Adam Plank

Production Manager

Synergy Builders, West Chicago, Ill. 

Age 35

2015 Revenue: $5.6 million

Best practice: As a way of lowering slippage, Adam developed a “work in progress” template to look at projects before the start date. The idea is to see how Synergy could come in under budget and positively affect the outcome of each job. After a job is assigned to a project manager, the company holds a team meeting on site. This marks the transfer of the project from the sales team to the production team. The project manager then goes through all the materials and evaluates the schedule versus the budget. If he finds that the estimator missed something, he’ll start looking at where time and/or costs can be made up in other areas. Those adjustments are put in place before anyone swings a hammer. 

This system allows the project manager to have ownership over his numbers instead of the numbers that the estimator provides. Also, every job phase is broken out separately with an indication as to whether it’s over, under, or within budget. It helps the company see where it stands at any moment rather than looking back after the job is done. 

Read more about the 2016 Professional Remodeler 40 Under 40 awardees.

Adam has reduced production costs to the lowest level ever seen at Synergy.