Two Days of Chaos: Hard Lessons & Big Wins

A Chaotic but Productive Two Days

The last two days were a whirlwind—filled with unexpected challenges, pivots, and a whole lot of heavy lifting.

Friday’s Lessons: Site Access Matters

The day started with an ambitious plan—load three jobs upfront to minimize trips back to the warehouse. That plan fell apart fast when I realized there was no way everything was going to fit on our box truck.

• First stop: A steep driveway meant the truck couldn’t make it up the hill. Despite a prior site visit, I completely overlooked this issue. Lesson learned: driveway access checks need to be part of the process.

• The real struggle: This job included concrete blocks, and without the electric hand truck, it was pure manual labor. What should’ve taken an hour stretched into two.

A Complex Install—Broken into Two Shifts

The second stop was supposed to be the tough one—a 20x30 high peak tent with flooring, a heater, side walls, and lights. A lot of firsts and limited experience with some of the equipment meant extra time was expected.

• We ran out of time. One crew member had to leave for another job, so we had to split the install into two shifts. Fortunately, the event was the next day, and the customer was understanding.

• Tent and flooring were installed in 2.5 hours, with everything else unloaded and ready for the next shift.

Efficiency Kicks In—But Travel Time Hurts

After a warehouse swap, the three-man crew kept rolling.

• Stop 3: Simple table and chair drop-off, but an hour-long drive each way made it feel like a much bigger job than it was.

• Stop 4: A 20x20 tent setup—normally an hour with two people, done in 35 minutes with three. A great test of efficiency.

Despite the delays, everything wrapped up by 5:30 PM—just in time for a planned night out. Having that deadline in place really forced efficiency, which might be something to implement more often.

The Never-Ending Balancing Act

Before all the fieldwork, there was still the business side to handle. Saturday morning started with catching up on all the neglected leads from Friday—a reminder of the constant juggle between physical work and keeping the business moving.

It’s a tough balance. When the work is nonstop, it’s easy to push admin tasks to the side. But the reality is, those follow-ups are what keep the jobs coming in.

Saturday: Weekend Work and Hard Lessons

Saturday work isn’t the norm, but maybe it should be during busy season.

• First stop: Taking down Friday’s uphill nightmare. Takedown is always faster than install, but with only two people, it was still exhausting.

• Numbers breakdown:

  • Total Revenue: ~$1,470

  • Job Costs (ARA Calculator): $386

  • Profit Margin Contribution: $1,084 (73%)

  • The reality: Even with a solid margin, the labor intensity made it feel underpriced. Time to rethink pricing for difficult setups.

A Final Stop (or So I Thought...)

The final job wasn’t actually the final job.

• We returned to finish the wedding setup: Installed side walls, lights, and a heater in two hours.

• Then came the dreaded realization: The cocktail table linens were still in the warehouse. That meant a third trip back. At least it was a short drive!

Takeaways & Next Steps

• Site access checks need to be part of the process. Steep driveways can’t be overlooked.

• Pricing for difficult labor needs a rethink. That uphill job felt like it needed an extra charge.

• Time constraints actually help. Having a hard stop (like Friday evening plans) forced better efficiency.

• Weekend work might be necessary. If it means maximizing revenue during busy season, it might be worth making a regular thing.

• Better load-out process needed. A small miss (like linens) can mean extra trips and wasted time.

Looking Ahead

A crazy two days, but a lot of lessons learned. Time to tweak the process, rethink pricing, and maybe start embracing the idea of planned constraints.

Let’s see how next week goes!