Lead times.

[Ty Korrigan]

Hello,

When I was a young gardener back in the UK, the tree surgeon I subbed for was booked solid up to 3 months ahead and had bookings 6-9months ahead for various projects.

Wind forward to 2014.

For the last 3 years, we have found that we are consistently booked 4-6weeks ahead.

Rarely more, rarely less.

I tend to employ more guys to achieve a quicker turnaround where possible.

What lead times do you fellows typically have?

Do you find clients happy to wait? (I don't)

What is...normal?

Cheers

Ty

[normandylumberjack]

A couple of days

[Ty Korrigan]

I know, now it's raining your wedded to your bed...

Ty

[scraggs]

For me, the supply side of things has changed from being booked a week to 3 weeks in advance for delivery to being next day, we rarely get more than a few days at most.

How peoples expectations have changed.

[Nick B]

We are booked until January at the moment, Normal is 6 weeks.

We do lose a lot of work because some people want the job doing next week when they ring up. My on-going Customers are happy to wait as are 60% of new customers.

We find the people with no Patience are not worth having any way some of the trees have been there a very long time 6 weeks wont make much difference.

[richy_B]

....

How peoples expectations have changed.

 

I think you are right about that. If you say you can't get out for a few weeks I imagine 9/10 people will keep ringing around until they find someone else. People view the service industry in similar way to products, more than a week and they think you are some sort of out of touch/dinosaur of a operator.

 

I can't complain, last week I needed an electrician. First guy couldn't get out a week so kept searching till I found someone for the next day. Convenience & speed often trump quality regrettably.

 

As a small operator you are stuck - Have lots of staff and run the risk of having people sitting about twiddling their thumbs or lose out on work.

[chris23a]

I like to keep it to around 3-4 weeks max, i find that few people are willing to wait any longer and I don't like losing work because of it. If I start getting too busy I reduce my advertising and if the workload drops down to about 10 days or less then i'll increase advertising.

[pie eater pete]

A fortnight in advance at the mo but any longer than that and people whinge..

[Dan Curtis]

Personally I'm usually about 6-8 weeks ahead, though I do keep the odd gap intentionally. I have lost work several times from not being free the following week, but when it comes down to it, I can't justify keeping the diary empty for last minute jobs if I'm offered work well in advance.

 

I work for people who have lead in times of 5 months or more, and others who run on a fortnight's turnaround. The longest turnaround company does lose work, but they also bend over backwards to try to accommodate short notice urgent jobs.

[Ty Korrigan]

A fortnight in advance at the mo but any longer than that and people whinge..

 

Liar...

Ty