Rework: A Critical measure of Service Quality

In every successful service organization, rework serves as an important indicator of operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction. While often viewed simply as a cost of doing business, rework is actually a valuable measurement of service quality that provides opportunities for continuous improvement throughout the dealership.

Understanding Rework

Rework occurs whenever a task must be performed again because the original work did not achieve the intended result. Although rework is commonly associated with technician performance, it can originate from many different sources within the service process.

Examples of rework include:

  • Defects in workmanship
  • Inaccurate or incomplete service reports
  • Incorrect parts ordered
  • Incorrect quantities of parts ordered
  • Improperly calibrated tools or equipment
  • Incorrect technician assignment
  • Inadequate training
  • Technician fatigue
  • Outdated or incorrect repair procedures
  • Interruptions caused by pulling technicians off assigned jobs
  • Poor communication between shifts
  • Failure to seek or provide technical assistance when needed

Because rework can stem from multiple areas, it should never be viewed solely as a technician issue. Instead, it should be examined as a process issue that may involve people, systems,

processes, training, communication, tools, or management practices.

The Economic Risk of Rework

Rework creates a twofold negative economic effect on the dealership.

  • First, the dealership incurs the cost of performing the task incorrectly. Labor hours, parts, and resources are consumed without producing a satisfactory outcome.
  • Second, additional labor and resources must be invested to correct the original mistake. In many cases, a more experienced technician is assigned to diagnose and repair the issue, increasing labor costs even further.
  • Third, an often-overlooked cost is the opportunity cost. Every hour spent correcting rework is an hour that could have been spent servicing another customer, generating revenue, or increasing shop productivity.

Viewed comprehensively, the true cost of rework can be expressed as:

Cost of the original incorrect repair + Cost of the corrective repair + Lost opportunity from productive work that could have been completed instead.

The Customer Satisfaction Factor

Regardless of who ultimately pays for the correction—whether it is the dealership, manufacturer, warranty provider, or customer—rework negatively affects the customer experience.

Customers judge the dealership based on results, reliability, and trust. When a machine returns with the same issue or a repair must be revisited, confidence in the dealership’s service capability can be diminished. Therefore, reducing rework is not only a financial objective but also a customer retention strategy.

Measuring Rework

To effectively manage rework, dealerships must first measure it. Without measurement, trends and root causes remain hidden.

Rework should be analyzed at several levels:

  • Total dealership performance
  • Individual store locations
  • Cost centers or departments
  • Individual technicians
  • Seasonal trends and fluctuations
  • Rework compared to training needs

Regular analysis helps identify patterns, recurring issues, training needs, and process weaknesses that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Rework as a Learning Opportunity

While rework carries costs, it also presents valuable opportunities for improvement. Each rework event provides insight into how processes, training programs, communication systems, and management practices can be strengthened.

Organizations that view rework as a learning opportunity rather than solely a performance failure are better positioned to improve quality, increase productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction over time.

Key Takeaways

  • Rework must be measured to be managed effectively.
  • Rework directly impacts customer satisfaction and dealership reputation.
  • Rework creates a significant financial burden through duplicate labor, additional resources, and lost productivity.
  • Rework is a valuable teaching and continuous improvement opportunity.
  • Rework is not always caused by technicians; process failures, communication gaps, training deficiencies, and management decisions often contribute.

By understanding, measuring, and addressing rework, dealerships can improve service quality, increase profitability, and build stronger customer relationships.

A Message for Canada Day

I received this from my Best Man Terry Pascale.

“We are often called “the elderly,” but that quiet label hides a truth most people rarely pause to consider we are the last living witnesses of a world that no longer exists.

If you look closely, you might notice gray hair, slower steps, or the quiet patience that time alone can teach. But if you truly listen to our stories, you will discover something far more extraordinary. We are not simply older people moving through the final chapters of life.

We are the survivors of one of the most breathtaking transformations in human history — a generation that walked from the slow, deliberate rhythm of an analog world into the dazzling speed of a digital one without ever losing our sense of humanity along the way.

Our journey began in a very different place.

Many of us were born in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, when the scars of World War II were still fresh across Europe and Asia and the world was slowly learning how to hope again. Cities rose from rubble. Families rebuilt lives after years of uncertainty. Childhood unfolded in ways that would feel almost unrecognizable to younger generations today.

Our toys were simple: marbles played in dusty yards, hopscotch drawn on cracked sidewalks, checkers and cards gathered around kitchen tables while the smell of dinner filled the house. When the streetlights flickered on in the evening, it was the universal signal that childhood adventures were over for the day and it was time to go home.

There were no smartphones, no streaming videos, no endless scroll of digital distractions. Instead, we built our memories in the real world — with scraped knees, laughter echoing down neighborhood streets, and friendships that formed face to face, without the mediation of screens.

Music became one of the defining soundtracks of our youth. The 1960s and 1970s arrived like a wave of color and rebellion. We watched culture shift around us, carried by electric guitars and voices that dared to question the world.

For many of us, gatherings like the legendary Woodstock Festival of 1969 symbolized something powerful: the belief that peace, music, and community could reshape the future. Hundreds of thousands of young people stood together in muddy fields, listening to artists who poured raw emotion into towering speakers known as the Wall of Sound. Those concerts were not merely entertainment; they were moments when strangers felt like a single generation singing the same hope under an open sky.

Education looked different then, too. Our notebooks were filled with handwritten notes carefully copied from chalkboards. Research required patience, long hours in libraries, and stacks of heavy books rather than a quick internet search. We learned to slow down and think through ideas because information did not arrive instantly. Mistakes were corrected with erasers and ink, not with the click of a delete button.

Love carried a different rhythm as well. We fell in love while vinyl records spun on turntables and cassette tapes clicked softly inside plastic players. Music became the background to first dances, long conversations, and dreams about the future. Those relationships grew into marriages, families, and lives built step by step through the 1980s and 1990s — decades that saw technology begin to reshape the world around us.

Yet nothing compares to the bridge our generation has crossed. We are the only generation to have experienced an entirely analog childhood and a fully digital adulthood.

We remember waiting days — or sometimes weeks — for handwritten letters to arrive in the mail. We remember rotary telephones and party lines where neighbors could accidentally overhear conversations. Communication required patience and anticipation. Today, we can see the face of a loved one across the ocean instantly on a screen small enough to fit in a pocket.

The world changed in ways few could have imagined. We watched humanity land on the Moon in 1969, a moment when millions of people sat in living rooms staring at black-and-white televisions as Neil Armstrong took humanity’s first steps on another world.

We saw the rise of personal computers, the birth of the internet, and eventually the arrival of smartphones that placed entire libraries of knowledge in our hands. Machines that once filled entire rooms now exist on devices lighter than a paperback book. We moved from punch cards and mechanical tools to artificial intelligence and global networks connecting billions of people instantly. And through every shift, we adapted.

Our bodies carry the marks of the times we lived through as well. We grew up during fears of polio and tuberculosis, illnesses that once terrified entire communities before vaccines helped bring them under control. We witnessed the global challenges of pandemics and health crises across decades, including the recent silence and uncertainty of COVID-19, which reminded the world that resilience is still required in every generation.

Science itself transformed before our eyes. We saw the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, the decoding of the human genome at the turn of the century, and the early steps into gene therapy and advanced medicine. Transportation evolved from simple bicycles and steam engines to hybrid vehicles and electric cars gliding almost silently through city streets.

Few generations have witnessed such sweeping change. And yet, despite everything that evolved around us, certain things remain unchanged. We still understand the joy of a cold glass bottle of lemonade on a hot afternoon. We still remember the taste of vegetables picked straight from a garden. We still know the value of a long conversation that unfolds slowly without a keyboard or screen interrupting it.

Our memories stretch across decades. We have celebrated births, mourned losses, watched friends depart, and carried their stories forward. Those of us who remain share something rare: the experience of standing at the crossroads of history, holding memories from a world that younger generations know only through photographs and stories.

But we are not relics. We are living bridges. Our perspective reminds the modern world that progress does not have to erase wisdom. The speed of technology does not have to replace patience, kindness, or reflection. We remember what life felt like before everything moved so fast — and that memory carries quiet lessons worth sharing.

So when someone calls us “elderly,” we can smile. Because behind that word lies something extraordinary. We are the generation that crossed two centuries, witnessed eight decades of transformation, and walked from the age of handwritten letters to the era of artificial intelligence.

What a life we have lived. What a remarkable story we continue to carry. And if you belong to this generation, take a moment today to look in the mirror and recognize something powerful.

You are not simply growing older. You are living history. You are part of a generation that will always remain one of a kind. And perhaps, in the quietest and most meaningful way, you are becoming legendary.”

Where’s “The Number?”

I once started at a large urban dealership.

Within my first two weeks, I noticed a daily pattern. The general manager would walk into the service lane and ask the same question: “Where’s the number? Where are we at? Where’s the number?” Every day. Production. Gross. The metric. The scoreboard. And don’t misunderstand me — numbers matter. Dealerships are businesses. But after several weeks of hearing it, I finally said:

“You need to stop focusing on the number and start focusing on the customer.”

Because here’s what I discovered. The sales department was giving new customers their first three oil changes free. Great idea in theory — drive traffic back to service. The reality? Those oil changes took two hours. Sometimes longer. Customers were sitting in the waiting room frustrated. No communication. No urgency. No awareness of their time. We were obsessing over “the number” and ignoring the experience.

Sales Understands Relationships

Here’s the irony. The sales department understands relationships. They’re trained to build them. They use a consultative approach. They do a needs assessment. They learn about the customer’s family, their commute, their budget, their plans. They follow up. They send birthday cards. They ask for referrals. They think long term — three to five years down the road when that customer needs another vehicle.

They know relationship equals repeat business.

But when does the customer walk into fixed operations? The relationship often disappears.

Advisors are shorthanded. They’re writing up repair orders as fast as they can. They become order takers instead of consultants. Parts departments answer phones and fill requests. Everyone is busy. No one is building connections. And then we wonder why retention struggles.

The Price Myth

There was a season when dealerships were obsessed with being the cheapest oil change in town. We were competing with aftermarket shops, convinced we had to win on price. Oil changes became loss leaders. But when I did my homework and shopped at those same aftermarket competitors, I found something interesting: They were charging double what we were. The difference wasn’t price.

It was convenience. It was speed. It was respect for the customer’s time. They understood that time is a currency. We were discounting our services while delivering a slower experience — all in pursuit of “the number.”

You Can Only Skin a Cat Once

There’s a phrase I’ve heard too often in the dealership world: “skin the cat.” Meaning – maximize the ticket. Push the gross. Get everything you can out of the deal. But you can only skin a cat once. I’ve seen service tickets priced so high that the customer never returned. The store made a few extra hundred dollars that day — and lost years of future business. That’s not strategy. That’s short-term thinking.

If you don’t believe it happens, ask yourself a hard question:

If your spouse, your sister, or your mother broke down on the road, would you confidently send them to your service department? Or would you hesitate? Trust is fragile. And inconsistency destroys it.

Consistency Builds Trust

I once took over a store where a customer told me a story. He had a wheel bearing replaced on the left side of his vehicle. Six months later, he returned for the right side. The second repair was $200 higher. When he questioned it, the explanation didn’t make sense. I pulled both repair orders. There was no difference in parts. No clear labor justification. Simply different numbers written on the page.

If we had used a labor time guide consistently, the pricing would have matched. The customer would have felt treated fairly. Instead, we made a few extra dollars — and lost trust. And once trust is gone, “the number” eventually follows.

Slow Down to Win

Dealerships don’t lose customers because they aren’t competitive. They lose customers because they don’t slow down long enough to build relationships. If advisors took the time to explain. If pricing was consistent and fair. If we respected the customer’s time. If we treated every customer like family. Retention would rise. And the number would take care of itself.

Because here’s what I’ve learned: If you chase “the number,” you may hit it temporarily. If you build relationships, you build something that compounds. The number is the result. Relationship is the driver.

And too often in our industry, we’ve confused the two.

 

Sales Performance is a Data Problem, not an Effort Problem

“In God we trust. All others bring data.”  (W. Edwards Deming)

Ask a veteran salesperson to see their black book. The worn pages. The names are called for fifteen years. The dozen accounts they trust. It is a remarkable thing, and it is also the whole problem. We send good people out with dirt under their nails and a commission that punishes a slow month, then ask them to find the market with a memory and a windshield.

And we act surprised when performance swings wildly from one rep to the next. It isn’t effort. Nobody out there is loafing. We turned selling into a guessing game and called the guessing “territory management.”

Watch a sales manager actually plan the week. A little of it is the CRM. Most of it is last week’s conversations, the squeaky wheel, the account that happens to sit near Saturday’s ballgame. The plan gets built on what’s top of mind, never where the opportunity is, because no one has ever handed the manager a picture of where the opportunity is. Habit, repeated across every rep and every territory, is how a dealer quietly leaves most of its market untouched.

Here is the uncomfortable part.

The reason performance is uneven is not that some people try harder. It’s that none of them can see. The list most teams work is built from public filings that, in our analysis, match the best customer profile by less than ten percent of the time, and outweigh the smallest firms in the market. Ask a rep to win on that, and you’ve set them up to fail, then graded them on the failure.

Fix the data, and the effort finally has somewhere to go.

Now imagine the other version. By Monday morning, each rep has twenty-five accounts to cover this week, and the reason for everyone, and something to say when they walk in. The list is built not on who is called last, but on the odds that each account actually buys, with the fleet they run and the dollars at stake sitting right next to the name. Across every rep and every territory, you can see who worked on their list and who didn’t. And at quarter’s end you know not just that the number came in, but exactly where you won, and why.

The best part is what this does for the salesperson. Every good rep has said some version of the same thing: give me half a chance to prove I’m good. A defined list is that chance. It doesn’t replace their judgment or their relationships; it points them. It takes the part of the job that was luck, knowing which door to knock on, and turns it into something you can hand them and hold them to. The craft of winning the deal is still theirs. We just stop making them find the deal blindfolded.

And this is bigger than any one dealer. The manufacturer who builds the machine, the dealer who sells it and the rental company who keeps it running all answer the same customer in the end: the contractor who has to get the job done. Serve that contractor well, with the right machine at the right time, and the whole industry moves forward together.

That is what BiltReady is built to do: replace the generic prospect file with a scored list of named accounts, each carrying its total fleet value, its probability to buy, and the dollar opportunity quantified across the three ways a dealer earns: new-equipment sales, rental, and parts and service. No other source puts a number on all three. It is built by data scientists and proven against real outcomes.

If you want a fresh approach to your market, let’s talk. It’s not magic, just math.

No Opportunity Left Behind.

BiltData.ai analyzes 100M+ transactions to keep construction equipment OEMs, dealers, and rental companies in the path of growth. Different links in one chain, united by a single goal: to serve the contractor in a way that lets them succeed. BiltReady, our quantitative buyer-signal model, surfaces what UCC filings miss. Forward-looking, named-account opportunities at the firms with real spend, scored by buyer probability and a quantified dollar opportunity across new-equipment sales, rental and parts and service, with quarterly timing per account.