Jody Shilan, Editor

I first heard the expression "travel heavy" after I took a landscape construction job for the summer. The foreman was explaining to me how he liked to have everything that he needed with him when he would do his installations.

He carried every possible power tool, hand tool and fitting that he might need to install the project or make any type of repair. Everything from a demo saw to a downspout connector was in his truck or trailer. The idea here is to always be prepared so that little things don't become big things and to do everything you can to keep yourself and your crew on the job site being productive.

Several years later this message was really driven home to me when I was "job costing" one of my own installations and trying to figure out why I went over on my estimated man hours (more than usual). It was not a big project, only about a week, but we were over our estimated time by 15 percent - ouch. To try to figure out what happened I pulled my job folder and reviewed all of the time sheets and receipts. I also talked to the guys to see if there was something unforeseen that was worthy of a change order and possibly overlooked. According to the crew everything went smoothly (shocking). No equipment issues, no breakdowns or truck problems and the weather was good all week.

Hmmmm?

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