How Successful Trade Businesses Scale Up

A big challenge that tradies encounter is scaling their business. John as a tradie, he’s awesome at his trade, he can really crank out the jobs.   However no matter how good he is, he only has 2 hands and 24 hours in a day! This is when John needs to confidently delegate so he can stay on top of his business and spend more time with his family!  But how does John ensure that any one he brings on can do the work to the same standard he does and keep his clients happy just like he does?

Hiring

Hiring the right person is important and we know an apprentice will have the basic skills. However, the most important thing when hiring is the character of the apprentice or tradesman. Can you work with him? Are you both on the same wavelength? What is his willingness to learn? Is he a responsible person?

Training

Scaling is necessary when you need to grow your business. One traditional way to train your apprentice by having your apprentice follow you for the first week wherever you go so your apprentice can pick up the skills and steps that needs to be done.

Accountability

Your apprentice will one day be skillful enough to go out on his own on your behalf, carrying the name of your business. It is therefore important that he continues doing what he was trained to do to carry on the high quality of work you have been providing to your clients and to keep the clients happy.

So how does John ensures that his team remembers every single step he needs to take before signing off a job as fully completed?

Checklists, checklists and checklists

No matter how much training is given, without systemizing the process John is following subconsciously, it will be impossible to meet the same standard of work and the same workflow consistently across all Jobs. We are after all only human.  Having a check list of steps that must be ticked off prior to seeing a Job as complete goes a long way!

Many technologies out there can be used by tradies to help manage their business, for example, Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks takes care of everything accounting related and Ascora for scheduling, quoting, invoicing, receiving payments, integrating all your payments and invoices to your accounting software and of course checklists!

In Ascora you can create various checklists that must be followed before a Job can be signed off as completed.  Your checklist can be big or small.  Your checklist can be just a few steps – such as leave fridge magnets, clean up.  Or it could be much longer.  For example you can create a basic checklist for your domestic jobs and another for commercial work, then have separate mini-checklists for particular type of work being carried out – for example installing a new hot water unit or an extra 3 phase power point.  The checklist outlines each point that must be completed, so you know your unique workflow is being followed.  It also gives you a level of auditing and accountability as you can easily see in Ascora when the Checklist item was completed and by whom.

Do not underestimate the power of a checklist. It may be a simple steps for your tradesmen to simply tick off items that are preset in their iPad or smart phone to show that these have been done, or maybe a simple signature from the customers on the iPad to acknowledge that the job has been completed to their satisfaction, it shows professionalism and a great way to maintain your business standard and you can rest easy knowing your unique workflows are being followed by everyone on your team!