Just curious, how early does everyone arrive at their first residential interior/exterior job?
My default time is 9:00, but I’ll go for 8:30 or earlier if it’s feasible and the homeowner agrees.
I’m the same as Dan. I have a few customers that need me there before 9AM but most prefer start times of 9AM especially if they have school age kids.
Start most days by 430am- 5am done by noon wouldnt have it any other way no lunch break just work thru the day.
Believe it or not I have done as early as 4am and as late as 7pm. I assure them if theres any streaks or anything we missed call and we will be right out. never have gotten that call. I usually get the call I cant believe what a great job you did in the dark. Retieres get up early and just before christmas or thanksgiving we get the very early and very late.
You start that early on residential?
I start late about 9-10am to about 6-7pm because I like avoiding rush hours, if it’s hot I start and quit before the rush hours.
Didn’t read the first thread before I voted…sorry. Most residentials start for me between 7:30 and 8am, but we mainly do commercial stuff so we set up dawn (usually about 6am sometimes 5:30 in the summer) and finish when we finish. Sometimes by 9pm, sometimes at 1pm.
I am up at 3:30am every day except Saturday and Sunday, cuz I gotta hit the line for the border to get back to the states. Turn on the laptop in the truck and answer emails, bug Chris and Alex, and play facebook games. If I am still in line when the sun comes up, I continue where I left off in Kevins book.
Once I get to San Diego, it’s on and crackin’. I have a few storefronts that I do on the way to my jobs where I get my guys set up on, so I kill some time at those places if I am early.
I voted 8:30, but we leave our base location at 8;00am and have the first job scheduled for how ever long it will take us to get there. I am thinking next year we’ll have the guys show up at 7:30 and try to begin the first res. job at 8:00am.
I’d glady get up earlier for commercial work which was worth it, but don’t have any of that at this time.
I always give my clients a start time of “between 9 and 9:30”. I would LIKE to start at 9 exactly, or even earlier, but the traffic is a nightmare around here because of NYC/Newark commuters… so I get there when I get there, basically lol.
Took me 2 1/2 hours to drive what would normally be 45 minutes 2 weeks ago. I called the client and he was more than understanding of the situation. Every main road was a clusterF, so I bailed and took secondary roads the whole way… 30 miles in townie traffic. Yay.
We normally arrive at the first job around 9-930 and end our day around 4pm
i start at 9a.m and must pick carefully the first few jobs each day as often folk are still in their beds and can be VERY grumpy .after 11 am im usually okay and its fine to clatter my ladder/sing/whistle from 11 onwards
I always ask the customer how early can I start on the outside. Some let me come as early as 7am. I start every workday at 5:30 am, do lowrise and then residential or route work.
I Start @ 8 most times. I inform he HO that I’m there and start on the outside and don’t’ ladder up to the 2nd floor (bedroom/bathrooms) till i know they have left or cleaned up.
The Crew meets at 9, at the jobsite by 9:30. I’ve only had one person ever tell me we could start earlier if we wanted to, but I think its a little different in resort towns because people are often here on vacation so I don’t really want to force them up early (and I don’t like early, so it works out nicely:D)
My construction buddies always give me a hard time about starting at 10 and going home at 1, and I always tell them I put in my 3 hours and I go home:cool: Rarely is that actually true, but its not a bad life!
So you guys that are saying before 7:30 am actually arrive at the residential customers house that early? Kudos if you do
We’ve always started at 9 but if we can start at 8 from now on and get an extra hour every day it’d really help with scheduling. I don’t go out myself anymore, so I don’t have my personal preferences to worry about as much… (I hate mornings.)
I’ve found from asking that some people would have us at 6am and others kind of hem and haw at 9. I’ve accepted needing to be a little flexible.
We usually start between 8:30-9:00. I feel this usually gives them enough time to get up and ready for us. I would not be a happy camper if we had to start later than 9 am, I like being done with all the tougher stuff early in the morning.
I like starting my day around 6 am, checking and responding to emails and making sure work reports and what not are ready for the day.
This is a great question Taylon
I’ve always wondered what time the other guys start cleaning homes. We start at 8am everyday unless there is a rare request. That happens maybe a couple times a year.
That would drive me crazy… not waiting in a line everyday but reading kevin’s book. Just kidding. 
But do you live in Mexico? Talk about commuting. What’s the standard of living like there? I once heard you could rent a house with a maid for $300/mnth. I would shy away from it though because of all the crime you hear about on the border, cutting people’s heads off… then again, LA is just as dangerous from what I understand.
