4 scheduling pro tips for specialty contractors

Time is money. And being able to effectively manage your high volume of jobs will save you time.

The more you’re able to maximize your time, the more productive and successful you’ll be in your specialty contracting business.

We all wish we had more time in a day. We’re sure you think, if only there were just a couple more hours, I could get so much more done. Well, what if we told you there are ways to both maximize your time, increase your productivity on jobs and keep track of your on-site teams?

Did we get your attention? We thought so.

Take advantage of these scheduling pro tips within Buildertrend to easily manage your field crews, eliminate downtime in between jobs and maximize time spent on projects.

Use color coding to easily track your on-site crews

Using a color-coding system when scheduling jobs allows you to easily manage your crews. Each day, you probably have several projects scheduled with multiple crews working at the same time. By using the color-coding tool within Buildertrend, you’re able to quickly see where each of your crews are located on your schedule.

“Specialty contractors like the color-coding tool within the Schedule feature because it allows them to efficiently keep track of where their crews are at each day,” said Marge Haley, technical services manager here at Buildertrend.

This tool is helpful when you need to know which projects are on each crew’s to-do list for the day.

Reduce double booking with internal notifications

Have you ever scheduled your crew members for two different jobs happening at the same time? It’s more common than you think! That’s why we created internal user notifications that alert you if anyone’s been double booked for projects.

“Within the Internal User Setup, contractors have the ability to set up notifications that alert them of any scheduling conflicts that may cause problems,” Haley said.

This tool comes in handy when you’re juggling a high job volume and numerous crews at the same time. With notifications, you can make changes quickly to keep projects moving and avoid downtime.

Keep your crew on track by setting reminders

We know that your field crews are busy during the day knocking out one project after another. That being said, we get that it can be easy to lose track of time. We’ve got you covered.

“When contractors are scheduling out their jobs, they have the option to set reminders for certain times within each schedule item,” said Haley. “This will alert the crew to let them know that their next project is coming up.”

Keep your schedule items organized with Phases and Tags

Ever need to know which field crew was assigned to a project or what current milestone was being approached? We’ve got a solution. You can use the tags and phases within the Schedule feature to help keep things organized and easily searchable.

“Using tags will allow contractors to see all scheduled items assigned to each crew,” Haley said. “This makes it easier to find certain crew members or projects when searching with job filters or tags. For example, I filtered to the tag for Crew A and then you can see the schedule items for Crew A.”

Maximize your time and keep track of your field crews with Buildertrend

By signing up for Buildertend, you’ve invested in the continued success of your contracting business. Let us help you get the most from your investment by scheduling a training today. To get signed up, give us a call or reach out to your account executive and they’ll be more than happy to help!