I am finally able to leave work and go spend time with my family!
An actual countertop fabricator said that. A few years ago we asked our users how software has helped their business, and their quality of life. The answers were overwhelmingly about the time they were able to get back. The freedom to focus on the important things, whether it’s other parts of the business or more time away from the shop.
So, if you are a countertop fabricator and your days are so jam-packed that you are pulling your hair out, where do you begin? Read on for the first steps to take in reducing the chaos and creating some peace of mind.
Ask yourself, “Where’s my time going?”
When you look at your work days over the last week or so, what projects or tasks have taken up the majority of your time? This is the first step. Any successful countertop fabricator will tell you that knowledge is power. If you track your activities, you’ll easily be able to find areas that you can shave off time from.
Start with an easy win
With the right software, you can streamline your countertop business all the way through install. Taking a look at your current processes will help you find areas that need improvement. There will always be bottlenecks, so don’t be overwhelmed!
Many fabricators start by taking a look at their quoting process. It’s an easy, high-reward move that will get you almost immediate results. When shops switch from quoting by hand to using estimating software, they are able to produce more bids faster than ever. In this case, using software to speed up the bidding process allows for consistent and accurate quoting by anyone on the team and frees up time. Less time wasted on revisions, pricing mistakes, calculations, and hand drawing. Extra bonus: because you are able to increase your bid output, you’ll naturally and easily increase your countertop sales. More time and money!
Organize and streamline to maximize efficiency
Imagine that your shop and office are connected. A customer calls in and asks about the status of their new countertops. The person in the office who answers the phone can answer quickly and accurately right then and there. No putting them on hold and tracking down the shop manager or owner and no guessing. All the job details are in one place for all the right people to see. No costly mistakes, no reworks, no upset customers, no wasted material, and definitely no wasted time.
By using software as a central hub of communication and job information, you’ll be able to run your processes efficiently and effectively. When you’re spending the majority of your days fixing mistakes and chasing down information, you don’t have much time to make big, strategic improvements to your business. There’s simply no time to focus on the big picture.
“The time saved from cutting the old repetition across files and other programs means I can focus more on growing the business rather than maintaining the status quo. Communication across our entire team is better, and accessing old information is much simpler and centralized.”
Steve Young at Quick & Easy Granite
Always keep improving
As a countertop shop grows and evolves, it’s normal to feel like you solve one problem just to find another. Instead of scratching your head in confusion, you can utilize software to take some of the guesswork out of it. Tracking your activities through the right calendar views and reports will give you the insight you need to make those important decisions when it comes to refining your processes.
Hey, guess what
If you’re interested in reclaiming your invaluable time by using software, then we’ve got some good news for you. Our software has helped thousands of fabricators organize and streamline their countertop businesses. Schedule a demo to learn more about CounterGo, our drawing and estimating software, and Systemize, our scheduling and job management software.
