobs waiting for zippers. They came in yesterday so now all three of those jobs are "hot" as well as the six dining room chairs.
The owner of the DR chairs is a piece of work. I told him 3 weeks before I could even start them. Fortunately, I got started on one right before the wedding dress got moved up the food chain. Any way, 2 weeks to the day, he called to see where I was at with his chairs. I made an appointment to show him the first one. The fabric has to be fussy cut as there is a floral pattern that has to be just so and he wanted to see the first chair before I went into mass production. When I took that chair over to him, he was pleased with my work but wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be a long delay in receiving the other 5. GRRRRR. Not sure why I bother to give out time lines. I knew it wouldn't help matters any to remind him of my earlier time frame and just smiled and told him that he had made it to the top of the food chain. Will do three this week, while juggling some other jobs, and then finish up with the other two next week. It's been a fun job other than that and I've gotten a lot of practice with welting. I'd only done a bit with the repair job on the JD back rest. I feel pretty comfortable with welting now so it's all good.
Gotta go and keep the wolves at bay.
TTYL
Virg
Quote from: byhammerandhand on June 05, 2013, 08:51:09 am
Ha, as someone who spent a good deal of his life dealing with 360/370 assembler, I know that term.
Quote from: JuneC on June 05, 2013, 06:39:07 am
my phone call log went into the bit bucket.
June
VM370 on a 3278 was the very first computer I ever touched. ;-)) I used to do the docs for various mainframe apps in SCRIPT (VM/CMS) in my early years. But then, I digress... BYTE8406
Quote from: Mike on June 05, 2013, 09:48:23 am
good to see you June ,
doing too much can spread you too thin. did you ever get the
Baja wet yet? its been awhile sence you were doing the upholstery in her
Yeah, but it ain't over yet. I still need to redo the McLeod seats. I'm gonna need you guys' help in figuring out how to fix them up. The lower portion of the seats are vacuum formed foam/vinyl that shrunk over the years, leaving gaps on the front edge. I'll get pics in the next few days so you can see what I mean. It's a fun boat, though. She burns less fuel at 35 knots with twins than a 25 foot single I/O with gas. Soon as it's done though, on the market she goes....
As for the hours (gotta get back on topic sometime). I'm working always - at least it seems so. No set hours. When I get too tired I nap - it's less expensive. I also frequently remind myself of how unproductive it is to punch holes in index fingers (as y'all know I tend to do) so tired just doesn't work. And, if I wanted to keep set hours, I should have stayed at my corporate job where the benefits were good.
June
June:
I was more worried that something may have happened to you ( health, accident, etc. ). Glad to hear your doing OK and that everything is fine. I will call of the Marine Corp recon patrol I sent out looking for you. :)
I am going to pass on the bus bar myself. I seen a couple and while they look nice and really save the paint on those big flat front ends I have lost all desire to drill dozens of holes into a 1/4 million dollar bus. Especially considering he just paid to have the front end re-painted. :)
The pattern and sewing would be a piece of cake since the nose on all these buses are flat but the mounting scares me. There were also a few whop-dee-do's around the mirror arms and bottom nose piece that had me wondering but I figured it would be a piece of cake for you with your experience with vinyl.
Glad to see your doing well. Amazing how we get older and start picking and choosing our jobs/orders carefully. I don't blame you for running from the canvas jobs. I dropped solar screens and patio awnings myself. :)
Chris
Quote from: Mojo on June 06, 2013, 05:37:27 amquote author=Mojo link=topic=12441.msg100421#msg100421 date=137052224
I am going to pass on the bus bar myself.
Chris
is this what you been doing with yout bus at the rallys realy ?
Chris
[/quote]
LOL
I meant bra........:)
Chris
bras and bars bolth things of interest
And so often conveniently co-located for one stop shopping ...toolman grunt
Quote from: Rich on June 04, 2013, 04:03:27 am
I forgot to mention one item that consumes a lot of my time and that is quotation follow up calls................. In my business now, I'm making phone calls after about a week or two to find out what the doctor has decided and many times it's either, "He hasn't made a decision yet" or "She's decided to put this on the back burner"
Takes more of my time than I would like to spend on it, but it does result in more work, so I do it.
This comment arouses my curiousity. When you guys do a 'follow-up', do you ever try to find out if they went with another quote, and if so, what that quote was?
I've never done follow-ups. But if I did,
that would be the main reason. If they decided to use someone else, I don't really care
who? All I want to know is.......how much?
I seem to always get under-bid on large jobs, mainly because I can't (won't) compete price-wise with shops that employ minimum wage workers.
QuoteThis comment arouses my curiousity. When you guys do a 'follow-up', do you ever try to find out if they went with another quote, and if so, what that quote was?
I've never done follow-ups. But if I did, that would be the main reason. If they decided to use someone else, I don't really care who? All I want to know is.......how much?
I seem to always get under-bid on large jobs, mainly because I can't (won't) compete price-wise with shops that employ minimum wage workers.
I do follow up calls to GET the job. Many of my customers aren't going with another shop, they're just big procrastinators and if I don't follow up, they may end up doing nothing.
As far as how much, I've asked that question on occasion, but like you I'm not concerned about people who don't know how to price their work, so what good would it do me to find I was much higher than the shop that's working for peanuts?
Rich
Somtimes i here we went with a lower guy. But i dont ask just if they had oncidered going ahead with the job.
Maybe im goig to put in a. Order and wanted to see if they could be added
If you are in a situation where the prospect is shopping for price only, then a follow up call will not make a difference. You either have the lowest price or you don't.
If you can invite the prospect to your upholstery shop to meet you and look at your portfolio of pictures, (or your up-to-date web site), if you provide a professional appearance and presence, that may help to get them away from 'price only', if you happen to be a few dollars higher.
A MAJOR goal of mine is to return all phone calls within 24 hours. If I don't call you back today I will call you back the first thing in the morning. This helps me get business and makes my paperwork easier.
Emails asking for Estimates I get done within 48 hours.
This works for me, subject to change if I find that something else will work better..
gene
I have to up-sell all of my customers because I am more expensive then my competitors. I know that they have probably got quotes for Carefree awnings from RV dealers or maybe a canvas shop and are now shopping me with their quote. I know I will come in higher but I refuse to cut my prices to compete. Instead I compete on quality and when your dealing with coach owners quality is everything.
When they come to me for a quote my job is to educate the customer and make him/her understand why I charge more and why it is wise to spend the extra dollars for my product. I do not trash my competitors but simply point out the facts:
1. ) I use the highest quality PTFE thread that has 20 times or more the life expectancy of a bonded poly. Bonded poly loses almost 50 % of its strength after 3 years. ( I back these up with scientific research and reports ).
2. ) I use nothing but premium fabrics woven and imported from Europe that will not stretch or distort like Sunbrella. ( This is also a known fact that Sattler and Recacril have a special weave process and also buy the best yarns on the market ).
3.) I double stitch the entire perimeter of each awning. Almost all awnings/toppers in the RV industry are single stitched.
4.) I offer the best warranty in the industry - 3 years on my work, 5 years on fabric and lifetime warranty on thread. ( My competitors offer 1 year period on everything ).
Just by pointing out these details I end up closing 98 % of my quotes. Because of the tight network that coach owners associate in it doesn't take long before the word gets out. My prioduct is aplttered all over RV forums and now coach owners compare my product against all the rest and because so many are still using bonded poly and sunbrella I get the jobs. What is really a bonus is the customers I have taken the time to educate have gone out and educated other coach owners which brings me more business.
My job is not to only make the products I sell but to educate the buying public. I do this through e-mails, over the phone as well as through my seminars. I make sure they know why I charge more in a professional manner and without trashing my competition.
I really do not know how the furniture sector operates to be honest. If I started doing furniture I would probably be out of business in a month. I just do not know what you furniture guys know. But there is a common thread ( no pun intended ) that binds all of us together regardless of what sector we operate in and that is customer service and support and this includes education.
Chris
I went through this today, in referance to gene's post. Customer was price only, I called to follow up, but price won. He would not tell me there price, I did extract that they were a $1000.00 less, if not more. Saw the new frame work for job, welded and then ground off no polish. Even stainless will rust if not polished to a fine surface finish. So, I can't wait to see canvas. It should be just as spectacularly craptacular.
Eric do you weld SS? and polish? I have many people tell me im the only shaop that called them back or came out so I get the job I get price shopper to and I try to walk a line to charge as much as I can to make a profit but not price myself out of the customer wallet in my area and doing so tend to judge my customer if its a wealthy looking guy or if its a old fixed income or young family man. but if they go for a lower price well I hope the other guy needed the work but I don't want to work for fun of it .
some just don't know what this stuff cost, I can understand that when I had to have a dock built when I moved to my new place I had no idea I thought maybe 20K
I ended up having a guy do it under my being the contractor for price I and he could live with and luckily did a great job
so some that call are shopping price and realize they cant afford it and buy a tarp for a cover or a cheap catalogue cover