The owner's week: a two-week time audit that shows what to hand over first

Step 1: Track every working block for ten working days

Answer first: write down what you did in each block of roughly 30 minutes, every working day, for two weeks.

Keep it simple. A line per block is enough:

• Time: 9:00–9:30
• Task: Called back three customers about quotes
• Could someone else do this? Yes / Maybe / No

Include evenings and weekends if you work them. Include phone calls in the van, invoicing at the kitchen table and answering texts in line at the grocery store. Those small pieces often add up to the biggest surprise.

Tip. Set two reminders a day, around noon and at the end of the day, to catch up the log. Trying to remember a whole day from memory doesn't work.

Step 2: Sort every task into four groups

Answer first: every task belongs in one of four groups, and only one of them truly needs you.

1. Only you. Decisions and relationships that depend on the owner: setting prices, key customer relationships, major hiring, strategy.
2. You, for now. Things you do because nobody else knows how yet, but someone could learn: writing quotes, scheduling, ordering supplies.
3. Someone else, today. Tasks anyone reasonably capable could do with a short checklist: data entry, routine follow-up calls, booking confirmations.
4. Nobody. Tasks that shouldn't be done at all: reports nobody reads, meetings without a purpose, duplicate data entry.

Add up the hours in each group over the two weeks. In many small businesses, groups 2, 3 and 4 together take up more of the owner's week than group 1.

Step 3: Put a dollar value on your time

Answer first: your time is worth what the business earns when you spend it on group 1 work, not what you'd pay yourself as a wage.

A simple way to estimate it:

• Take your business's annual gross profit.
• Divide by the number of hours you work a year.

Example. A Coquitlam renovation business makes $420,000 in gross profit a year. The owner works about 55 hours a week for 48 weeks, or 2,640 hours. That's roughly $159 of gross profit per owner hour.

That figure is rough, but it's useful for comparison. If the owner spends 12 hours a week on tasks someone else could do at $30 an hour, the business is paying about $159 an hour in owner time for $30 work. Freeing even half of those hours for quoting, sales or planning is often worth more than any marketing campaign.

Step 4: Rank what to hand over

Answer first: hand over the tasks that take the most of your time and need the least of your judgment.

Score each task in groups 2 and 3 on two questions, from 1 to 5:

• Hours per week it takes you.
• How easy it is to teach with a one-page checklist.

Multiply the two scores. The highest totals are your first handover candidates.

In this illustrative example, booking confirmations go first, even though writing quotes takes more hours, because they're far easier to teach.

Step 5: Write a one-page checklist for each handover

Answer first: if you can't write it on one page, it isn't ready to hand over.

Each checklist should cover:

• What the task is and why it matters, in one or two sentences.
• When it happens, for example daily at 4 p.m. or within one day of a site visit.
• The steps, numbered, in plain language.
• What "done" looks like, so the person knows when they've finished.
• When to ask you, the two or three situations where the owner still needs to step in.

Walk through the checklist together the first two or three times, then let the other person do it while you watch, then step away. Review after two weeks and adjust.

Step 6: Decide whether you need to hire

Answer first: if the hours in groups 2 and 3 add up to more than your current team can absorb, the audit has just written your first job description.

Use the totals to answer three questions:

• How many hours a week of handover work is there? Fewer than ten might suit a part-time role or an outside service; more might justify a full-time hire.
• What should the role own? Choose a clear area, such as scheduling and customer follow-up, rather than "general help".
• How will you know it's working? Pick one or two measures, such as quote turnaround or days to payment, and check them after 90 days.

Once you employ staff in BC, registering with WorkSafeBC and meeting your obligations as an employer come into play. We mention it only so it isn't forgotten; your accountant and an employment lawyer should advise you on the details.

Common mistakes

• Auditing only a "typical" day. Record every day for two weeks, including the messy ones.
• Counting only work at the shop or office. Evening email and weekend paperwork count.
• Handing over tasks without a checklist, then taking them back when they go wrong.
• Handing over the hardest task first. Start with the easiest, build confidence, then move up.
• Filling the freed hours with more group 3 work. Protect the reclaimed time for group 1: sales, pricing, planning and key customers.

When to get help

If the audit makes the next step obvious, act on it. If it shows the problem runs deeper, such as a quoting process that takes days or a schedule that only works when you're watching it, our operations advice service maps the whole flow of work and writes the routines with you. For a quick conversation about a first hire, try an hourly strategy session. You can also read more about how we work. Call, text or email when you're ready.