Meetings:
I have been able to attend a couple employee meetings held
at Inside Outside. These meetings have addressed problems such as the lack of
efficiency in the showroom and shop, timeliness, the same mistakes being made
multiple times, communication between each other, customers, distributors, etc.
among many other things.
Before each meeting I print out a current project list for
everyone to have their own to make notes on. This is very helpful, because, as
we go down the list, we are able to discuss all the current clients and their projects,
give input where needed and all become more familiar with the clients who we
are not working with. There is always going to be disagreements during a
meeting but it is how those disagreements are handled that decides whether the
meeting will go smoothly or not. Once the meeting is over I will compile all
the notes taken and revise the current project list to be printed out before
the next meeting. This type of meeting with a printed out copy of the project
list is a very simple, yet very helpful, way of communicating between
employees. After these meetings everyone has a better understanding of what
needs to be done and what they have in store for them in the near future.
A couple days ago, first thing in the morning, I walked in
the door to the office and they were having a shop meeting. I could not get to
my desk so I patiently waited. I was a part of this meeting but not on purpose.
The topic of this meeting was about the amount of time it takes to install
materials, whether it be cabinetry or counter tops, how mistakes are made and
how they can be prevented and overall communication so that things are not
forgotten or misunderstood.
There was a recent job located about an hour and fourty-five
minutes away from Inside Outside. The guys loaded up everything into the truck
to be delivered and installed and left early that morning. They did not return
till later that day just before we closed. They had forgotten some materials
and sinks at Inside Outside so they had to make another trip back to the project
site. Everything that needed to be loaded, taken and installed was written on a
material release form, put on the clipboard, that is meant to be looked at by
the shop employees, and placed in plain sight. The form was not looked at. The
employees saw material with the name of the client they were delivering and
installing to written and tapped on different materials in the shop. Instead of
reading the material release form they assumed that was all there was to take.
Needless to say Mr. Tim and Nicole were not very happy during the meeting. They
listed the things that needed to be changed and/or improved as well as the
things that those working in the office/showroom needed to work on.
Lesson # 5: Listen
and follow directions
Lesson # 6: Ask
questions if you are unsure about something. I think it is safe to say that any
employer would rather someone ask a lot of questions rather than ask very few
and make many mistakes.
Lesson # 7: No one is
an irreplaceable employee. If you do your job, since that is what you are at
work to do, chances are you will not be replaced.
Projects I have
worked on:
I have had the opportunity to work on many projects with
Kristi, Nicole, and Mrs. Pam. Most of them have involved countertops and some
sort of backsplash whether it is a continuation of the granite or a decorative tile
and others have involved cabinetry too.
I have been able to help space plan kitchens and bathrooms,
decide what types of cabinetry should be included and where, suggest granite
colors to be used in accordance with what is already in the house or the look
the client has described he/she wants, and help with a decorative tile
backsplash design.
I have worked side by side with Kristi on a couple large
kitchen and bathroom remodels. Space planning of the cabinetry was a large part
of the projects. One of the jobs required very specific cabinetry parts
specified in certain areas of the kitchen along with two tight corners that had
to be worked around to fit cabinetry into them. The layout worked out
beautifully and when Kristi was able to put it into 20/20 and see a perspective
view the clients were very happy with it and approved the plan.
The other kitchen design we worked on was unique and very
difficult because of the number of doors in the room and the small amount of
space we had to work with. There were four walls in this room and every one had
a door or entry way on it. The client also specified that she wanted the
cabinetry to look like pieces of furniture. This means that, if possible, she
did not want the cabinetry to touch in some places and have a high level of
detail. She wanted many different appliances along with other features which,
when trying to draw out a plan for her, was extremely difficult. As a result, a
plan has been made as best it could be, per the client’s requests, and we are
still waiting to meet with her to discuss it.
Inside Outside
Work Room
Inside Outside
Work Room (2)
Inside Outside
Work Room (CAD-Template Machine)
Working on the
CAD-CNC Machine:
Matt asked me to help him one day by drawing out the
templates Mr. Tim had previously gathered from the job site. The program I was
using was a form of CAD but not the kind I am used to using. I was given a
drawing with dimensions to look off of and, although it took a while to learn
all the computer controls, it was great to be able to learn something new and
help out in another area of Inside Outside.
When I was finished drawing the templates into the CAD
program, it was then printed onto a plastic sheet material to be laid onto the
stone slab and cut to fit the countertop template given.
It made me very nervous knowing that the drawings I had made
on the CAD program would be how the machine outside knew where to cut the slab.
One line drawn wrong could mean the loss of part of the material or worse the
whole slab. Thank God everything worked out great and, although I hate how
nervous it makes me to get back on CAD to print out another template, I had a
lot of fun experiencing something brand new and would gladly do it again.
Lesson # 8: Never be
afraid to learn something new. Whether you make a mistake the first or second
time or do it perfectly every time, you are learning something from the
experience regardless.
Shop (Right Side)
Shop
Shop (Left Side)
Showroom
pricing/organizing:
Beginning about halfway through the internship, Nicole asked
me to start pricing all the items displayed in the showroom. If we had the most
current price list for the products I was able to look up the price for each
item and if we did not I called the distributor and asked them to send us one.
I priced out about 350 items and once I got to my fourth distributor I noticed
something different. The price book specifically said “cost price.” I started
to worry because all 350 items I priced before may have said the same thing or
something similar and I could have overlooked it. I went back to all the items
I previously priced and most of them had to be re-priced using the cost price
in the formula we use to get the retail price.
Although I have had some mishaps while pricing, I have
learned so much about the price of materials and what distributors offer.
Having to price some things twice has made me learn about those products two
different times which I feel makes me remember information better anyway so it
was actually a good thing. I have also become much more familiar with the
location of all of the materials in the showroom and feel more confident when
showing clients around.
Lesson # 6: If you
have to redo anything because you made a mistake, think of it as a learning
experience to better understand the subject and/or process. It will also be far
less likely for you to make that same mistake again.
The entire Internship experience will be something I will
never forget. I have learned so much and have met so many great, knowledgeable
people. I feel much more confident in myself and my abilities and am ready to
apply it in my final year of school!
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