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Call it “tricks of the trade, production strategies” or any of the other phrases that the experienced tradespeople may say, but use them to make your work easier and the results better.

Prepare For The Actual Task

Some of the most tactical steps to take for any task are in the preparation.  This should take into account not only steps of preparation once the job starts, but all things you should do and think about before getting started.  An exercise I use everyday is to think through the various tasks I want to accomplish in detail.  I go through each aspect of my workday in my mind and imagine each step, each tool, every bit of material I’ll need to make it happen.  It’s amazing the little things that come to mind.plants_tied.up

How often is it that work must be done through the planting beds after the plants have been installed?  In the picture above the remaining tasks to this terrace planting are to install “drip” irrigation, final grade and mulching.  It took us 5 minutes to tie up these azaleas and just look at the room there is to work without the branches down.  The irrigation contractor moved quickly and neatly installing the drip-tubing.  Afterwards, the landscape contractor graded the bed leaving a clean edge along the stone edges.  Needless to say how easy it was spreading mulch .  Just think how difficult and frustrating these tasks would have been without the plants tied up.  Keep the lengths of cord bundled and in your truck for the next time.

It’s always interesting to me as I work with different contractors to see their preparation strategies to make  jobs go quicker, easier and turn out better.  Many of these strategies are shared within the trade, tweaked and sometimes improved upon.

How about yourself?  Do you have any preparation steps you take to save time and effort?

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