What’s the Best Change You’ve Made to Be More Efficient?

We asked our readers this question on the WFB Facebook and Instagram pages; here are some of our favorite responses.

Alex Hamilton

Building a service cart that is also a dust separator! It has the option to hook multiple vacuums up to it for maximum dust containment. With two backpack vacs (as pictured) it is pulling 300 CFM's. It also gets to hold your paper, filler, garbage bags and miscellaneous hand tools!

Spencer Hulbert

Charging for estimates. It weeds out over 75% of the people who call. I've learned that not everyone on the other end of the phone is a serious buyer.

Bob Jewell

Dust containment systems.

Jorge Perez

Hiring the right people and paying them well.

Danny Stenhouse

I only actually talk to 10% of my leads/enquiries … The best ones!

Elise Jenna Djurinovich

Calling people back ASAP! As soon as I get a voicemail, I put down what I'm doing and call them back  … unless I'm coating, of course.

jaycohardwoodfloors

Purchasing better tools to make the next steps easier.

RELATED: Getting My Business Out of My House (And My Mind)

Daniel Springer

Telling people I charge 100 bucks an hour to do things like hang plastic, and that I don't move furniture or do shoe molding. They usually opt to go the cheaper route, which is hiring a moving company and a trim guy. I've eliminated like three days of extra work I wasn't charging for on most jobs by doing this.

Van A Stahl

I bought this to run to estimates and for those faraway jobs where I can leave my trailer and just commute.

Cory Schubert

I quit smoking.

David Runyon

Vacs on everything!

towncountrywoodfloor

Doing things right, no matter the pain in the a$$, the first time.

Jamie Strohmeyer

At age 58, you continue to look for ways to work smarter, not harder. I switched from a trailer to van—with the truck and trailer I got 9–10 miles per gallon; with the van I'm getting 16–18 miles per gallon. Access closer to the customer's home is also better, with less walking with equipment. We service a lot of lake homes, and with some driveways we cannot get anywhere near the home with a trailer, but it's no problem with the van.

Steven Triplett Jr.

I canned my lead guy. If you're more about yourself than the business, you've got to go. We need everyone pushing in the same direction.

ecowoodfloorsinc

Planetary sanders for smaller projects. One machine start to finish. Less edging, more money in pocket.

allseasonsflooringconst

Purchased a small work trailer! Preventing an hour of loading every morning and unloading when you need the back of your truck.

Josh Brake

Packouts have helped cut my load in/out time in more than half. They are easily moved from trailer to home and around the home while working. Organization has kept the dreaded slop fest that happened late on Friday from being part of my life.

artisanwoodfloorsllc2563

Utilizing workflow software and charging for any on-site estimates. Also creating copy/paste templates for writing detailed scope of work for estimates helps immensely.

you_like_it_i_live_it

Stopped looking for the easy way out.

RELATED: How I Stopped Getting Mad and Got Organized Instead

Follow WFB on Facebook and Instagram to see the next chance to be in the Talking Shop column.