Prepare for Playoffs to Start Next Season Strong
BY Bill Stanley
It’s September and the plants are packed, the days are getting shorter, and we’re all up against the weather to end the season with a win. Welcome to the playoffs!
That’s what we at American Pavement Specialists call the busy months from September through December as we try to wrap up all our commitments for the year. By the time fall rolls around, clients of all kinds are ready to wrap up outstanding projects, from driveways to highways. The pressure is on. This is what we’ve been building toward all season long.
Just like any sport, playoffs can make or break you. If the team doesn’t win, fairweather fans could leave you with empty seats in the stadium come spring. If the paving crew doesn’t win, there are going to be empty slots in the schedule come spring.
Here are a few tips for ending the paving season with a win.
Prepping for playoffs? Check out Raised on Blacktop’s Playoff Collection this fall. “I usually give my whole crew something [from the collection],” said Matt Stanley. “They look forward to it every fall.”
Come September, Bill Stanley and the crew at American Pavement Specialists launch into ‘playoffs’ as they strive to complete every project before winter weather rolls in and plants shut down.
Prepare Your Team
By the time a team reaches the playoffs, they’ve had all season to prepare. Paving playoffs is no different. The nature of our trade means our crews have had months to get warmed up by the time September rolls around. As the coach, I’ve got each player in the right position and they’ve had enough time in that role that they’re ready to take their game to the next level.
Because of this, I can do more in one day in September than in one week in April. Those first few weeks each spring, it’s like everyone forgot how to pave, forgot how to get to the shop, etc. No one knows where the jumper cables are. It takes an hour to leave the shop in the morning. By September, the team knows the drill. We meet at the shop at 6:15 a.m. and leave by 6:22. We’re paving at maximum efficiency. Every step in the process feels like muscle memory by now. Everyone is in the zone.
Although APS strives to pave in ideal paving conditions, sometimes customers’ timelines and the weather will dictate that paving must be done in sub-optimal conditions. This is when Bill’s 50 years of paving experience play a pivotal role in achieving quality results.
Prepare Your Gear
No equipment maintenance is done during playoffs. That roller leaking hydraulic fluid better be fixed. The supplies better be in. All equipment has to be ready for battle. Period. We’re also up against bad weather, shorter days, and impatient customers. Why would we ever want to start that game with a cracked bat?
Each night, we do as much as we can to prepare our equipment for the next day. As the weather gets colder, this includes preventing the water systems of our machines from freezing overnight. If the inside of that mill freezes, we might be looking at $5000 in damage and days of maintenance we just don’t have time for. Before it gets dark at the end of the day, we run antifreeze in the lines and drain them. All equipment gets loaded into our garage each night so we aren’t dealing with frozen lines, dead batteries or frost, snow and ice. Chipping ice off your car is bad enough, but if you have to chip ice off a roller even once, you won’t make that mistake twice.
Come fall, the APS crew is ready to start each day strong. “We meet at the shop at 6:15 a.m. and leave by 6:22,” Stanley said. “We’re paving at maximum efficiency.”
Prepare to Call an Audible
A manager doesn’t go into the first game of the World Series thinking about game seven. He focuses on one game at a time. By the time September rolls around, we’re often scheduling our crew one day at a time. We might be working in New York one day and Connecticut the next. It’s not unusual for us to complete 30 one-day projects in 30 days. Walmart on Monday, CVS on Tuesday, a private driveway on Wednesday, a road for this township on Thursday, another private driveway on Friday.
We might have Customer A booked, but Customer B calls with an urgent need. Often in this industry, other peoples’ emergencies fall into our laps. As much as I’d like to tell them their lack of planning doesn’t constitute an emergency for me…we want their business. We want their repeat business. I might call my guys on the way to the shop to tell them the day’s job has changed. Everyone has to be able to shift gears as needed. And sometimes we have to handle whoever is screaming the loudest.
Other times, we have to prioritize our long standing customers who pay on time over customers who are new or are slow to pay. It’s a strategy, but it’s also a necessity. Every October, I find myself wondering how we’re going to finish every job by the end of the season. We always try to get to everyone before the end of the season—and thankfully we have a history of meeting all our commitments—but it’s not easy.
Of course, we have contracts that dictate that if the customer isn’t ready by a certain date that we may not be able to serve them. But that doesn’t sit well with me. If we don’t get to a customer by the end of the season, he’ll find a paving company that can. And he’ll use that paving company next year and the year after that. When spring hits and we’re having a slower start, we don’t want to have lost customers because we couldn’t get to them—no matter whose fault it is.
“No equipment maintenance is done during playoffs,” Stanley said. All equipment must be ready for minimal downtime during playoffs.
Prepare for Rain Delays
The nature of our trade is that we’re the last ones in on any construction project. So, if construction is delayed on a building at the corner of Main and South street as the end of paving season approaches, they still need to get their asphalt—rain or shine—because they’re not going to get their certificate of occupancy until that blacktop is down.
We always strive for quality. We try to avoid paving in poor weather conditions. We never want our pavements to fail. But sometimes, we have to do what the customer needs us to do. Sometimes we have to pave over mud just to get their asphalt down before winter, even if it means we’ll be back for repairs come spring. That said, I tell our customers what quality they can expect based on the conditions we’re facing. Whether or not they’re willing to sign off on those risks in exchange for having a paved lot all winter is their call.
During the fall, we use lighter rollers because the heavy rollers bring up more moisture. We also warn our customers to wait until the moisture is out before letting trucks on the asphalt, sometimes up to a week.
Even when we’re paving in adverse conditions, we apply best practices for that situation. If it’s a cold day and the wind is blowing, our rollers are right up behind the paver. If it’s raining and the slope of the parking lot goes left to right, we’re paving it left to right so we aren’t paving into puddles. If the ground is wet, we’re only paving the base course and will pave the top course come spring.
If we have a three-day job in the fall, we may need to pave it differently than we would in the summer. We might have to pave it backwards in case it snows tomorrow and the plant closes the next day. We might have to do the entrance and handicap stalls first so the owner at least has something to get him through the winter until we can pave the rest of the lot. Because it’s not up to us. It’s up to God and the asphalt plants. If they say they’re done making blacktop, that’s it. Season’s over, folks. Come again next year.
The Squeeze Play
When these are the conditions we’re working in, how can we please our customers despite extreme weather, keep employees going despite the pressure, and round out the year with enough profit?
My final answer is preparation. Preparation, preparation, preparation. That’s what coaches do. Prepare. Playoffs are a hard time of year. Preparation and experience will get you through it. If your crew performs well during playoffs, this can be a profitable time of year that sets you up to enjoy the fruits of your labor during the slower winter months and prepares your company for bigger crowds come spring.
Let the games begin!
Bill Stanley owns American Pavement Specialists, Danbury, Connecticut, with his wife, Colleen. Stanley has more than 50 years of experience in the asphalt industry.