Attention Shop Owners - have a question about managing projects

[andk5591]

My shop is getting bigger than planned and I am looking for a way to manage customers, future customers, and projects. I use Quickbooks for billing, check book, etc. But I have a pretty big list of folks that want to bring cars in for work and also, we tend to have 3 to 5 active projects going at any one time. Typically a couple "quick jobs" and a couple larger restorations.

Right now I am having folks call me in a week to several months to schedule them in, but I want to have a better handle in it. Pondering project management software, but thinking that someone has to be using something already that works. I dont want to spend big bucks to get regular repair shop software and I dont think its the best fit for a ACVW repair/resto shop anyway.

Thanks in advance
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Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
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[gt1953]

You sound like a intelligent business man. I would have no clue but understand what you are looking for.
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

you need to split it so to speak....into a "production side" and a "restoration side"

you can figure what that means, but an example is your 1 day project would be on the production side....that would be brakes/timing belts/ etc...basic maintenance in and out stuff.

the resto side....well, it is what it is....sometimes you get done a week ahead of schedule...other times, your 3 weeks "behind".

what I do is schedule day to day b/s...and then the bigger projects get brought in and worked on. I give time frames....I can't control the machine shop, trans guy etc....so if I have a stack of resto work, I keep in contact with folks...example:

andk is here now...gt1953 wants in. I tell gt that I should be done with andk's car in 3 weeks. I tell GT to call in 2.5 weeks to firm it up.

it's a pain, but pen and paper will do this....no program I have found will. and if people threaten to go somewhere else...let them....they were in a hurry and will just be asshole's to deal with anyway. keep the understanding folks in constant communication is all you can do.

I have been booked out for a year...and booked out for 2 weeks. the good guys will wait, and be understanding
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[andk5591]

I actually am getting ready to review a program called Klokwork. Found it this morning and had a lengthy chat with the owner or developer. Sounds like it may do the trick.

I have been doing the same thing with telling folks to call back in a couple weeks or months. The problem is that there is too much in the pipe and Like right now, I am making space to bring in some more work, but who called me first? What parts do I need to get ordered before the car gets here etc. Gonna take some time over the weekend between getting a couple cars picked up to look it over.

What is cool is that it will integrate into Quickbooks and I can bill from it as well as Q-books and can manage inventory on either. The other big thing is that my tech can input his time throughout the day. That is killing me right now since he may be on a project and I "borrow" him for a couple hours one something else and I know we are not always billing the right amount on what car.

Will let you know how it looks. Company seems cool. Free trial. Reasonable subscrition fee, etc.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[iamdonquixote]

are your jobs all time & materials? or are some fixed price?

[andk5591]

Pretty much time and materials billing. At the moment - just me and one tech. The issue, as I had mentioned is not just tracking existing work, (which the program I will be looking at allows via smart phone or whatever) but also future projects. The latter was what I was becoming more concerned about.

Too many folks that are to be calling me back and I want to try to get the ones waiting the longest in first...AND have a better handle on what the car needs.

And my shop is only a couple years old..Just finally broke down and hired a full time tech 6 months ago...And will probably add one more in another 6 months. So I would rather implement something that I can use for years and being able to access the info from anywhere is attractive since there are times I may not be at the shop for days.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[andk5591]

Still playing with program. I need to REALLY think this all through..What I dont want to do is not configure this correctly. Program is not quite as intuitive as I would like, BUT may do the trick. Will post updates, but I am fried. Spent more time at the shop today than I planned, have a shitload of "Elvis"tunes to learn for band rehearsal on Tuesday...Have an impersonator doing a 1/2 set for an upcoming Halloween gig and it turns out he is coming to rehearsal this week.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[skills@eurocarsplus]

like I said....pen, paper and time clock. add it all up on a weekly basis and keep a folder for each job.

I know million+ per year shops doing it this way. you may crack the code, but at what expense? I do not know what you are trying to track, but I have been doing this for a long time. if you would like to talk shop some night, message me....we may both learn something.
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[Tram]

You need an office person too, really- a scheduler and bookkeeper. If that is you then I would run it as Skills said- split the repair/ maintenance and restoration sides and you need to do JUST that plus supervise. Invoicing, billing, paying suppliers, and paying the GOVERNMENT is actually more important than collecting payment. Get lost in any of those aspects and you're done. Bookkeeping needs to be done daily for the previous day, then collated by month, quarter, year. Not only is this the best way to figure costs and gross profit, it's really handy when you get audited. Notice I did NOT say 'if'.

And yes, a time clock and time cards are a must for two reasons- first, to keep track of how much time is being put into each job, and second, to see which employees are most productive on given jobs.

I come from the era of tracking everything manually. The problem with software is that if you accidentally erase things or the software fails, you're screwed.

Your customer invoices should be numbered, and large, with a hard copy. Everything for that job gets tied to the invoice- what work is done, who is doing it, the time it took, the parts and supplies required. The mechanic notes everything he does on the back of the hard copy. This can also be used as a time card.
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[vwracerdave]

A friend with a chassis shop that builds race cars only works on full car projects Mon-Wed. He Will lock the door, not answer the phone, and my work 12-14 hour days. On Thur & Fri he only does the 2-3 hour small jobs and only for green cash money. He puts you on the list and goes in order.
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[my59]

I manage a team of 11 in an Architects office. The biggest pita is timesheets. No one likes to fill them in, despite what program we use. Old school was paper ones that someone then imputed for billing now we are on Ajera, good if you want to track data.
Basic is x job, what you did, and for how long.
Most important part is getting people, when they complete a task, to fill in time sheet as part of completing that task. This way your peoples clerical time gets billed to the job, not to overhead.
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[andk5591]

A little more background....Not my first rodeo as far as businesses go. I have my fingers in a couple businesses and my wife and I started/own a REALLY GOOD telephone answering service with about 20 employees. Using the service as a model, I had implemented various systems that evolved over the years as the company grew. There were more than a few occasions where I should have looked a little further into the future when making a change.

I am trying to prevent this with the shop. This started as a "hobby" shop around 3 years ago. The plan was to work on my own stuff and maybe do some customer small repair work on occasion and a maybe 1 more serious project a year.

Things got a LOT busier and I partnered with a guy that has a general repair/body shop to do body and paint while I handled mechanical. Unfortunately that had not worked out. Never able to get enough time to get stuff done. Also brought in a young VW enthusiast that was going to a trade school for repair/resto. Only got him some on weekends and during breaks. Projects kept getting further backed up.

Hired a really good full time tech (primarily for body/paint) about 6 months ago and we are turning out some really nice work. So, then it gets even busier.

I do not want to grow this too big, but anticipate having another 1 or 2 techs within the next year. The other part to this is that I am technically retired (and everyone that knows me laughs at that). But I am not going to live at the shop like I did in the early days of the answering service. However if I have tools in place, I can manage some remotely and take care of the "paperwork" from home with my laptop. I dont want to need some info to do a bill and its on a piece of paper at the shop, know what I mean?

So now is the time for me to put the infrastructure in place instead of bandaiding and keep changing things every couple months.

So, my main concerns right now are billing correctly and tracking current and future projects. I already have my inventory in Quickbooks and also do my billing from there. So this is where I am right now.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...