“Are you a disaster restoration contractor?” – Check.
“Do you want to deliver more jobs on time, on budget?” – Check. Check.
“Do you want to improve your bottom line?” – Check.
As a restoration contractor, you have a lot on your plate, and some days it seems impossible that you’ll be able to balance it all.
How many new jobs have come in this week? What are my labor costs on each project? What are my average profit margins? All these questions and more likely run through your mind daily.
We all want to win
Have you ever heard anyone say that they love losing? We haven’t.
In fact, Bill Prosch, CR, a Business Development Adviser and Certified Restorer, sat down for an interview with CleanFax to talk about how much he hates to lose. It took an unfortunate experience in the courtroom and some sage advice to the effect of “He who has the notes, wins” for him to figure out the key to winning at the restoration job management game: job documentation.
This might not be the answer you were looking for. Taking notes isn’t fun, and sometimes it doesn’t even seem easy when you’re going from the field to the office and back out to the field again on a day-by-day or even hour-by-hour basis. But it doesn’t have to be painful when you have the right tools.
Benefits of Restoration Job Management Software
As restoration companies increasingly handle more claims, with more significant damages and higher losses, it’s essential that managers have the means and capabilities to streamline workflows and handle all the tasks associated with daily operations as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thankfully, with the right restoration management software, project managers have all the tools, data, and information right at their fingertips.
Here are some of the benefits of adopting job management technology like DASH in your restoration business.
Create a mobile office for your restoration business
Let’s say your typical day looks something like this.
You’re out on the field checking on the status of a major claim caused by a recent nasty storm. The second you are finished with this job, you are going to have to dart across town in traffic to supervise the initial inspection of a new claim on an entirely different restoration job. Meanwhile, employees at the office keep calling to get your approval, but they have to explain the documents over the phone.
With so many things going on, wouldn’t it be nice if you had a mobile office you could access from your smartphone?
Unfortunately, many restoration companies do not take advantage of cloud-based technology to increase operational efficiency. In fact, according to data from Capterra’s “Field Service Management Industry User Research Report,” a staggering 68 percent of field service companies lack mobile functionality!
Having the ability to check on job statuses instantly, job notes, view pictures, and documents makes a world of difference for project managers and all claims participants. With mobile restoration management software, checking the status of a job or reporting your financials is as easy as updating your Facebook status, or sending an email.
Keep track of your business finances in real-time
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” – Peter Drucker
One of the most common problems for many restoration managers is properly budgeting jobs. Many times, change orders and supplements can throw a curveball or cause inaccurate forecasting. Before you know it, these additional and unforeseen costs can pile up and carve away at the profit margins for the job.
What’s worse is that not accurately tracking and recording all these financial inflows and outflows in real time makes it difficult, if not impossible, to make a data-driven budgeting forecast. Not only does it hurt growth prospects, but poor financial tracking can also lead to lost business. By addressing production concerns early in a project, managers can alleviate and even eliminate these cash flow problems before they become an ongoing trend.
Using workflow management software provides all members of the team with a powerful tool for tracking jobs and their associated costs daily. With so much crucial financial data stored in one secure, easily accessible place, restoration company managers and executives can make informed, on-the-job decisions based on real-time financial numbers across the entire organization.
Achieve business growth by improving productivity
Does it make sense to have your project managers return to the office to complete tasks that could quickly be done on location? With all this technology at our fingertips and customers demanding information at the speed of now, leveraging the power of mobile for your business is guaranteed ROI.
With the ever-growing administrative demands on restoration companies, leveraging mobile technology to improve productivity is critical to remain competitive. Companies can eliminate redundant tasks by updating XactAnalysis, as well as all essential job information in real time, directly on-site with DASH’s native mobile app.
Unlock the power of working in real-time
A single restoration job requires the project manager to handle and keep track of a plethora of claims documents, insurance information, estimates, contacts, and a range of notes taken on the job. With so much paperwork flying around, losing a single sheet can create significant problems down the road.
As noted by Restoration and Remediation Magazine, no matter how chaotic a disaster situation becomes, “document everything as completely as you would on any job no matter what the circumstances!” Just imagine how much more stressful a CAT job becomes when you must locate and organize random scraps of paper, multiple notebooks, paper napkins, or even smartphone notes or emails you’ve sent to yourself.
Entering notes and contact information using a smartphone or a tablet in the field ensures nothing is lost, and every team member gains this real-time access to all this crucial data. This allows them to complete the disaster restoration job on time and on budget.
Win More Disaster Restoration Jobs with a New Strategy
In the restoration industry, we know all too well that Mother Nature can throw your restoration business some curveballs every now and then. However, you should always be prepared to handle increases in claims as they arise.
Efficiently managing fire, water, wind, and other types of claims you encounter routinely is no easy task. Fortunately for you, taking the right steps to improve your core business processes and overall strategy is something you can control and manage. One of the best ways to improve your business is to take a step back and reassess the overall strategy. Doing this can highlight some of the most overlooked problems in your company.
At Next Gear, we pride ourselves on the solutions we’ve designed explicitly for restoration contractors. We strive to make your lives easier and help you succeed and grow in your business. We encourage you to take advantage of our free business consultations, where we’ll show you how DASH can help position your restoration business for growth.
In this brief call with one of our consultants, we’ll take the time to understand what’s working in your business and dig into:
- How are you organizing your data?
- How do you track your staff’s capacity?
- How do you track and report job status?
- Do you manage your restoration business on the go?
- Bonus: Show you how you can gain more profit out of YOUR business with our ROI calculator!
