The busy season reveals how well you used the slow one

OCS Influencer John Kenney recommends cross-training during the slow season. 

Every construction business has periods when production changes. Weather, seasonality,and customer demand can all affect the workload. Contractors sometimes look at slower periods as something they simply have to get through until business picks up again. I look at them differently.

A slower period gives a company something that is difficult to find during the busiest months: time to work on the business while everyone is not consumed with getting today's projects completed. Equipment maintenance is an obvious place to begin. Inspect, repair and prepare vehicles, tools, pumps and other equipment for the next production cycle. Organize storage areas, check inventory for damage and identify outdated equipment before someone needs it on a job. But I would not stop there.

The slower season is one of the best opportunities contractors have to look at how the operation actually performed during the busy months. Where did projects get delayed? What caused callbacks? Which information repeatedly failed to make it from the office to the field? Were crews waiting for materials? Were project managers spending too much time solving the same problems? Did customers have questions that should have been answered earlier? Those issues can be difficult to address while the company is running at full speed. Once production slows, management has an opportunity to correct them. Training should be part of that work.

Employees can be cross-trained so more people understand multiple parts of the operation. Crews can review installation procedures, equipment care, safety expectations and customer-service standards. Supervisors can spend time developing employees who may be ready for greater responsibility. This is also the time to review procedures that employees have learned to work around.

Every company develops workarounds. Someone keeps a separate spreadsheet because the main system does not provide the information they need. A crew makes an extra phone call every morning because project information is incomplete. Materials are stored wherever there is room because no one has developed a consistent system. During the busy season, those workarounds become part of getting the job done. During the slower season, management should determine why they exist and decide whether the process needs to change.

Customer follow-up can also be productive. Past customers may need maintenance, repairs or additional work. Warranty records can be reviewed. Open estimates can be followed up. Project photographs and documentation can be organized while the details are still reasonably fresh.

Strategic planning belongs in this period as well. Owners should review where the company made money, where margins were disappointing, which types of projects performed best and whether staffing and equipment will support the coming season. The point is not to fill every slow hour with activity just to keep people busy. Activity and productivity are not the same thing.

The goal should be to use available time to remove problems that will cost the company time when production increases again. The busy season reveals how well you used the slow one. A contractor entering the next production cycle with maintained equipment, better-trained employees, cleaner processes and a clear operating plan has already done much of the work required to perform well when the schedule fills up.