Why Builders Feel Like There Is Not Enough Time

If you have come to the realisation that there are simply not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do, then you may need to look at things differently.

You know what you need to do…

Work on your building company instead of working in it…

But if you are already flat out keeping jobs running, rescheduling deliveries and subcontractors, chasing cash flow, recruiting new staff, and dealing with change orders/variations then there is simply no time to work on your business instead of in it.

As a result, you end up living hand to mouth and never quite managing to build a company with real value that can be sold at some point in the future.  

So how is it that some builders are able to take regular family holidays, spend their weekends relaxing and still grow their businesses year on year?

Is it just plain luck…

Or are they doing something different to the rest?

In our experience, it comes down to attitude.

Or more specifically, it comes down to how builders value their time.

Because the builders that truly value their time refuse to give it away for free and are very selective about what they say yes to.

Builders that work the longest hours while remaining on the hamster wheel have simply not learned how to protect their time and prioritise what they spend it on.

In simple terms, time is like finance.

We all know that in order to make the most of our finances we have to create a budget and only spend within the confines of that budget.

We have expenses that must be paid like tax, utilities, and rent or a mortgage, then we have discretionary spending on things like entertainment. And then we have savings and contingency.

Inevitably there are things we will have to do without in order to remain in control of our finances.

The key though, is how you prioritise. Savings come first followed by ‘must pay expenses’ and then discretionary spending. Because if we only save what is left over at the end of the week after our discretionary spending, the amount we save will be a lot less than the budgeted amount.

It’s exactly the same with time management.

If you plan on working on your building company once you have finished putting out fires for the day, then you’ll never get around to implementing the changes that will enable you to systemise your business and leverage your time.   

So if you have ever found yourself saying ‘I don’t have time for coaching’ or ‘I don’t have time to learn a different way’ then here are some practical steps that will put you on the path to success.

First, before you leave work on Friday, plan the following week in your calendar.

Allocate time for all those tasks that only you can do.

Once that is complete, allocate time to work on your building company. Time blocks should be around 1 hour although you may want to dedicate an entire morning in order to get stuck into a big project.

Chances are, when you do this for the first time, things will come up that prevent you from actually working on your business during the planned time blocks but that's OK.

Just make sure next week's calendar includes adequate time for all of those unplanned activities to be dealt with.

When you do this, you may come to the realisation that there are simply not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do, even before you allocate any time to work on your business.

This is good because it means you are now at the point where you are creating a realistic plan each week.

However, working flat out in your business is not sustainable over the long term which means you have a choice to make.

Continue doing the same thing and hope for a different result, which is the definition of madness…

Or take a different path.

Some builders that find themselves in this position don’t like the look of the alternative path.

That’s because it looks challenging. And because it’s so steep, it’s difficult to see what’s on the other side which means it also requires a leap of faith.

I don't have time to work on my business is not something that professional builders say or even think.

They make time by planning their day.

If that means starting at 4am, that is what they will do in order to create the systems that will leverage more of their time.

If it means prioritising time in their calendar to meet with a business coach, that is what they do.

They do these things because they know that time invested working on their business will come back in spades in the future.

Still not sure if you can work smarter rather than harder?

Here’s how these builders did it.