When I started in business, my company consisted of just me and one employee. Because I ran projects during the day and sold and estimated in the evening, I knew everything that was going on at every stage of every project.
But as the company grew, and I hired production crews and salespeople, my role changed. I could no longer keep track of all the decisions that get made during the early phases of a project. Instead, that information was passed from person to person — from the salesperson to the designer, and then to the production manager. Details, we quickly discovered, could slip through the cracks during these transitions, leading to expensive problems down the road: unordered materials, botched client requests, unscheduled subs. Eventually we decided that we needed a more systematic way of handing projects and clients from the salesperson to the production crew.
That’s when we started using project notebooks. Now every job gets one. The notebook is updated continually during the sales and design process and given to the production manager when construction starts. (We also put a lot of project information on our computer server, which the production supervisors can access from their iPads.) In addition, we hold two crucial meetings just before construction starts — one with the clients, one without.
This strategy, simple as it sounds, has resulted in smoother transitions and fewer errors on most of our projects.
Project Notebooks
The notebook is basically a portable filing system. We start it as soon as a project is sold. (We keep empty ones in the office, ready to go.) Each has tab dividers labeled contract, estimate, budget, work orders, plans and drawings, permit, purchase orders, quotes, and schedules (see sidebar, left). We simply add documents as they’re generated: the design agreement, preliminary hand-drawn sketches, notes on the specs, purchase orders for long-lead items (fixtures, cabinets, and the like). Each time there’s a meeting — for instance, between the designers and the customer — we add the meeting notes. (We also email a copy of these notes to the clients.) If we have a question about a pending project and the sales guy or estimator is on vacation, we can usually find the answer in the notebook.
When the final construction drawings are complete, the salesman removes any hand sketches and notes that won’t be needed on the job site. That way, the guys in the field won’t see anything that’s not part of the final contract. (The discarded paperwork gets filed in the office in case it’s needed for future reference.)
The actual handoff happens over two meetings: a planning meeting in our office and an on-site preconstruction conference with the clients.
Planning Meeting
At the same time that we give the project manager (PM) his copy of the notebook to review, we schedule the planning meeting — typically for a few days later. This meeting is attended by our remodeling consultant, the PM, the project developer (estimator), and the production supervisor (currently me). We hold it at our office, where we have a large wall-mounted computer monitor and can pull up all the “before” photos we have on file. Those photos — along with the ones in the notebook — let the PM see the condition of the house, parking availability, and the like.
This meeting serves two important purposes. First, it’s an opportunity for the PM to ask questions, get clarifications, and raise concerns. Second, we can make sure we’re all on the same page before meeting with the clients.
Preconstruction Client Conference
The preconstruction conference is similar to the planning meeting but includes the clients and is held at the project site. This is usually the first time our PM goes to the site and meets the homeowners. There are seldom any surprises, because we’ve already agreed at our planning meeting on the information we’ll present and the questions the PM will ask the homeowners.
We begin by offering to do a line-by-line, page-by-page review of the specs and drawings. (Only a few clients take us up on this.) Then we turn the meeting over to the PM and let him ask his questions. These include the ones we ask all clients — about pets, children, parking, where to place the Porta-John or which bathroom to use, where to store materials — as well as specific project questions, such as whether they want to keep or repurpose existing cabinets and other materials that we won’t be reinstalling.
The PM then walks the clients through the rough schedule. This conversation is very specific and includes the time the crew will get to the house in the morning and when they’ll leave in the afternoon. (“We start demolition on Monday. Three of us will be here at 8 a.m. with a dumpster.”) He also gives the clients his cell number.
If we’re working for a couple, we meet with at least the primary contact, usually the wife. However, we prefer to have both spouses at the meeting, because we want both to be comfortable with us being in their home. Also, since each spouse usually has a different personality and different questions, having both present lets us address everyone’s concerns. Occasionally a spouse will attend via speakerphone.
We encourage the clients to ask the PM questions about his background. Typically, these are very general: How long have you worked for Gehman? Have you done a project like this before?
We’ve found that this meeting is especially beneficial for highly detail-oriented clients and for people who have never hired a contractor before. It gives them confidence in our PM — that he cares about their house and family and wants to make things as smooth as possible for them. We consider all our employees salespeople, and this is a great chance for the PM to establish rapport.
Some clients look at the on-site meeting as an expense. We make the case that, while it does take time, it’s an important part of a well-planned and organized job, and will make things go better for everyone over the long haul, especially them.
Of course, the project notebook and handoff meetings are just part of our overall project management system. We also generate detailed weekly progress reports, do a thorough after-action review at the end of the job, and hold training meetings where we help our crews incorporate the lessons learned on a job. But our handoff procedure gets us off to a strong start.
Dennis Gehman is president of Gehman Custom Remodeling in Harleysville, Pa.
