Small Utility Operations Can Keep Pace in Peak Seasons with These 5 Strategies

By Oscar Collins
The key to the success of small utility contractors is handling high volumes of infrastructure maintenance and repair projects during peak seasons. Climate change has also affected utility service demand seasonality. Extreme weather events — like prolonged cold spells — can put more pressure on critical systems longer than projected and cause end users’ energy and water consumption patterns to shift.
Streamlining your operations is essential for properly and efficiently managing routine maintenance inspections and emergency repair requests. Use these five strategies to prepare your team for considerable utility work whenever electricity, natural gas or steam demand spikes.
1. Recalibrate Your Supply Chain
Product lead times have been lengthy due to lingering supply chain disruptions. For instance, anecdotal evidence suggests electrical equipment orders can take 42 to 60 weeks to arrive.
Geopolitical tensions in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia have affected various industries by halting manufacturing processes and choking shipping routes. Trade embargoes and tariffs also render some suppliers out of the equation.
You have no control over external events. What you can manage is your inventory, so do so with foresight. Use historical data to predict which products and how much of them you may need in the near future. If you can’t procure supplies domestically, work with vendors in friendlier and more politically stable countries to expect fewer logistical obstacles.
Recalibrating your supply chain may initially increase your hard costs. However, this route should shorten lead times and minimize the chances of delay, keeping your inventory levels adequate to weather seasonal and acute energy and water demand spikes.
2. Digitalize Your Operations
Digital technology enables operational agility. Cloud-based devices break down communication barriers between your in-house staff and field service crew. Seamless communication allows your team to collaborate smoothly and speed up decision-making to finish high-pressure, urgent projects on schedule.
Take steps to fully digitalize your end-to-end processes and collect granular data for analysis. Advanced analytics is crucial for identifying inefficiencies and common mistakes, which can slow your operations down.
Digital transformation can translate into long-term savings when you act on the insights you glean from data and trim the fat from your processes. However, upgrading your hardware and paying for software licenses to automate your project management workflows and boost cybersecurity can be costly.
If you’re entirely new to big data and analytics, consult a digital transformation specialist to advise you on what to prioritize and how to implement technological changes within your organization with your business goals and budget in mind. For example, this expert may recommend outsourcing data analytics to cut costs instead of having a business intelligence professional on the payroll.
3. Leverage Equipment Rentals
Small utility contractors generally need more capital to obtain and space to store the proper assets they need for various sites year-round. Making do with what you have will only take you so far. Eventually, improper equipment will negatively impact your efficiency and productivity. It can also lead to safety incidents, hurting your bottom line and reputation.
Take trailer hitches as an example. No single hitch class is best for every project because each has different towing and tongue weight capacities. Some utility contractors forget this fact because many classes fit similar vehicles.
Classes 4 and 5 hitches are installable in heavy-duty trucks. However, you should only tow a maximum load of 10,000 pounds with a class 4 piece — at least 50% less than you can haul with class 5 hardware. Moving more dirt than your hitch can handle during underground utility work can damage your vehicle’s braking system, suspension and other vital components and cause a runaway trailer accident.
Find reputable equipment lessors to source the proper assets for every job without spending a fortune. These businesses specialize in the assets they offer, so you can turn to them for advice on which equipment suits which project requirements. Forget long-term relationships with vendors keen on shoring up your team immediately to build a network you can count on during busy months.
4. Rethink Your Hiring Approach
The chronic labor shortage hits smaller utility operations hard during peak seasons. You can’t outbid larger companies for the same talent, so target a different breed of applicants.
Turn your company into a destination for apprentices. Establish ties with local trade schools to welcome fresh graduates into your team instead of competing against other businesses for their services in the job market.
Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters rely on four to five years of apprenticeship to learn the ropes. These professionals must gain years of experience to qualify for a license and become journey-level workers. Taking as many apprentices as you need can lessen the trade worker shortage’s effect on your operations in peak seasons and keep your labor costs down.
5. Use Independent Contractors
Your crew needs a mix of youth and experience to reconcile cost with expertise. Independent contractors allow you to beef up your in-house team to accommodate more business and complete more projects.
Know the difference between employees and independent contractors to avoid misclassifying workers. The Department of Labor has overturned its 2021 Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act rule, realigning its new guidance with judicial precedent. Understand how the federal government now classifies these workers to treat and pay independent contractors accordingly.
Peak Seasons Favor the Prepared
Small contractors have fewer resources than more prominent players in the utilities sector. However, you can punch above your weight by making sound decisions. Employ these strategies to streamline your operations and be well-equipped to manage high volumes of projects during busy months.
Oscar Collins is the editor-in-chief at Modded. He’s written for sites like Contractor and StartupNation. Follow him on Twitter at @TModded for frequent updates on his work.