Overwhelmed?

When you have an abundance of work – more than you can really handle – you can expand your business, raise your prices, or turn down jobs.  If that last option doesn’t sound appealing, never fear.  We’re going to explore some ways to manage the situation.

Too much work sounds like a good problem to have, but it’s a sign that your supply-demand ratio is out of balance.  Customers can become dissatisfied with long wait-times.  The quality of the workmanship can drop because your employees are exhausted.  You might be too busy to bid future jobs, which means you’re missing out on opportunities.

INCREASE PRICES

There is a saying in the industry that if you get every job you bid, you aren’t charging enough.  The law of supply and demand says that when demand for your service is high, you can charge higher prices.  You need a reliable way to figure out how much to charge your clients, especially if you have to pay your crew overtime or hire additional hands to get the work done.  An estimating tool like PEP Cloud is your best friend in this situation.  The worst thing (and we’ve seen this) is to work really hard only to discover that you didn’t make any profit because your estimate was off or you didn’t factor in overtime.

EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS

The timing may not be ideal because you’re so busy, but consider hiring more employees to help with the work-load.  While there is a cost involved, an additional crew member could take away the need for overtime.  (Can you afford it?  If you’ve taken time to set your prices and materials, PEP Cloud can help you assess that.)

* You may want to check out our 3-part blog from April about hiring new employees – Tips for Increasing Your Workforce. /tips-for-increasing-your-workforce-part-1/

SUB-CONTRACT

Many painters compensate when they have an overflow of work by hiring another company to take on some of it.  You can also team up with a trusted associate (like another PDCA member) and have your crews work together; with this option you’ll maintain control of the quality and production.  This works well if another company has a delay in its schedule and is looking to fill some time working alongside you.

Coming up next week:  Time-management Tips