This is a sample audit of a made-up firm.

Clients and partners

Client-facing

Clients and partners

1,212 hours went to email with people outside FS, across 412 companies and people. Pacific Tile Supply alone took 96 hours.

Hours with the outside

1,21244% of all email time

Emails

31,880Sent and received, counted once

Companies and people

412Everyone outside FS the team wrote with

Biggest relationship

96Pacific Tile Supply, in hours

What we found

4 findings, each checked against the email

Four suppliers run through one mailbox, and the order history lives nowhere else.

248 hwith the four suppliers5,893emails in the year

Pacific Tile Supply96.4 h

Northgate Lumber71.5 h

Coastline Windows47.3 h

Kestrel Cabinetry33.1 h

Pacific Tile Supply, Northgate Lumber, Coastline Windows and Kestrel Cabinetry take about 248 client-facing hours, and most of that mail reaches Theo alone. When Theo is on a site or away, nobody else can see what was promised or when.

What could change. Give supplier orders a shared address and one tracker, so a confirmation or a new ship date is visible to whoever needs it.

How we counted

Hours are the reading and writing time of every email with each supplier, across the six mailboxes.

Clients ask "where are we?" more than they ask anything else.

20%of client emails ask for status46 hon the weekly update

1,928 status questions9,640 emails from clients

Across the open projects, about one client email in five is a status question. Most of them land on Friday or Monday, right before or after the weekly update would have answered them.

What could change. Send the weekly client update on time, every week, drafted from the week's email. The questions it answers stop arriving.

How we counted

Client emails are those from homeowners and client companies; a status question asks where a job stands without asking for a change.

A third of quotes get no follow-up after they are sent.

82quotes never followed up122 hon quote drafts

1leads in590

2scope gathered470

3quotes sent250

4followed up168

Kofi sends most quotes within a week of the site visit. When a lead goes quiet after that, the follow-up depends on Kofi remembering, and about a third never get one.

What could change. Draft the follow-up automatically on day seven, for Kofi to approve or skip.

How we counted

Counted per lead conversation: a follow-up is any email to the client after the quote and before their answer.

The permit office answers when asked, so the team asks every week.

64 hon permit checks41 hcould run on their own

Runs itself41 h

You check6 h

Stays as is17 h

Dev and Rosa write to the Birch Road permit office for a status update on almost every open permit, every week. The answer is usually "no change".

What could change. Check permit status on a schedule and tell the team only when it moves.

Who takes the most of the team's time

hours a year, by company or person

Company or person	Mostly about	Hours	Emails	Who handles it
Pacific Tile Supply	Purchasing	96.4	2,175	TRD
Nora and Sam Ellison	Operations	88.2	2,135	MRD
Northgate Lumber	Purchasing	71.5	1,890	TD
Birch Road permit office	Tax	58.9	1,275	DRM
The Okafor family	Operations	54.6	1,349	RMK
Coastline Windows	Purchasing	47.3	1,046	TD
Alder Electric	Scheduling	41.8	1,088	DT
Priya Raman	Operations	39.2	1,021	MR
Summit Plumbing	Scheduling	36.7	913	DT
Kestrel Cabinetry	Purchasing	33.1	782	TR
Greywater Stoneworks	Purchasing	28.4	600	TR
Hollis and Grant	Sales	26.9	645	KM
Tidewater Savings	Finance	24.5	567	IM
Marsh Lane Engineering	Tax	21.8	510	RD

What it is about

hours a year

Operations462 h

Purchasing228 h

Sales125 h

Scheduling109 h

Tax71 h

Finance51 h

Who carries client email

hours a year

183DDev

Client-facing hours per month

the busy season, from the outside in

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Company or person

Mostly about

Hours

Emails

Who handles it

Pacific Tile Supply

Purchasing

96.4

2,175

TRD

Nora and Sam Ellison

Operations

88.2

2,135

MRD

Northgate Lumber

Purchasing

71.5

1,890

Birch Road permit office

Tax

58.9

1,275

DRM

The Okafor family

Operations

54.6

1,349

RMK

Coastline Windows

Purchasing

47.3

1,046

Alder Electric

Scheduling

41.8

1,088

Priya Raman

Operations

39.2

1,021

Summit Plumbing

Scheduling

36.7

913

Kestrel Cabinetry

Purchasing

33.1

782

Greywater Stoneworks

Purchasing

28.4

600

Hollis and Grant

Sales

26.9

645

Tidewater Savings

Finance

24.5

567

Marsh Lane Engineering

Tax

21.8

510