Believe it or not, inserting planned skip days into a weekly schedule is one of the most beneficial operations activities for a landscaping business. These are not free days off, but rather time devoted to unpredictable events that often prohibit a crew from moving on to the next scheduled job.
Weather, team problems, vendor delivery hang-ups and other miscellaneous items are rarely if ever the fault of your customers. They should not take the brunt of these issues by having their scheduled work moved. By scheduling skip days your crew then has the freedom to professionally handle unpredictable issues and still have the flexibility to arrive on each site at the appropriate times.
Normally, skip days are determined based on business load. The more jobs scheduled for each crew determines the number of skip days. During busy times like spring, a solid tip is to use a 3:1 ratio. During slower seasons choose a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio.
Each company and region is different and workloads must be scheduled realistically. Skip days, however, really are key to performing work that will enhance your company’s reputation.
Insight courtesy of LandOpt, a dynamic service organization that nationally licenses the use of its proven business systems and processes, providing an exclusive territory-based solution that raises business performance ahead of the competition. Visit landopt.com for more.
