Why do sold jobs stall before the crew shows up?

What production actually receives

A rep closes a roof. Production gets a signed PDF, a few photos, a text, a handwritten note, an email and maybe a quick verbal briefing. Nobody has written down what a ready job looks like, so nobody can say what is missing.

Coordinators spend their days chasing the gaps across texts and inboxes. Because the crews need work, jobs get scheduled before the chasing is done.

Where it breaks

The crew arrives. Wrong shingles. No dumpster. No permit. The homeowner was not expecting them. The supplier forgot an accessory. The rep promised something the estimate never included.

Each one looks small. Across every job, they eat the margin: a lost crew day, a second delivery, a free upgrade to keep the customer happy.

The fix: a production gate

Write down twelve checks a job must pass before it is scheduled: contract, deposit, financing, scope, measurements, selections, special orders, permit, crew type, equipment, access and the homeowner's scheduling limits.

Give each check one owner. Sales owns what the sale produced, production owns what the build needs. A check is done when the proof is in the job record, not when someone says it is.

A job that fails goes back to the owner of the missing check. It does not go on the calendar with a promise to sort it out later.

Will sales push back?

At first. Stopping sales from handing over half-finished jobs sounds harsh. In practice, it makes everyone happier: crews stop losing days, coordinators stop chasing, and reps stop getting angry calls about promises nobody wrote down. Long-lead items come up on the day of the sale instead of the day before the crew needs them.