International Door & Operator Industry

JAN-FEB 2012

Garage door industry magazine for garage door dealers, garage door manufacturers, garage door distributors, garage door installers, loading docks, garage door operators and openers, gates, and tools for the door industry.

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TECHNICAL For Door Dealers, Time is Money by Ted Billman Ten years ago I offered an article on the measurement of time. It is pertinent today as it was then. I have found that talking to dealers that not much has changed. Much of the equipment is the same and the technique of installation is still a manual operation. The one thing that has changed the most is that dealers are going farther from their base and may have diversifi ed to other products not related to garage doors. For those that have diversifi ed, it is important to extend your Guide Sheet to include those items. "Time is Money" – How often have you heard this cliché? I am sure many times over. BUT the correct question should be "How do I measure time?" The unfortunate thing is many of us do not know how to measure it successfully; especially when it comes to commercial product installation. Too much emphasis is put on the product cost and mark up, but not enough emphasis is put on time and the charging for it. How often have you thought: • My time isn't worth anything. • I was going to go that way anyway. • Loading and unloading product is part of the necessary evil. • I can't charge for that. • And fi nally, I'll get that on the way home so I won't charge for travel time and mileage. Business in itself means knowing costs and how to charge for those costs. The obvious cost is product, supplies, travel, etc. These are tangible items. Para la versión en Español, visitare www.doors.org The not-so-obvious is the intangible measurement of time. The focus of this article is the intangible. The establishment of a time chart is a helpful tool of identifying chargeable time. It should be inclusive of unloading product, setting up on the job site, installation, cleanup of waste product and fi nal inspection. ALL of this is part of the installation cost. It does not include the variable cost of travel time. Distance and convenience of getting to the job site calculate travel time. This in itself makes it variable and should be taken into account as a separate line item of the total quote. Many trades use a labor chart to estimate the time it takes to install or repair product. The most notable is the automotive industry. Should you take your car in for repair or maintenance, you nearly always get an estimate outlining the amount of time it will take to perform the individual tasks. This is usually taken from a detailed time guidebook. The following chart tries to compensate for a variety of product styles and Continued on page 30 VOLUME 45 ISSUE 1 2012 29

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