If you walked into the Davis Painting office, you’d find process documents, training manuals, checklists, and standard operating procedures for just about everything they do. Some people think that’s overkill, but Colby Davis thinks it’s the secret to scalability.
Documentation serves a few purposes for the company. First, it ensures consistency. When there’s a written process for how to estimate a job, every estimator follows the same framework. That means customers get the same experience no matter who they talk to.
Second, it makes training faster and easier. Instead of relying on tribal knowledge or hoping a new hire picks things up through osmosis, the company can hand them a manual and walk them through it. They get up to speed faster, and they’re more confident because they know exactly what’s expected.
Third, it gives Colby peace of mind. He doesn’t have to worry about what happens if a key person leaves. The knowledge isn’t locked in their head. It’s documented and accessible to anyone who needs it.
Creating documentation takes time upfront, but it saves exponentially more time in the long run. It also forces you to think critically about how you do things. Sometimes the act of writing something down reveals inefficiencies or gaps you didn’t notice before.
Colby is a big believer that if it’s not documented, it doesn’t exist as a real process. It’s just something that happens when the right person is around. That’s not scalable, and scalability is what allows Davis Painting to continue growing.