As I got up this morning I noticed the dark sky at 6am and wondered at the seasonal changes we go through each year here in the Midwest. Many of you probably feel depressed at the reduced light change as winter approaches.
As a remodeling contractor, the winter months are typically a season to hurry when working outside, do to less light. But it should be understood that the quality of workmanship produced for the client even though it is cold and many times uncomfortable, be as competently produced as if it was during the summer and warm months. I recall a 3rd bay garage addition we were working on several years ago and the temperature was -15 degrees. We tried to work for about 2 hours until I called the day off for the guys. Poor weather conditions will reflect on any crew in their ability to perform efficiently time and quality wise. Not to mention their overall heath.
This is an approaching time of the year when the health of your employees and the continuation of producing a quality project needs to be a consideration to the future success of your company. Sometimes you have to tell your employees they cannot work even if they are gung ho.
In another example I let my enthusiastic crew go to a job site on a deck installation during what started as a light snow, but turned into a heavy wet snow. Unfortunately they lost quite a few of the company hand tools in the snow and did a very poor job that had to be corrected a few weeks later when the weather permitted us to return to the job site. We lost a dollar value for the tools and suffered triple the labor costs to rework that days attempt to perform.
So in closing, I would like to suggest, beware the winter work outside, and make good decisions on bad weather days. Keep the quality up, the customer happy and your crew safe and healthy.
On a lighter note, get the guys to make a snowman in front of the office when you can’t work due to poor weather, and have some fun with them!!
Art Wehnert
Helping to Green America
www.countryremodelers.com
www.advancedgeotherm.com