Trying to Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

[msp3017]

I am in the process of trying to help a close friend of mine run his granite business more efficiently. He's old school and stubborn. Currently he insists on doing every measure, every template, every cut, and he's on most installs. He has a bridge saw but no other equipment other than a couple handheld grinders used for cutting out sink holes and polishing edges (all done by hand). He templates the old school way... with a tape measure, cardboard and a glue gun.

The shop is littered with remnants, some as old as 15 years. The business as a whole is very unorganized.

I have experience running a small business but I use Quickbooks. Does anyone here run their granite business with QB?

What are the must-have tools that you would recommend? Baby steps though... although he does recognize that he needs help running his business more efficiently, I don't think I could convince him to run out and buy a CNC machine at this time.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Mark

[BReynolds]

Coming here is a great first step there is a vast amount of knowledge in the members area on just about every subject a granite business could run into, it is the best investment you could make in his business. Ok done trying to sell you on membership.

We use quick books and it works just fine for us.

The best thing he could do is start to delegate responsibility to workers. The owner cannot measure, cut, Polish, and install every job. He needs to be working on growing the business and refining the process. Letting go can be very hard but you have to be willing to let employees make mistakes (kept to a minimum)

Start by getting away from cutting/ fabbing. If he still measures and checks pieces before they go out to install he can free up a lot of time but still have an eye on quality.

[Dan R.]

He needs to work on his business, rather than for his business.

He may want to delegate the parts of the business he likes the least. Whether sales, fab or install.

[msp3017]

Thank you for your responses!

If I may clarify... He does have 2 guys in the shop who cut sink holes, polish edges and help with installs but he does everything else.

If a customer wants an edge other than a pencil edge, he calls someone who has the equipment to come in and route the edge for him. An unnecessary expense??

I will be setting up Quickbooks within the week to keep track of sales and expenses but as I look into the future, what other equipment would be helpful in saving time? Are templating systems worth the investment? Edge routers?

BReynolds: what version of QB are you using (Pro, Premier, Online, etc.?)

Thank you!

[Dan R.]

A router would/could be a good purchase, depending on how much he subs out.

[BReynolds]

We use pro but I think online would probably be better.

Buy a hand router and some tooling before anything else that would be the smallest investment that would make a big difference. Don't waste your time on digital templating until you are getting close to buying some other digital gear ( cnc) if you do a lot of pencil edge and splash a vertical edge machine might be a good choice. Something like a flying flat, marmo 711, Gmm tower.

[Joe Durfee]

I moved this post to the general forum (mostly just to figure out how to move it ) as it fits better in here.

[Jonathan]

I would start with becoming an SFA member, Right after spending the next couple nights awake reading abunch of good stuff in the members lounge i would get to cleaning out the shop. Throw away all the crap that has piled up and take inventory of the working material/ tools you have.

[Alex_Bores]

Getting him to delegate some responsibility is key. You cannot run the whole show and like Dan said work ON your business. Building business is key for a new shop and he is delaying the growth of the company.

Utilizing equipment like a Ghines router will set you above the current status of the shop.

But there are many other tools out there to get you started if purchasing a router isn't ideal for now.

I have started a few shops in my years. One shop had a start from just 35k and it worked until we could purchase more machines and an actual bridge saw. Instead of using the dinosaur we bought for 3k that was 15 years old at the time.

Just remember there is always more than one way to skin a cat in this industry.

[Dstiversjr]

The shop you explained in the original post sounds a lot like the shop my father and I run. Depending on what his goals are as far as production and growth, you don't have to run cncs to be successful in this industry. We use a bridge saw, a Marmo router that is over 10 years old, makitas for cutting and grinding and air polishers for the finish work. The router is a necessity imo because it allows a less skilled fabricator to rough grind the edge and run a single router bit to do your standard edge profiles. Other than that you just need good employees that you can count on. We have 3 installers, 4 fabricators and a sawyer. On a good week we can hit 500 square. Just my opinion, hope it helps

[BellaTerra]

You should really sit down and talk goals. Do you want more efficiency so that you can accomplish the same amount of work in fewer days or for higher margins or to be able to increase production?

Set out goals and build your road map to achieve that goal. Without a destination port no wind is the right wind.

[BellaTerra]

And whatever goals you want to attain by greater efficiency the SFA is by far the best investment you'll ever make with the greatest returns on your money.

[Joe Little]

First step is to see which one of his 2 guys want to step up , then give them
the opportunity to do so . Relieve himself of some headaches and time consuming
task that someone else can accomplish . ...delegate !!

2. Router .
3. Seam phantom ( the main part of this business is providing the best possible
Looking jobs in the area , and without a seam phantom for a manual shop , forget about it ! )