New research from an online estimate service confirms what many remodelers will tell you: They work far longer than the typical 40-hour work week. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Clear Estimates finds that nearly one-third of client activity on its servers from Monday to Friday occurred outside of normal business hours.
Clear Estimates provided REMODELING with data tracking the time in which 3,736 customers logged on from July 9 to August 6. Clear Estimates found that of the 11,317 login sessions recorded during the four-week period, 71.5% occurred during the normal business hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (All times reflect the remodeler's local time zone.)
The data shows a spike in login activity at 8 a.m. and an increase in login activity after the typical lunch hour. While there is a gradual decline in login activity during the day, there is an increase in logins around 8 p.m.
Clear Estimates found:
- More than 20% of sessions were launched between 6 p.m. local time and midnight;
- 12.5% of sessions began between the 8 p.m. and midnight;
- Just over 14% of sessions were launched on a Saturday or Sunday; and
- Sessions on Monday accounted for more than 22% of all sessions during the work week.
There were nearly 2,000 more logins on Monday than every other day of the work week. Logins on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were more or less even before a significant drop-off on Friday.
The dip in login sessions on Tuesday is most notable during lunch hours. There were 40% fewer logins on Tuesday than Monday during the noon-to-1 p.m. hour. Additionally, there were 17% fewer logins between the noon-to-2 p.m. period on Tuesday than the average of all days during the work week.
The numbers reported by Clear Estimates account for when a customer logged into the service, not how long they stayed online. While it is possible that some remodelers could have remained logged into Clear Estimates all day, the numbers reported only record the number of unique sessions. The number of unique logins occurring at or after 7 p.m. suggests, however, that remodelers are spending hours outside the typical workday devoted to the estimating process.
