The whiteboard, the phone and the 6am texts
The contracts manager stands at the whiteboard on Sunday evening moving magnets. Gang A to the re-roof in Chiswick. Gang B to three repairs. The flat roofer to the extension. By Monday at six, one roofer is off sick, the scaffold on the Chiswick job is not finished and the extension customer has asked to delay a day.
The texts start. Gangs turn up at the wrong address, or at the right address without the materials. By nine the whiteboard no longer matches anything.
Why allocation is harder than it looks
Allocating roofers is not just filling slots. Each job needs the right skills, and the job can only start if the scaffold is up, the materials are there and the weather suits. Those facts are known, but by different people, and the whiteboard shows none of them.
- Skills such as slating, leadwork or flat roof systems are not recorded against people.
- Scaffold status and delivery status are in someone's phone.
- Absences are texted to one person.
- Changes are passed on by phone, one gang at a time.
- The whiteboard cannot be seen from a van.
What it costs you
Wasted mornings, mostly. A gang arriving at a job that cannot start is a day's labour gone. Sending an unsuitable gang to specialist work leads to slower progress or rework. And the contracts manager spends hours every week on logistics instead of on site checking quality.
There is a skills cost as well. When the plan is made in a hurry, the gang with the best slater goes wherever there is a gap, and a plain tile repair gets the specialist while a natural slate job gets whoever was left.
The gang planner we build
- A list of your roofers and subcontractors with their skills, as you define them, and their usual gang.
- Each job has its skill needs, estimated days, address and readiness checks: scaffold up, materials delivered, customer confirmed.
- Readiness updates come from where the information already is: the scaffold register, delivery confirmations, customer replies.
- The planner is a drag-and-drop board by day and gang. It warns when a job is not ready, a skill is missing or a person is double-booked.
- Absences are reported by the roofer through their phone and show on the board immediately.
- When the plan is set or changed, each gang gets its day by text or on their phone: address, access notes, what is on site and what to bring.
- Actual days are recorded against jobs, which feeds your job costing and helps estimate days on the next similar roof.
| Before the job starts | Shown as |
|---|---|
| Scaffold erected and handed over | Ready or not ready |
| Materials delivered | Ready, part, or waiting |
| Customer confirmed the date | Confirmed or awaiting |
| Skills needed | Matched to the gang, or warning |
| Weather needs | Flag if the forecast conflicts |
The contracts manager still makes the plan. The board makes the facts visible and passes the plan on.
Monday morning with a planner
Problems show up on Friday, not at 6am. Gangs know where they are going and what is waiting for them. Changes reach everyone at once. The contracts manager gets time back for site visits, which is where their judgement matters most.
Is this how your week starts?
- The job plan lives on a whiteboard.
- Gangs arrive at jobs that cannot start.
- The contracts manager spends early mornings texting.
- Specialist jobs go to whoever is free.
- Nobody records how many days a job really took.