When the Best Laid Plans Go Awry....

[Heavy Highway]

A little bit of venting here.....

Our firm is under new management, namely us, the owners of the company. We have quite a few issues to deal with to return our company to a level of success we expect. I am managing our equipment fleet which means equipment moves fall to me to make happen and I'm very fortunate to have two outstanding lowboy drivers.

Rather than operate in a current state of crisis, I figured a little planning and forethought into equipment moves made quite a bit of sense. If superintendants and foremen could evaluate their equipment needs in advance, we'd smooth out the down time and head off the periods of hyperactivity before they occured. Of course, this only works when people do in fact plan ahead.

I get a fair number of "Hey, I really need an excavator/roller/blade/etc" calls. "When do you need it?" and far more often than I like to hear its "ASAP/tomorrow, this afternnon" Its causing me to want to throttle people.

Multi unit operations like paving are the worst and seem to be right now, the most ill planned. Today, for example, I have both trucks on fairly long hauls (a pavement reclaimer one direction and an excavator another) and I need to move five units out of town to shoot seal coat Tuesday (with a holiday on Monday) that I found out about this morning. /grrr.

Its obviously a mater that has to be dealt with and I hope its without alot of yelling and screaming and breaking of furniture. Meh, I'm kidding, mostly, we get it done, but its frustrating and I know all to well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Just a word to the wise, a little bit of planning and communication goes a long, long way toward making everyone more comfortable in their job and able to perform.

 

[Oversizeload]

The company I work for hauls mostly for dealers but we also haul for a bunch of companies that have their own lowboys and they call us when they cant keep up or need a bunch of stuff moved at once. Maybe you could find someone local that could help you out. I know its another cost but the equipmnet gets on site and then your making money!

 

[FANS]

Payback

Wondering if you could find a company to make the hauls that are scheduled late (or if you can do them, charge internally at a higher rate), then charge that directly to the job.

When the job manager asks, it's because they didn't plan so they have to pay the going rate. Would be good if your schedule haul costs were much less and you normally charge them to the job as well.

When a couple them start seeing huge transport invoices eating into their bonus money they'll change. Assuming, of course, you share the profit with the job manager or give them a percentage of it.

 

[Deerehauler]

The old saying "A lack of planning on your part does NOT constitute an emergency on my part" would be nice to invoke in this situation.

I think that if you are the equipment fleet manager, job equipment needs should be passed through you as soon as the bid has been let. If you have three crews, that each need a roller, and you only have two rollers, you would be responsible for getting another roller or coordinating the use of one roller for two jobs.

If you are unsuccessful in getting change accomplished, Fans and Oversizeload have both posed excellent alternatives.