Niemeyer Brothers Plumbing, Inc.

A Good Flush Beats a Full House Every Time.

The Problem: “Our greatest challenge at the time was the collection of accurate timecards. We expected a bunch of bright, technical guys could manage to make simple notes on a paper time sheet. We expected the professional plumber had the basic ability to note their hours and what they were doing, and we expected the mighty gas fitter could get that paper to us on a certain day. Of course it never happened.

“So our receptionist binge-called to retrieve the week’s pile of missing time cards. And we saw the guys often just sit down and fill them out from memory. They cared nothing about details that would help us in the office, like cost codes or customer information. No, they just wanted a 40-hour paycheck. So they wrote down any cost code, whether or not it was applicable to what they did— mostly not.

“But cost codes tie to our accounting. So it was infuriating to have these guys just sit down and charge 40 hours to one code like Domestic Water— even though they’d been working on Compressed Air Piping and many other things— meaning that when the office tried to estimate a new project, the Domestic Water line items were way over budget and other cost codes showed no labor whatsoever. It was pretty obvious what was going on. Bottom line was we had no accurate field information to help us estimate anything, so it affected everything. Since we don’t operate our company by gut feelings, we had to be more dialed in.

“But that described just half of the problem. Once the time sheets finally got into the office, the office staff then transcribed these sheets, consuming dozens of valuable hours every week.

“And remember, we’re tradesmen. We do best out in the field, but now we’ve gotta put down our tools to shuffle paperwork. And if our workers don’t give us accurate clock data and job codes, we won’t know until the end of the year if there’s going to be anything left.”

Founders Rick and John Niemeyer wondered if they’d have to find a time collection solution resembling a NASA device, as they’ve invested in high-powered Timberline accounting software so as to be able to consistently work with the upper crust of Arizona general contractors like Hardison Downey Construction, Kennedy Design Build, and Sunstate Builders on five-star projects like the Bravi Tuscan Kitchen, Sassi Italian Restaurant, and commercial buildings, schools, doctor’s offices, banks and public buildings.

So Rick Niemeyer was surprised and pleased to find About Time’s advanced time tracking technology adapted quickly to their age-old profession.

Rick continues, “About Time collects all the accurate time records right from the field by each employee, with job coding information. Once data is sent to the office with a button push, and get employee verification. And then we push all this data into our Timberline accounting software to make payroll. It’s seamless. We free up a lot of office staff time, and have added to our bottom line because we know what we are doing.”

No Excuses: “It’s amazing how many companies call asking about our About Time system. I think it’s amazing that every contractor isn’t on some kind of program like this.It’s as close as you’re going to get to perfect accuracy. It’s a simple, easy way to get time card information back into the office to process payroll efficiently. Technology is never going to be perfect, but About Time has been a great solution for us, and nothing makes me happier than to see a product that works— it’s what America is all about.”