3 ways to reduce human error with roofing software

By Molly Stein, AccuLynx.

Address communication issues, lack of standardization, and document issues for team success.

The world continues to evolve before our eyes as technological advancements provide new capabilities to the roofing industry. Although technology for the construction and roofing markets has continued to expand, the roofing industry still relies heavily on the physical and mental capabilities of roofers themselves. As a result, an unavoidable consequence that will continue to aggravate both employees and clients is simple human error.

The concept that “everyone makes mistakes” only reinforces the idea that human error itself is impossible to avoid; however, helpful tools provided by technology like CRM software platforms can help minimize human error for roofing businesses.

Poor Communication Between Project Owners and Crews:

Have you ever had a plan perfectly mapped out in your head and then when you hand over the task to somebody else they do it all wrong? Maybe after you finish berating a crew or a Project Manager for messing up, they give the excuse: “But I thought that was what you told me!”

This kind of miscommunication happens all the time, so either you were not totally clear what you wanted done, or the receiver processed the information differently than you. In the business world, when important processes or documentation is lost in translation, it can have a serious impact on a company’s success.

Set Up Processes to Help Your Teams Succeed:

One way to minimize misunderstandings amongst members of a business is to implement a program or series of standard processes that ensure seamless communication between all owners on a project. By training your delegates and crews how you want things done on the job-site to maintain your standards of quality, there is far less room for interpretation or corner cutting.

Of course, not everything always goes to plan, especially when you’re on a roof, dealing with the elements, homeowners, insurance companies or other variable factors. Using a CRM or other digital software platform to store all of your communications, including notes, tasks, direct messages and document changes in one accessible location, helps roofers avoid missing critical communications between the field and the office.

Lack of Standardization:

Roofers can get busy or distracted - especially during high production times when commissions are on the line. Maybe they got a call from the office while they were filling out paperwork in the truck, or maybe they forgot to ask what insurance company a homeowner works with - simple mistakes that can result in wasted time.

Avoid Sloppy Paperwork:

Providing your teams templates that force them to fill out the necessary information ensures that paperwork will be completed correctly and a job can continue on track. Digital templates for your estimates and contracts ensure that your sales teams don’t miss necessary fields. This can include everything from measurements, insurance information or even something as simple as a potential customer’s phone number can be made required fields. Features like SmartDocs by AccuLynx can be enabled to provide additional notifications, including when paperwork is completed and signed within a job file.

Lost, Missing or Unintelligible Documentation:

Most roofers know that members of your sales teams have their own organization systems - whether that’s a box of papers in the front seat of their truck, a notebook or scribbles on the back of a napkin - and none of that does the people in your office any good. If a paper file is lost or damaged - that’s it. Likewise, waiting for files, and then attempting to interpret handwriting are good ways to miscommunicate and make mistakes.

No more excuses:

The simplest way to avoid this is to have your sales teams work with digital templates and files so that as soon as they’re done filling out their estimates and contracts - it’s already accessible by your teams in the office. And, they can read them!

CRM systems that allow your teams shared access to files can also help teams avoid the back-and-forth that can happen when changes are made to existing documents. In the case of material orders, if you’re not sure whether you needed brown or black shingles, you can reference the order from anywhere. Additionally, if there is a change to any existing information, like the addition of insurance information, the change syncs to all platforms, and no double entry is required. This way, both the office and the field always have the most up to date information.

Murphy’s Law states that “if something can go wrong, it will.” This observation only reinforces the idea that human error is inevitable; however, oftentimes the reason human error exists can be attributed to an inefficient business system. Software can help a roofing business reduce common human errors, improve communication and processes, and give your teams more flexibility to succeed.

Learn more about AccuLynx.

Editor’s note: This article was first published on AccuLynx’s blog and can be viewed here.