Job Material Sheets

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dfr2923

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As I sit here billing out I think there has to be a better way. I am using Accubid T&M billing which I believe works well but my guys turn there material lists into me with the same old Work Ticket and hand written material lists that my family's business has been using for 40 years. I think I would be better having a list of materials that goes out with each job were they can mark off what they use, three major areas for us. Residential, Commercial, Agricultural. I am just wondering if anyone has anything made up they would like to share or any good ideas. I know I could make my own but it will take a long time and if someone has a good solution its easy to ask. Just wondering what you all do.


Thanks!
 
Also any websites you guys know of with helpful information would be good also. I have no problem paying for the forms just trying to save myself the time of building myself.
 
dfr2923 said:
As I sit here billing out I think there has to be a better way. I am using Accubid T&M billing which I believe works well but my guys turn there material lists into me with the same old Work Ticket and hand written material lists that my family's business has been using for 40 years. I think I would be better having a list of materials that goes out with each job were they can mark off what they use, three major areas for us. Residential, Commercial, Agricultural. I am just wondering if anyone has anything made up they would like to share or any good ideas. I know I could make my own but it will take a long time and if someone has a good solution its easy to ask. Just wondering what you all do.


Thanks!
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AMEN - the amount of time that is wasted and the "nickle and dime" items that are missed is really getting old. We have been looking at software such as Successware and ServiceSkeds which in theory will allow guys to electronically track items in the field. I am concerned about the administrative time of installing/using these systems. I know from experience that these programs NEVER do exactly what they are advertised to do. They generally take far more time and effort to properly implement than people think, and there seems to always be something that you do that won't quite fit into the system. Having said that, we can't keep doing things the same old way forever. Does anybody have experience with any of the electronic dispatch/billing systems? Are they saving time? Increasing accuracy? Are they worth the cost both in cash and setup/administrative time? I'd particularly like to hear from companies with 5 or less guys.
 
punish the help till it works

punish the help till it works

I had a very smart superviser tell me once, "Shop less and save."

Hire a type "A" and let them handle the details.

Pre plan your projects and add in extras at the end.

Make your help pay for any missed itemized items on the estimate or work order by taking it out of there paycheck at retail value plus markup. (punish the help till they get it right)

Have the help inventory there trucks on their own time on Saturday. Supply free beer to tip the scale in your favor.

Include enough overhead and markup to cover lost non renewable inventory.
 
John120/240 said:
Along with what rookie4now has said; Does anybody have laptop or I Pad in the truck for

billing, material tracking, estimating ? Pros & Cons.
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invoice2go for the iphone/ipad is what i use. works well.
has cloud backup and sync across all devices.

james brush has a system he's developed..... i looked at
it, and probably would have opted for it, but the
invoice2go is working well for me, and my work isn't
the generic service truck work..... if it was, i'd a gone with
his system.

http://www.electricalflatrate.com/

spent half an hour one night on the phone with him...
good guy..
 
GUNNING said:
I had a very smart superviser tell me once, "Shop less and save."

Hire a type "A" and let them handle the details.

Pre plan your projects and add in extras at the end.

Make your help pay for any missed itemized items on the estimate or work order by taking it out of there paycheck at retail value plus markup. (punish the help till they get it right)

Have the help inventory there trucks on their own time on Saturday. Supply free beer to tip the scale in your favor.

Include enough overhead and markup to cover lost non renewable inventory.
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For the first time on this forum I have read something that has made me indignant.

I know what I am good at. I know that there is a reason that I am an employee rather than an employer, and I am fine with the employer making more than I do. I hope he makes a lot more.

To punish someone because his skill set involves getting the job done rather than filling out paperwork is just wrong.
 
GUNNING said:
Make your help pay for any missed itemized items on the estimate or work order by taking it out of there paycheck at retail value plus markup. (punish the help till they get it right)
.
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Was there scarcasm here?

You must give employees clear instructions. Also, Expectations must be clear and employees must be held accountable to those. You cannot abuse them. Your statement is unethical as best.

Despite the different management theories, such as employees are lazy and they must be negatively reinforced to achieve compliance. That's fine run your business as you see fit. If the employee fails, it's your fault until you retrain. Then it's their fault or incompentace. Then your fire them, not take money from their check.

I completely agree about hiring a type A and pre planning the crap out of any job. It is cost effective, minimized duplicated efforts, wasted trips for parts, and you look good doing it
 
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Were is Satcom when you need him. He would probably say the historical data could well be used!

There is really a lot of possible fixes, just my opinion.

One is to data base your inventory. With that one could use it in various ways. Old school would pen and paper,
new school would be to use scanner's, bar codes, and CPU's. You could ask your supplier for their bar code print out of their inventory (they might already have that on your receipt.

There is plenty of software for bar code reading. Arrangement of the data is key, you might hire a computer
literate bookkeeper or even contract it out.

You will in the end have to train all the parties involved on this new application.

After the bookkeeper inputs your system you could contract them to data base your historical data...

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp...765bb836008b0a&bpcl=39650382&biw=1024&bih=600
 
No matter what method you try to use, you have the problem of getting employees to use it properly. Just seems to be a problem with some people no matter how simple you make it.

The larger the job the more you should have a listing of items that are already known, you may just need them to double check quantities, you could have items listed that are common and just having the item on the list helps prevent them from missing the item, and then you need area for them to mark additional items that may not be listed, and hopefully they notice them and mark them down.

Things like panelboards, you probably already know what was purchased for the job, you may not know exactly how many breakers were installed, let them count and change quantities as needed. Just printing a list compiled from purchase orders for the job should get a lot of the material on a list and have them double check for accuracy.
 
Ipad

Ipad

I have been looking into using the ipad a little more. I am a small shop 5-10 guys is about were I run, Invoice 2 Go looks interesting but I don't necessarily want my guys to do the invoicing I would love to have an app with the material, and labor on it and then it would shoot to me and my bookeeper in the cloud she could check it over enter it into T&M billing I could come in do a quick check to verify quantities and we could shoot out invoices. Just wondering if there is anything out there or if I need to figure out how to make my own App.

For the guy that was using invoice 2 go, do you have employees using it or just yourself? Just wondering that app looks pretty decent just don't know how it would work for employees.

For the guy who says punish the employees I don't agree with that. It is my business I hired them it is my job to make sure they know how to do theirs. I work with a HVAC company in my town that takes it out of their guy's checks if they forget something. I think that is wrong, and like the one guy said let them go if they cant do the paperwork don't take their pay.

Thanks for all the help so far!
 
dfr2923 said:
I have been looking into using the ipad a little more. I am a small shop 5-10 guys is about were I run, Invoice 2 Go looks interesting but I don't necessarily want my guys to do the invoicing I would love to have an app with the material, and labor on it and then it would shoot to me and my bookeeper in the cloud she could check it over enter it into T&M billing I could come in do a quick check to verify quantities and we could shoot out invoices. Just wondering if there is anything out there...
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With exception of Ipad and we use QB Enterprise...yup.
 
How did YOU bid the job?
Did you not have hardware etc.?
If you pulled that bs on me, I would start looking for a new job and f your guts out till I found one.
That said, your men should keep trucks up and do any paper work you ask, on your time; you will need to train them how to do the paper work!
Do you go over the jobs, pre job, post job with the men? Is this only service work or all your jobs?
 
GUNNING said:
Make your help pay for any missed itemized items on the estimate or work order by taking it out of there paycheck at retail value plus markup. (punish the help till they get it right)

Have the help inventory there trucks on their own time on Saturday. Supply free beer to tip the scale in your favor.
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Making your employees pay for missing items is illegal (at least in California) unless the employee was grossly negligent or dishonest. I suspect most other states have similar laws.

Making your employees inventory their trucks without pay is also illegal (at least in California) unless the employees are salaried exempt employees, I doubt craftspeople are. Again, I suspect other states have similar laws.

If specific employees continually lose inventory they can be reprimanded and/or dismissed.
 
I have printed an items inventory list from my invoicing program with the items code and description of all of the commonly used items. If we order specific material for a job we use a PO reference and the employee writes down the item description and model number in a specific line on the job sheet. The bookkeeper enters the code and checks the employees hand written description and than I double check all invoices before they are mailed. This paper work is done on the job site before the employee leaves so the customer pays for this labor. usually 10 -15 minutes at most but it keeps my overhead down and makes the employee responsible for accurate bookkeeping.
I am constantly adding new items to the data base so I just print new books every couple of months. I used to do all of the billing myself and let me tell you this has saved my company. I can manage more work and employees and I am more profitable than before.
 
dfr2923 said:
As I sit here billing out I think there has to be a better way. I am using Accubid T&M billing which I believe works well but my guys turn there material lists into me with the same old Work Ticket and hand written material lists that my family's business has been using for 40 years. I think I would be better having a list of materials that goes out with each job were they can mark off what they use, three major areas for us. Residential, Commercial, Agricultural. I am just wondering if anyone has anything made up they would like to share or any good ideas. I know I could make my own but it will take a long time and if someone has a good solution its easy to ask. Just wondering what you all do.Thanks!
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So what problems do you experience most from having your guys fill out a T&M tickets?
 
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