The best way to improve the profit margins of any business is to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Done right, this does not have to hurt the quality of the work you do or pinch the wages of your team. There is a lot of dead time, dead weight, and extra energy that is used on any given day. By working out what those issues are, you will find an opportunity to run a tighter ship and, as a result, a more profitable business.

Reassess Your Suppliers for Quality and Value

Suppliers change. Assuming that just because you have been buying from the same people for a few years because they offered a good deal then does not mean they are still offering a good deal now. While some suppliers consistently offer the best rates on building and trade essentials, like Tradefix Direct, other suppliers can change drastically in terms of quality and cost.

With all-in-one trade businesses, you don’t typically need to worry about shopping here due to the sheer volume and range of brands and products. Instead of reconsidering which trades store you go to, you will instead want to quality check the brands themselves and keep up to date on the latest range of tools and products that they offer.

When it comes to working directly with manufacturers or other artisan suppliers, you need to keep an eye out and continually audit the work and products you receive for them for quality and value.

Audit and Maintain Your Tools

One of the easiest ways to improve the efficiency of any job is to have the right tools for it. While sometimes having the latest tools on the market is the best solution, other times having an old reliable one is better. You need to assess your tools regularly during inspections to ensure that they are working properly, safely, and taking on as much of the work as possible.

This auditing should be a part of the maintenance standards you put in place. At the end of every day, tools should be cleaned and put back properly, for example. During cleaning, if anything amiss is noted, it should be written down and sent to you.

Auditing and maintaining your tools is a great way to save money in the long run, and it can also help keep your team safe and working as efficiently as possible.

Automate Admin Tasks

If This, Then That. This is a type of programming that works wonderfully with automation. It can be a bit difficult to keep track of what materials and tools you have on hand, of course, so instead of exact numbers, have your team keep track of packs. When they finish a pack of nails, enter it into the system. When that number of packs in your inventory drops below a certain number, your system will then be able to automatically place an order for more at your chosen trade store.

Automation isn’t always smart. A lot of the time, it is simply setting up set actions when certain circumstances are met. Since this is at the heart of many automation tasks, you can speed through a lot of admin tasks and reduce your downtime.