The last 6 weeks have been crazy as one can expect this time of year, having completed over 500 work orders during that time. Many of our work orders took anywhere from half a day to an entire day to complete. Everything from startups, lawn aerations, backflow tests, up to full manifold and valve replacements, and an unusually large number of main & drain replacements with even more to come. We do more main & drain replacements than anyone in the valley, usually amounting to around 4 dozen a year, but we are already halfway there in just the last 6 weeks.
The shoulder surgery I had on March 27 hasn’t helped with the onslaught of repairs we are facing this season. I have had to spend the entire season so far behind my desk dealing with estimates, support tickets, scheduling, etc., and looks like I have another 6 weeks before I can go into the field to help. Not sure who I am kidding though, because just being behind the desk is more than a full-time job, so if I do make it out into the field I will get further behind in the office. I can see that already just from office time missed due to PT appointments with my “Physical Terrorist” and other doctor appointments.
We are down to our last 70 sprinkler startups, which I am hoping we can finish up this week, but startups do take quite a bit longer than blowouts where we can do 100 a day with 4 technicians. We currently only have two technicians now, that have to split up the startups and major repairs, and one of those techs does the lawn aerations while the other is the only licensed backflow tester we have besides me, so he keeps crazy busy with those while I am on the mend. We are still in search of more help, and when I do get a response from our ad I direct them to our employment application and all I hear are crickets……..
Speaking of lawn aerations, we plan on getting all our remaining aerations completed the week of May 22, and then putting the machine away until September as we do every year. We would have liked to have had all aerations completed by the end of April, but being shorthanded kept that from happening. I will be sending out an email to all our remaining aeration customers sometime over the next few days.
We are not only looking for two maintenance/sprinkler technicians, but I am also considering hiring a support person who can work part-time to help take the load off me by answering phone calls, emails, and texts, as well as help with scheduling to free me up for other day-to-day things I have to get accomplished. Once I get it set up the support person could actually work remotely if they have a laptop or preferably a desktop computer.
Thanks to all of you who have stuck with us for the last several years. We appreciate your patience as we chip away at the daily grind…….
