Scheduling ???? Help Please

[Mojo]

I am wondering how all of you handle your scheduling and work flow.

I am taking orders now as far out as March and have several scheduled in between. I have never been this busy before and am now struggling on time management and staying on schedule. I am currently a week behind and that is with sewing 7 days a week. Thanksgiving really screwed me up.

It is like this every year it seems, I get flooded with work and then it cools off. Then I get flooded again. This is the best year I have ever had and while I have had one other busy year this one revenue wise is awesome. But with orders coming in for work to be performed out as far as March I am afraid of running into scheduling issues.

I should also say here that one of the reasons why I am overly concerned is that when I nail a date down for a customer it has to be finished on or before that date. Many of my customers coordinate my work with the installations at Dealers. They come in from all around Florida and have travel expenses plus campground fees to pay and if I am late they end up having to stick around an extra day or so which costs them money.

How do you handle scheduling when your busy ? I am currently using the clip board method that Russ uses but am thinking there has to be a better way. I am running out of room for clipboards and I dont want them all over my walls.....lol

Chris

[MinUph]

Chris,
  When I was busy in another business I bought a big erasable yearly calendar that I would hang on the wall. Erasable type with the marker. It had each month and day in blocks. I would put a start date and run a line through the days it would take me to complete the job. Worked remarkably well. I am very computerized and found this to work better than outlook in my computer. They only cost a few bucks at Staples. They are about  2' x 3' guessing here.

[kodydog]

When we were building our house we hired a builder. He told us he would start in two months. He kept rescheduling and finally started six months later. He had worked for us before and he was the only builder we wanted to use. He was very high quality and stayed very busy. So we waited.

When we get busy like you are we explain that our scheduled time is approximate within a week or two. Most customers understand. And we call them a few weeks ahead to keep in touch.

We also have a helper that works as needed. He strips furniture, makes buttons, P/U and del. Nothing real technical.

I know your very picky like me and its hard to let someone else help, even to do the no brainer stuff. Your work is different than mine. Cutting, Sewing and installing may be too technical to teach a part time employee.
And it's hard to find someone who will do an honest days work. But sometimes you need an extra pair of hands to help you get caught up.

[sofadoc]

Chris, I'm glad that my couch customers don't usually have to have an exact promise date. I understand your situation when people come in from out of town for installs. But with your health issues, I don't see how you can adhere to such a regimented schedule.
Heck, my biggest complaint is aching feet, and there are plenty of times that I don't finish jobs when planned.
Take it easy man. Remember, they can kill ya but they can't eat ya.

[Mojo]

First off, thank you Paul. I think I am going to pick up one of those boards. It sounds like a good idea. Will keep you posted. :)

Kody, it is tough adhering to a schedule but I have no choice. I had one customer come all the way from Pensacola. I had to schedule that job with the dealer and the customer. Now I am working with the dealers schedule plus the customers. It gets difficult but what I did with that one is finish them a few days early.

Dennis. It gets hard sometimes. I have days I am in a great deal of pain but have worked stacked up on me. I take a Percocet or Loritab and head to the shop. The funny thing is that if I am sewing I am so focused on what I am doing I forget about the pain. I know I am getting near the end though in regards to retiring completely. It gets hard sometimes to maintain a busy schedule. I think my wife would appreciate me retiring completely. But right now I am not ready to sell the machines and call it good. This business has been good for me and it makes me feel like a productive member of society. But I know I cannot continue to keep going for years ahead. :)

Thanks everyone for the input.

Chris

[Mike8560]

I just keep all my jobs in my notebook as I get them and contracts in my briefcase mostly it's all in my head knave never thought timber 4 moths out i think I csnwork faster then I do and it takes me longer to get to them.   Sounds like if your to busy you can raise your prices a bit. It's like this big job I just got I gave them a price I thought would never go over.  And it did.