Business Accountants: Transforming Your Construction Business and Your Life with SOPs in 2023

Are you overwhelmed by customer requests, staff inquiries, and tight profit margins? Discover how Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can rescue your construction business from chaos and improve your overall quality of life.

Running a business can be a relentless whirlwind, with endless tasks, from tracking project updates to managing invoices and assisting your team with estimates. The result? You’re exhausted. It’s time to change the game with SOPs.

Before you dismiss this idea, listen closely. You can’t be the sole source of answers for everyone in your business. You’ve got bigger goals, like realizing your company’s vision. SOPs are the key to breaking free from the daily grind, and this article will show you how they can revolutionize your business and your life.

Understanding Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): At its core, a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a clearly documented, comprehensible, and universally accepted method of performing a task. In other words, it’s how things get done. A good SOP should be:

Documented: Capture your processes in a centralized place, whether it’s on paper, in a flow chart, using construction software, or even through a video.

Understood: Your processes must be presented in a way that’s easy for anyone to comprehend.

Agreed Upon: SOPs should reflect the collective agreement on how things should be done, rather than a single person’s approach.

SOPs come in two primary categories:

1. How-to’s: These explain simple tasks that may not be performed frequently but are essential to remember, sparing you from repeated interruptions and questions.

2. Essential Processes: These outline everyday tasks that are critical to the business’s functionality, making them indispensable.

Conquering Chaos in Construction: 

Still skeptical about the impact of SOPs on your construction business? How many of these scenarios resonate with you?

• Inefficient estimating processes consume excessive energy and reinvent the wheel with each project.
• Sending out bids feels like an exhausting ordeal.
• Your existing tech solutions complicate things rather than streamline them.
• Finding and training labor is a time-consuming challenge.
• Managing schedules becomes a never-ending struggle.
• Sales team execution varies greatly.
• You possess systems, but only you understand them.

The absence of SOPs negatively impacts quality and scalability. It’s time to regain control of the chaos.

Getting Started with SOPs: Here’s the good news: You’re probably already employing some form of SOPs in your construction business.

Do you use checklists? Those serve as a basic form of SOP. If you find yourself repeating explanations frequently, that’s an indicator for a potential SOP. The next time you explain something, have someone take notes to start drafting an SOP. You already have SOPs; now you need to put them in writing.

Each SOP should have a clear purpose. Do not keep the intention behind it a secret.

If you’re wondering where to begin, start with the processes that frustrate you the most. Identify areas such as:

• Procedures for field staff arriving on-site.
• Efficient closing of a sales call.
• Creation of accurate estimates.
• Quality control inspections to ensure no detail is overlooked.
• Safety protocols tailored to specific job sites.

When everything resides in your head, you become the biggest bottleneck. It’s time to document your processes.

Making SOPs Work for Your Team: Now, you might be thinking: “I’ve been down this road before. I documented processes, but they ended up collecting dust.” Encouraging your team to adopt and adhere to SOPs can be the most challenging part, but it’s far from impossible. Here’s how to make it happen:

• Collaborative Creation: Involvement leads to buy-in. People remember and follow processes they helped create.
• Explain the Why: Share the intention behind each SOP to enhance understanding and motivation.
• Sell the Benefits: Highlight how SOPs improve team members’ lives and efficiency, making it easier for them to adopt these changes.
• Accessible Documentation: Make SOPs readily accessible where they’re needed, whether physically or virtually. Tools like Buildertrend can help store and access SOPs conveniently, even offline on the job site.
• Cultivate an SOP-Friendly Culture: Hire people who align with your company’s values and introduce proof-of-completion measures, such as photos or checklists, to foster a culture of accountability and reduce the need for oversight.
• Keep SOPs Current: Team members who take ownership of their processes are more likely to maintain up-to-date documentation.

Key Do’s and Don’ts: As you embark on your SOP journey, remember these essential do’s and don’ts:

Do:

• Create an SOP Index listing all expected SOPs.
• Have someone other than the process performer test the SOP.
• Trust your team to contribute and refine SOPs.
• Make use of available SOP templates for a faster start.

Don’t:

• Overcomplicate SOPs; keep them concise.
• Outsource the creation of SOPs; in-house knowledge is valuable.
• Strive for perfection; allow SOPs to evolve.
• Limit updates to an annual event; ongoing maintenance is crucial.

The Significant Wins: In addition to streamlining your daily operations, SOPs offer two often overlooked advantages:

1. Onboarding: SOPs simplify and enhance every aspect of the hiring process:

• Expand your talent pool by training less-experienced hires.
• Speed up integration for new employees, helping them become familiar with the company’s practices.
• Reduce errors and missteps by providing clear guidelines.
• Lower employee turnover by enabling smoother onboarding.

Clear expectations and straightforward directions help create a workplace where employees thrive. With SOPs in place, your team can experience increased efficiency and momentum, eventually championing SOPs themselves.

2. Exiting: If you plan to sell your company in the future, potential buyers will examine your SOPs and their adherence. Well-documented processes indicate that your business can run seamlessly without your direct involvement, a crucial factor in selling your company.

Embracing the Zen of SOPs: The frantic pace of grassroots entrepreneurship can be exhilarating, but to transition into an enterprise-level business owner, you need to free yourself from endless demands. While SOPs might seem mundane, they provide customer satisfaction, stronger profits, and less stress. There is serenity in simplicity.

By implementing SOPs in your construction business, you can find your path to a balanced and more fulfilling life.

 

Your Outside Team