TIMWOODS for Contractors: The 8 Types of Waste Hiding in Your Business | CFC 301

Prioritize waste elimination: Saving a dollar in waste can be financially more impactful than generating several dollars in sales, especially with lower profit margins.

Adopt a manufacturing mindset: View your contracting business like a manufacturing operation to optimize processes, systems, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Identify hidden inventory waste: Beyond physical materials, consider unfinished projects, uncompleted tasks, and un-sent invoices as inventory that can be wasteful.

Optimize mental motion: Recognize that context-switching and multitasking are forms of 'mental motion' that lead to exhaustion and inefficiency; implement focused meeting times to reduce this.

Address waiting waste: Evaluate bottlenecks in your processes, whether due to materials, decisions, or payment methods, and streamline handoffs to reduce idle time.

Beware of overproduction/overprocessing: Avoid doing work not explicitly requested (scope creep) or implementing unnecessary steps in your workflow, as these add cost without value.

Empower employee potential: Actively listen to your employees, as their direct experience with daily problems provides valuable insights for identifying and fixing waste in your operations.