Operations Preparedness for the Roofing Season

The roofing season is underway – is your business ready?

The snow is disappearing and the spring storms are hitting throughout the hail belt.  Is your roofing company ready?  Are your operations, production and service teams prepared and armed to make the most of a year that will most likely show large backlogs?

Technology is changing how production and service teams increase productivity and profit for a roofing company.  For many companies, it will be all about servicing customers quickly which means highly organized production and service processes.  Following are features that should be a part of your production software to maximize time, productivity and profit.

Scheduling Boards Scheduling boards are the heart and soul of any roofing operation.  Now they can be found online.  As part of the questions that you ask software providers, be sure that they have progressive scheduling boards that communicate with the field and management effectively.  They should have easy drag and drop scheduling features along with automated communication through email, text and portals for employees and customers.  The ability to schedule effectively while communicating easily, improves productivity and the ability to invoice faster.

Automated Inspection Reports Production software features need to be easy to access from the roof and offer the ability to send inspection and service reports quickly, efficiently and professionally.  There should be approval features to be sure the customer receives the most professional reports including photos, measurements, forensics and roof technician’s comments and observations.  Many software programs offer templates that can be customized and branded to provide the highest levels of professional reporting for customers.

Same Day Communication and Invoicing Speed is critical when providing proposals, inspections and daily reports for customers.  With service, the goal is to have same day invoicing to optimize cash flow and customer service.  The software that a roofing company utilizes should offer features in reporting, inspections, photos, estimating and invoicing that makes it easy for service managers to turn field service calls into invoicing the same day and production teams to update customers 24/7.

Mobil Access For any software choice, it needs to be user friendly and it must be mobile.  Production teams and roof technicians need to be able to effectively make the software their home screen on their phone or tablet so that it is constantly being used.  Several software programs offer the ability to have crews and technicians punch in and out of job sites offering highly accurate time cards for invoicing and job profitability.  By using mobile devices not only for time records but also job documentation including capturing signatures, recording safety requirements and maintaining inventory of materials and tools on the roof, production and service teams can increase productivity.

Advanced Reporting The key to success for any management team is data.  Be sure the software that you pick can provide reporting that is needed to make smart decisions for your company.  Be sure that it can provide job profitability, warranty tracking, labor productivity and strong customer documentation.  By seeing daily reports on jobs and service, management can quickly make decisions or changes that empower their company for success.

Facility Control Systems (FCS) is a sales and solutions provider that brings real-time processing to the service industry. Utilizing a centralized sales CRM (FCS Core) FCS can provide real-time processing along with solutions that allow the office and the technician to work together to efficiently complete service tickets, Inspections, bids and operational excellence. For more information, visit www.FCSControl.com.

Save