Custom Cabinet Planner is a Cabinetmakers Single Source of Truth

The objective of this app is that everyone knows what to do and when to do it. Knowing the right next thing to do is empowering, knowing when to do it is what makes a company more money now and in the future.

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A Second Brain


 
The human mind is an amazing thing, but we simply cannot remember everything we want to remember, so we store things to reference when needed, and this is the place to STORE those things.


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“If you have two half-finished projects, it adds up to zero finished projects.” 
-Unknown 

'Lots and Lots of WIP (Work In Process) is my secret to success' said no one ever. The secret to success is getting things done, the secret to good cash flow is finished projects.

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G-T-D

Empowering Custom Cabinetry Manufacturers to Get-Things-Done

What Custom Cabinet Planner is NOT!

Right up front, you need to know that Custom Cabinet Planner is NOT MRP (Material Requirements Planning) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software. Although Custom Cabinet Planner does a lot of the same things, this is simply my attempt to pass my Organizational Skills to cabinetmakers who want to get their ducks in a row, stop chicken farming (running around like a chicken with its head cut off), and deliver their projects on time. 

Custom Cabinet Planner is NOT design software, although the name has been interpreted that way by some. If I had to shuck it down to a single word, Custom Cabinet Planner is all about SCHEDULING, but Custom Cabinet Scheduler didn't seem like a really great name.


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Custom Cabinet Planner WON'T:

Save you from your sin

Cure Male Pattern Baldness

Eliminate your Gynaecomastia

Improve your Libido

Build "The Wall"

Make you too sexy for your shirt

Custom Cabinet Planner MIGHT:

Improve your Cash Flow

If you use the Good Profit piece as intended

Optimize your Punch Lists

If you utilize the Punch List part well

Manage Customers Expectations

If you use the Projects page as expected

Improve your On-Time Delivery

If you manage the Delivery Calendar well

Improve your Health

If you use the Daily Tech Triggers part as intended

Increase your Wealth

If you use the application as intended

Custom Cabinet Planner WILL:

Remove $299 from your pocket

Add $299 to my pocket

FAQ's

These terms of service ("Terms", "Agreement") are an agreement between the website ("Website operator", "us", "we" or "our") and you ("User", "you" or "your"). This Agreement sets forth the general terms and conditions of your use of this website and any of its products or services (collectively, "Website" or "Services").

Notion is the Swiss Army Knife of cloud based databases. It's strength lies in it's "Building Block" (think Logo) interface, where you can mix all sorts of elements on a page, and utilize the power of databases to do WORK.

No, Notion is a cloud based system that as of 05/14/2024, does not have an offline feature.

I would start with the simple things like:

  1. Entering Companies (Builders, Remodelers, Designers, Architects, etc.)
  2. Entering Contacts (the people at the Companies above, and your homeowners)
  3. Entering a Project and enter all the appropriate data on the Project page (open the toggle for each of the numbered steps and enter all the data you know)
    1. Make sure to choose a Room Status (this controls the position on the Production Schedule board)
    2. Enter the Rooms for the Project in the Ball Park Estimate toggle (this is the easiest place to enter Rooms)
    3. Make sure to enter a Proposed and Actual Delivery Date (the Actual Delivery Date is what makes a Room show up on the Delivery Calendar)
  4. Use these Project pages as your Single Source of Truth (so everyone knows what everyone else knows)
  5. Once you have a few good Projects entered, and have used the app successfully, start looking at utilizing the Procedures pages
  6. As you work through the Procedures, add, edit, delete as needed, make them your own
  7. Once you have your Procedures pretty well sorted, then start Looking at the Team pages, and start utilizing the To-Do-List and Goals
  8. Keep exploring, and exploiting the many features of Custom Cabinet Planner until you have it all working like you want

If used as intended, you should find the chaos in your plant subsiding, and in time, everyone should know what to do, and when to do it

For Rooms to show on the Delivery Schedule, you must enter an Actual Delivery Date. I typically enter this in the Ballpark Estimate area of the Projects page.

My personal experience is that managing the Project Status (calling, emailing, texting, driving by, etc.) on a weekly basis makes managing the Delivery Schedule 100 times easier. Be proactive, checking on the status of each project weekly, and making the necessary changes to your Delivery schedule as needed.

DO NOT let your client drive this ship, it's yours and yours alone to steer. The Delivery Schedule dictates when delivery and installation CAN happen, and early on you need to insist on a TARGET (Proposed) DELIVERY DATE. This date does not change, it is a benchmark date (the Actual Delivery Date is the one that changes). This Proposed Delivery Date MUST be based on your minimum lead time and then finding a free time on the Delivery Schedule calendar AFTER that point in time.

Next, you must be perfectly clear on what happens if the clients project is not ready on the Proposed Delivery Date. Their project has to move based on available delivery and installation dates on YOUR Delivery Schedule, not based on the time difference when they were supposed to be ready, and when they were actually ready.

Also, your 40% progress payment due prior to delivery should still be due, even if they are not ready on the agreed upon Proposed Delivery Date. You did your part, so you are due that progress payment.

If you want to save yourself a lot of time and effort, have your client write two checks at the time of signing your Proposal, one for the 50% deposit, and another (the 40% progress payment) post dated to the Proposed Delivery Date. This saves you from having to chase it down prior to delivery.

GoodProfitGroup Member Michael Glaser started doing this thinking it was what everyone did, and when I asked why he had a bunch of undeposited checks on his desk, he said they were postdated progress payments, and I could not help but say "That is BRILLIANT!".


Phases are intended to provide you the ability to break larger Projects into smaller bite sized pieces (to protect CASH-FLOW). The heading for the Phases column has two question marks in parenthesis when you receive the template, and those question marks should be replaced with the number of cabinets you would like to produce weekly for larger shops with a team and weekly payroll, and weekly or monthly for smaller one-man shops.

For demonstration purposes lets say your target weekly production is 40 cabinets (and all the other things that are needed to deliver and install 40 cabinets), so you would replace the two question marks with the number 40. Now your objective would be to create Phases that have as close to 40 cabinets as possible, so as you assign a Phase to a Room, it will be grouped into that Phase and you will see a cabinet count at the bottom of the column for each Phase.

A couple things to consider when breaking a large project into phases is to save the pass through public spaces for the last phase as these areas like Kitchens, Mud Rooms, etc., where lots of people, especially other sub-contractors are passing through, and often with ladders, trim, and other things that can damage your cabinetry, as they attempt to get to other areas of the home will typically lead to damage. Another thing to consider is to get all peripheral rooms with Plumbing as early as possible to allow other sub-contracts to move on with their part of the project.

I think Phases are one of the secrets to success in our industry as they break big jobs into smaller billable segments of a job to keep your Cash Flowing in just as though you did multiple smaller projects.


In the Procedures section of Custom Cabinet Planner, each Procedure (a procedure/process that is included in your SEQUENCE OF EVENTS) includes three sections, Setup, Process and Maintenance. Think of these like this:

  • Setup- What do I need to do BEFORE I do this Process?
  • Process- What is it that I need to actually do?
  • Maintenance- What do I need to do after I have completed the Process?

In the Maintenance section, there is a portal that allows you to change the Room Status, and the Assignee. Every Process is typically done by someone or someone's, so changing the Room Status is one signal to someone that the "Ball" is on their court (if you are responsible for finishing, and the Room is moved into the Finish status column, then you know the "Ball" is in your court), but no Notification will be sent based on that change. The Assignee field however will generate a Notification to who ever is entered into that field (you can enter more than one Assignee when needed), and thus CLEAR and CONCISE instructions are sent telling the Team Member that the "Ball" is in his/her court.

The objective here is that everyone knows what to do, and when to do it.


What's the difference in a Punch List and a Call Back?

A Punch List is a list of things needed to finish a Project that you are in the process of Installing.

A Call Back is when a client calls and says something is wrong or damaged (not always your fault).

The Punch List used well will minimize the number of trips required to the jobsite to complete the Installation. Used as intended, the Installers are entering items as they realize they are needed, and the appropriate Team Members can see this list as it is being created, and thus be getting the items ready for the return trip to complete the project.

Each of these two are also one of the columns of our Production Schedule, which is based on the Room Status, and each column has a field to the right of the Column name (e.g., Punch List, Call Back, etc.) that has a dollar amount in it. This dollar amount is a rollup of the dollar value of ALL the Rooms in the column, so tells you how much money you could collect if you got these things FINISHED.

"Two half finished projects equals exactly ZERO finished projects." -Unknown

The objective here is to have ZERO Punch Lists or Call Backs, but when you do, to keep them as a HIGH PRIORITY (to not let them fall through the cracks).