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Mistake 3: Underestimating How Much Time It Will Take To Do A Job

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By Les Yoder, Account Executive

Hopefully you’ve never experienced this, but we’ve seen it happen. Your technicians and finishers are humming along. Products are rolling out. More are getting started. But about halfway through the project you realize that things aren’t moving as quickly as you thought they would. Perhaps an equipment issue or a coating problem has added unwanted repair or correction time into your production schedule. Bottom line: You’re not positioned to meet your deadline.

Potential risks

If you underestimate the time it takes to complete a job, you may need to ramp up production with temporary workers, so you risk increasing labor costs. If you can’t make up for lost time and you don’t handle the situation professionally, you will likely make your customers angry and possibly lose their business on future projects.

How to prevent this mistake

If you have underestimated the time, the first thing you should do is communicate with your customers and come up with an alternative game plan. The solution may be to get another paint shop involved or set another deadline. Sometimes you can go overtime and correct the mistake. The point is to do what it takes to maintain your customer’s trust and business.

How Accessa partners

We’ve been in this business for a long time and we know how to estimate jobs. Part of our role for customers is to help them cost jobs and develop realistic timeframes so they can meet their obligations and be profitable. We want our customers to succeed.

Contact me at 317-879-2055 if you need help estimating the amount of time it will take to do a job. 

 

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