Quality control

jlpressure

jlpressure

JL Pressure Washing
Companies that are more than owner/operator, companies that have crews that work for them and the owner isn't on the project, how do you control quality?

I am not on the jobs everyday 8 hours a day. I was having some issues with quality & speed of work getting done. In general my guys even the new guys we train do really good work.

I was having some issues I always check their work and catch stuff. Doing condos theres always little stuff that has to be gone back and gotten. Debris dripping out of vinyl, little stuff, I have no problem with the little stuff. You get it in breezeway areas and multi level walkways, the buildings are no problem 3 sides. Its always in the tighter areas like I said, were it might not be the best lighting or you get water fogging etc etc

I have told all my guys repeatedly, DOUBLE check your work before you leave an area, then I tell my lead man on the job to go behind and check the others work and do it at least every couple hours so if we are having some kind of quality problem we dont work all day with the same problem and then I go behind them. I rely on my lead men

Well I had a couple weeks were they all were leaving/missing stuff not real bad in most cases , but bad enough that if I didn't catch it, I wouldn't blame a customer for being mad

I give my lead guys little bonuses and I started to take those away from them and I started hammering on my guys every morning. I was still having problems so I ended up a couple times sending them back on their own time. I don't like taking money from them (going back on their own time).

What do some of you guys do and how do you handle quality control

Can you make a guy go back on their own time legally?

I also had some issues with how long some things were taking so I went and stayed on the jobs a lot more and started working the jobs to show them how it should be done, it amazing how a good kick in the ass can help.

Speed and quality is much better now, but I have learned no body caresabout your business as much as yourself and you have to beat it into workers heads. I guess its more important to have happy customers than happy employees

I just trying to figure other ways to stay on top of this. I foresee days in the future where I wont be able to be on every job every day.


I'm sort of thinking about your new contract too Russ, how you will stay on top of it, thats a lot of properties. how does Ron handle this or do you guys just have the best pressure washing employees in the world:)

Jeff
 
This is a very good post. i have delt with this exact issue for over 10 years. There is absolutly no one that is going to give a dam about your accounts but you!!

I have had lead guy's and i have had sub's and i have had nothing but trouble and lost many accounts over the years because of it.I have found that in my case it is better to go out with the crew and oversee everything!!

You wind up saving time and aggrevation, in the long run you will keep more of your customers and spend less time going over the screw up's of your employes. I had this company up to 3 rigs and six full time guy's at one time, but as i said before it was only a matter of time before it all came apart and i started losing accounts.

I am sure there are people out there that have good employes that will watch out for you, but they are real hard to find..
 
dont laugh Ron , I have them take pics , I also get them to have a manager sign a log in and out and they also never know when I may show or show up and help in some cases , they radio me on the two way and let me know where they are (store #) or I can call them, no excuses on the phone being dead either , all accts are in my service area for phones but I dont penny pibnch and I make sure they are taken care of , they get decent rooms and also decent food , as well as a bonus for taking care of my stuff at the end of each week
 
Establish an in house quality control program and use the quality control program as a marketing tool to keep your current accounts and also gain more.

The way that we have ours set up is that we empower each and everyone of our crew members to evaluate not only their responsibilities but also the next guys. Early on in our business we did use the "lead guy" approach where the company counted on one particular individual to lead by example and/or to be my eyes and ears when I was not onsite. Today, each crewmember that works on our sites is considered a "lead guy" with the same responsibilities and overview as the next one.

I will fill in the blanks for you in PA :)
 
When I went to the RT up in Mi back in July Jarrod told us that his employees get paid a % of the total job. And I thought that, might be a good way to go when I have people other then myself going out there.

It gives them incentive to get work done fast, but also incentive to do a good job because they don't get more if they have to go back to fix something.
 
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