Forgetting/losing equipment

There seems to be some discussion going on about this mixed in with other threads so I thought I’d make a new one about it.

I had an employee a few years ago that was notorious for forgetting equipment. I ended up printing out a job completion checklist and taped it to the dashboard of the truck. Since then I now make anyone who works for me do a final walk around the house to make sure we didn’t forget anything. Also now that I have a van everything is organized and has it’s own place. If something is missing it’s somewhat obvious (to me anyway). Every now and then something does get lost or misplaced, but it is few and far between now.

In the height of the season we have over 3 dozen employees who need equipment every day. All our equipment is right out in the open… but its all numbered and must be signed out before it leaves the shop. Every little thing has a space with a number. It doesn’t go anywhere without a signature or initial. After 7 years I think we have found a way to loose less stuff. Lets face it, things get lost. Just find a way that works for you to loose less stuff.

[COLOR=Blue]Hi Alex,

Do you have your people come in each morning and sign out what they need for the day, every day? Isn’t that time consuming? Could you shed a little more light on how that works?

Thanks,[/COLOR]

naa. its not time consuming at all. The stuff that is being signed out by the guys is like extension poles, soap dispensers, drop cloths, winmates, and stackable ladders. Everyone knows the drill and they 100% comfortable. Plus, this is New Jersey, they are most comfortable rushing. :smiley:

Here’s the system. EVERYTHING gets signed out.

[COLOR=Blue]Wow, very organized and efficient looking. What do you do about damaged or lost equipment? Do you make the employee pay for it? Do you inventory it every night or week or what? Thanks for sharing. Also, if you don’t so on site estimates, how do they know what they will need for a particular job?
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Well there is a separate room not seen here. Employees all leave there equipment in that room at the end of the day. It gets checked in first thing in the morning. So its done daily. Lost equipment is handled on a per case basis. At least one thing is lost a week. We do the estimates over the phone so we have a rough idea what to bring. aside from this equipment seen here… we have another wall full + each employee is assigned a full tool box of stuff that they are personally responsible for.

Hey Chris what’s the story w/ the signs on the back wall for window cleaning and power washing? Did you get them from a competitor?

No all those signs are ours. They are just from various specials over the years. I always try to save a few extra pieces of our advertising.

[COLOR=Blue]Chris, how well did those promo’s work? I have been thinking of something like that for gutter cleaning next month.[/COLOR]

They work well. Of the 3 signs seen above:

The 1 on the right is a yard sign… Kind of like what they use around election time. The one in the middle attaches to the side of our trucks… Kind of a rolling billboard. The one on the left was from our first office a few years ago. Its almost like see through plastic for a lit sign.

The yard signs are effective if placed right.