Mass Production

Scott Olden has a knack for exploding those common sense notions that people believe for no other reason than everyone else seems to believe in them.

Shirking widely held notions about what kinds of accounts make the most money, he sometimes asks other contractors to guess what his most profitable account is. Many are surprised to learn it’s a flower shop with a patch of grass for which he charges $20 a visit. “We’re in and out of there in under two minutes,” he says.

By keeping his eye on the numbers he’s disabused himself of many myths, including the one that says there’s no money to be made in “lower-end” residential maintenance.

Although most companies trend away from the segment as they grow, most of his 800-plus accounts fall into that category. He isn’t much concerned about being undercut by low-ballers, and he also competes successfully against the nationals for commercial accounts.

Know thyself

Olden isn’t a maverick—if one can define maverick as staying the course while most everyone else doesn’t—because he enjoys bucking the system. It’s because he has a solid grasp of his company’s capabilities and performance.

His company services a wide mix of properties, from ranch homes to corporate headquarters. But he says he draws the line at straying into some market segments or adding more services.

“We’re set up for high-production maintenance. We don’t do a lot of high-end residential because that requires a different focus. I’ve been tempted to chase installation, application or irrigation because at first glance they look like easy money.

“But I have to take into account the enormous capital and training costs. Even if we could take that on, it would create ripples throughout the company and everything suffers because management is stretched so thin. Things could change, of course, but right now I see a lot on the table yet.”

Fine-tuning performance

Olden designed his operation for high performance, and over the years he’s tuned it for maximum rpm.

He switched to two-man crews several years ago. “I used to run larger crews of three, four or more, in part because that’s what some homeowners and property managers expected. They became accustomed to seeing a big group, regardless of whether they’re really accomplishing anything. But I noticed I wasn’t losing any production when people didn’t show up. So I broke them into teams of two. The driver is in charge, and takes responsibility for training.”

He says each of his trucks is a “Swiss Army knife,” equipped to handle any type of work the company performs. Each also carries a backup walk-behind, trim mower, blower and trimmer to eliminate trips back to the shop for repairs.

He’s also designed systems to simplify communication with crew members, over half of whom are employed through the H-2B visa program and have limited English skills. To speed morning preparation, for example, he color-codes instructions on route sheets: blue means grab materials or tools from the shop, green means perform all services at a given property and yellow means “new customer, watch for special instructions and pay special attention.”

Occasionally, Olden will slip a mischievous message into the route sheet instructions such as, “Call me for 10 bucks.” If the employee’s paying attention and calls in, he’s rewarded with a $10 bill back at the office.

A large whiteboard in the break room is divided into sections for each crew. On it are posted notes, changes and any customer complaints on 3x5 index cards. “It’s a convenient place to collect all communication,” says Olden. “And it introduces a bit of friendly competition, because the crews can see each other’s mistakes. It’s become a point of pride to keep complaints off the board.”

Olden also supplies each crew with a point-and-shoot digital camera, which they use to photograph trouble spots and areas that need special attention on each property. The photos are downloaded onto a PC in the breakroom each afternoon.