In-Field Coaching

Andy Hannan knows remodeling is a tough business, so he coaches his team to help them prepare to perform. The production manager at Mark IV Builders in Bethesda, Md., works closely with his six superintendents and four carpenters. “It's important for us to make a career and set a career path. Respect, challenge, training. All those things are what make you want to have a career in something,” he says. Similar to “finding the pain” of a remodeling client and solving it, Hannan says employers need to find the pain of their employees. “If you identify their pain and fix it, that will be someone who stays with you,” he says.

Production manager Andy Hannan (center) in the field with two of his superintendents, Dana Jones (left) and Forrest Hobbs.

Photo Credit: Max Hirshfeld

Consultant Tim Faller, president of Field Training Services and a regular contributor to REMODELING, says carpenters want to feel they are part of the company. They want a pleasant working atmosphere where they can find personal satisfaction and success. Faller says company owners and managers often are looking for the “silver bullet” or a single solution, but it's more complicated than that. The coaching metaphor is the best way to explain what managers must do in the industry today to motivate and keep field employees. “Fifty years ago, it was more the dictator model. Do what you are told,” Faller explains. “Now, you have really good players, but you need a coach to get the team going.”

A large part of coaching is communication. Faller describes one company where the carpenters were frustrated with the owner's constant discussion of being over budget. However, they did not realize that the owner was using the discussions to change his estimating system for a more accurate budget. Faller advised the owner to immediately share this fact with his crew. “They realized the information was useful and it made them feel better,” Faller says.

Owner Mark Scott brought a communication process he learned from a mentoring/consulting group for executives to his company. The staff is encouraged to use communication that is clear, concise, and consistent. “We do a lot of read back — read back what I just asked you to do,” Hannan says. “We teach that it is the communicator's responsibility to make sure the receiver gets it,” he explains. The course also emphasized the usefulness of body language, so he now tries to communicate with his crew in person instead of by phone. The company also has an open-book policy. When a job is handed off from sales to the superintendent, the package includes the budgeted price, the sold price, and all the contract specifications.

To help him motivate and manage his crew, David Adams is taking a management training course. “A lot of construction is run on yelling and screaming. I'm not a screamer. I am working on a way of addressing productivity and commitment,” he says. The owner of Adams & Company Homebuilders in Sonoma, Calif., has a degree in project management and says the traditional model focuses on tasks and paperwork to complete a project. The new program addresses tasks based on promises made to the customer. He meets every two weeks with the project superintendent and lead carpenters. For example, he will tell them that putting up 5,000 board feet of siding is critical to staying on schedule for the homeowner. They discuss the budget, the deadline, techniques, trouble spots, and efficiency. He then asks for a plan to get the job done. “They buy into the idea and we have a higher level of quality. We make up for the talking time down the road,” Adams says.

Tom Witts, president of Georgia Property Restoration in Atlanta, surveyed his employees to find out what they liked and wanted from the company. His employees appreciated the company paying for health insurance for themselves and their families. Witts now includes that fact in his classified ads. “That brings a lot of people in the door. We're attracting more family-oriented people,” he says. He also changed his truck policy based on responses to the questionnaire.

John DeCiantis, owner of DeCiantis Construction in Stonington, Conn., says ruling with an iron hand does not work. “You create animosity and resentment,” he says. He joined a group of company owners who hired a consultant to help with employee communication. The consultant asked the owners to establish six key behaviors for all employees. DeCiantis shared this list with his employees and now asks them to rate each other on the behaviors every 90 days. General manager Denise Nott enters the data into an Excel spreadsheet. “At first it was anonymous, but now it's open. We discuss these at monthly meetings,” DeCiantis says.

Hannan says giving crews more responsibility keeps them motivated. Mark IV Builders requires superintendents to create bills, collect payments, and create and submit change orders. With subs, superintendents negotiate the contract price, schedule the work, and arrange for payment. “It's like being self-employed without the money hassles,” Hannan says.

Hannan asks for input on issues from the superintendents. When he asked them to find a solution for long punch lists, they decided to challenge each other by requiring any super with a punch list over one page to buy lunch.

He says rules that are too rigid do not work. For example, Mark IV Builders requires field employees to fill out a daily log. Everyone had a different take on the log, so employees created three different log forms. “Most of our systems are buy-in — they are created or developed by employees ,” Hannan says.

DeCiantis challenged his field crew on waste. “I gave them a list of places where we have a lot of waste. I calculated that it cost us $50,000 a year. I told them if they were able to lessen that, I'd share it with them,” he says. DeCiantis recalls REMODELING contributor Clay Nelson advising owners to ask their employees for permission to help them. When one of his lead carpenters was having trouble with scheduling, DeCiantis gave him a day planner and asked for permission to remind him to write things down.

Charting a Course

Clearly communicating hiring, promotions, and compensation helps field crews understand their value to the company. Faller developed a system to help remodelers communicate this information systematically. His $799 program revolves around job descriptions and helps managers with hiring, promoting, and training. He includes descriptions for five levels of field personnel: entry level, carpenter 1, carpenter 2, lead carpenter, and production manager. He has evaluations for each level and the requirements to move to the next level. Carpenters know that if they demonstrate five new skills to their supervisor, they will earn more money. “Employees know their destiny is in their hands. When things are done fairly, people have better morale,” Faller says.

Operations manager Terry Mosher (far right) oversees the field matrix at Thompson Building Associates. The company differentiates Level 5 managers like Dean Richard, by giving them black T-shirts. All level 1 to 4 carpenters wear gray T-shirts.

Photo Credit: Compoa

Tim Thompson, president of Thompson Building Associates in Columbus, Ohio, and a few members of his peer review group developed their own system to fairly evaluate and compensate field employees. Now, about five members of the group use a version of the matrix. Similar to Faller's system, the detailed matrix lists five skill levels and tools and specific characteristics a field employee needs for the next level. A Level 5 manages several jobs, and each job has a Level 4 lead. Compensation is tied to the levels. During annual performance reviews, the employee and three supervisors fill out the matrix again. Thompson also does not wait to give raises. “If a guy is a quick learner, I'll jump him in salary as fast as he wants to move up,” he says.

Thompson says before this system was in place, managers had to manage behavior. Now, they can manage results. They share the time and budget allotted to each phase of a project. Crews are free to choose their working hours as long as the work is completed within those parameters. Once the system was in place, Thompson was able to fairly distribute a bonus. “Once we started giving bonuses, our productivity went through the roof. I've been in business 27 years and never had this kind of productivity,” he says. “I don't know how to motivate without giving them a piece of the pie."

Tom Witts has a similar system. He had an excellent painter on staff who did not have drywall skills. “I told him, ‘If you had dry-wall skills, you'd be worth more to me.' He worked hard on doing that and was rewarded,” Witts says. “It is not vague. You're not dangling carrots in front of them.”

One of the strongest segments of the systems used by Faller, Thompson, and Witts is providing timely and clear reviews. At Mark IV Builders, the managers ask superintendents for one personal and two business goals in their yearly reviews. Unless the employee asks for privacy, these goals are posted in the office. Hannan says one super's goal was to complete $1.2 million worth of work during the year. Another wanted to work less than 80 hours per week. The employees and managers come up with a description, deadline, and resources needed to achieve the goals. “We break it into bite-size pieces,” Hannan says.

David Adams is implementing a management technique that engages the crew at Adams & Company to make decisions on how to complete tasks.

Photo Credit: Compoa

DeCiantis also requires both professional and personal goals. He schedules two reviews per year. One review is a performance review and the other is an advancement review where the employee sets goals that are measurable, realistic, and attainable. He puts these goals on his calendar and checks in with the staff throughout the year.

Providing a comfortable and fun place to work is also a way to keep field personnel involved. Thompson performs a mock swearing in ceremony for carpenters who reach Level 5. Employees swear to “follow the guidance and not question the orders of anyone who signs the checks,” and “give up all my free time for business and not pleasure.”

DeCiantis hosts breakfast meetings where employees are forbidden to talk about work. He also plans annual outings. In addition, he instituted a program where employees receive 10 tickets at the beginning of the year. They are charged with giving tickets to employees who have done something extra special. “It's a way of complimenting that person,” DeCiantis says. An employee who collects 10 tickets receives a paid day off.

At Mark IV Builders, every employee fills out a time and talent sheet that includes personal information such as their favorite candy bar, soda, sport, flowers their spouse likes, favorite food, etc., . . . Hannan uses this information to reward the employee in small ways throughout the year. “If a super has been working like crazy on a project and you come on site and give him his favorite candy and soda, that gets you more than paying an extra $1 per hour,” Hannan says.

Tom Witts of Georgia Property Restoration says when companies hand off a job from sales to design to production, the customer often gets lost in the shuffle. “You have to teach 10 people how to interact with the customer. All you needed is for one to do it wrong and it ruins the nine before,” he says. Six years ago, he hired Lynda Huff as a full-time customer service contact to work directly with the company's insurance restoration clients. “The first person they hear from is the customer service manager and the last person they hear from is the customer service manager,” Witts says.

He makes sure the client understands that they have one point of contact. “We joke that even if a customer asks what time it is, our carpenters will respond ‘talk to Lynda,'” Witts says. He prefers having one person set the customer's expectations. “We have very few customer complaints that get back to insurance or the adjustor,” he says.

Words of praise and pats on the back are great, says remodeler Gary Adam, but money is better. “If you give three pats on the back, then the fourth one should be monetary,” he says. The owner of Pioneer Craftsmen in Ontario, Canada provides bonuses to field employees if he feels they have performed well on certain projects. He says it ranges from $500 to $1,000. At the end of the year, however, he distributes 15% of his pre-tax profit to his employees. He decides what each employee receives based on how they performed during the year. “One carpenter might make $5,000. The other one might get $1,500,” Adam says. He says profit-sharing inspires his employees to work more as a team. “They are willing to help others when they need a hand or give advice on a sticky situation or technical issue because they know the whole company is sharing,” he says.

Tim Thompson, president of Thompson Building Associates, takes half the difference between the estimated and actual budget for every job and puts it in a pool. At the end of each quarter, he divides the pool based on each employee's level and contribution. “We can directly give that money to the best contributors,” Thompson says. He says a field employee at the highest Level 5 in his matrix might receive $1,200 during one quarter while a Level 2 might receive $120. He deliberately keeps the amounts small enough so employees won't be tempted to cut corners or act selfishly.

John DeCiantis, owner of DeCiantis Construction, agrees. “You can't give someone a large bonus, because they will think they are rich and quit or slack off,” he says. DeCiantis tried using a production bonus, but job quality suffered because crews tried to beat budget. “We found employees did not want to be accountable for bad jobs, but they did want a reward for good ones,” he says.

Consultant Tim Faller says that if a bonus is not tied to an employee's specific performance, it won't work. “In fact, it can be a de-motivator,” he adds. For example, he says, if customer satisfaction is part of the evaluation for a bonus, the manager should ask the client a series of specific questions to evaluate the crew's performance on that job.

Thompson advises remodelers to thoroughly research their numbers before offering a bonus. “Without knowing numbers, you reward the wrong people or you reward people when you're losing money,” he says. Thompson only started offering bonuses after he hired a controller.