Technology has had a big impact on many different professions and if you are a roofer there are plenty of useful modern tools that you can take advantage of besides the traditional ladder and a good head for heights.
Here is a look at some of the apps that help you stay on top of your schedule and give customers a great level of service, including an easy way to deliver estimates, using tech to generate accurate calculations, plus some project management tools that can help you deliver great customer communication.
It starts with a professional estimate
An important part of your business is pitching for new business and winning new customers with some competitive quotes and a professional approach.
You can enhance your reputation for delivering an efficient and good quality service by using an app that helps you put together an estimate and then email it to your customer along with supporting documentation and images.
There are a number of apps available for roofers that let you make the calculations and even attach photos to the estimate that you can email from the app itself with some of the apps you can use.
Accurate calculations
It is essential that you manage to generate accurate estimates and if you don’t get it right there is a chance you might not get the job in the first place or just as bad, you could end up not making a profit of your numbers are wide of the mark.
An app like Pitch Gauge could be a useful addition to your smartphone screen as it offers a range of features that should prove invaluable in a number of different aspects of your work from calculating roof pitch to managing your estimates and keeping track of projects.
Great customer relations
If you are running a small roofing business it is always going to be a challenge to try and keep tabs on your workflow and deliver great customer service by managing everyone’s expectations.
The weather plays a big part in your plans and you can use an app that delivers live updates to your phone so that you know when there is going to be a rain delay and when you will be able to take advantage of good roofing conditions.
Another useful app that might be worth adding to your phone is JobNimbus, which lets you track your jobs by giving you access to project management software. A nice feature of the app is that it overlays your client communication and gives you the option of making a call without even exiting the app.
As it is cloud-based customer relationship and project management software, this means you can add users as your business expands and you can all stay in the loop and continue to provide that all-important customer service with updated progress information.
Virtual reality option
You can find a variety of apps that offer similar features so you can decide which one you are most comfortable using but you might want to also check out any added features to see if this could be a deciding factor in which app you choose.
For example, iRoofing offers an app that allows you to make the calculations required by using Google Earth to help calculate the surface area of the roof and it also allows you the opportunity to create a virtual representation of that roof, giving you the option of showing your customer what their roof will look like once your work is done.
No need for a ladder
If you are a roofer you don’t need to be told how dangerous it can every time you climb a ladder or work from scaffolding but if you want to minimize your time spent above ground and share the view with your customer, drone technology could be a real game-changer.
A gadget like HoverStat, which sends your drone into action at the press of a button, can carry out detailed inspections and promises to record accurate measurements down to 1.5cm.
This can all be achieved without you leaving the ground and another couple of factors to consider are that it can seriously reduce your inspection time down to little more than ten minutes, plus you can share the view with your customer.
Drone-automated measurements and monitoring could transform the way you run your roofing business and it offers the ability to inspect a roof and produce an estimate all from a mobile app, in a matter of minutes.
This option could not only make inspections safer when you don’t have to climb a ladder to get the data, but it could help you provide accurate estimates to the customer without taking up so much of your day.
Better project management
One of the challenges facing many small business owners like roofers is trying to keep on top of all the various tasks and components of a job that all have to come together.
Software like DataForma can help to keep all that information together in one place, which means that the corresponding app on your smartphone will give you instant access to quotes, invoices, purchase orders and all the other components of project management that can sometimes be difficult to keep under control.
A key attribute of having project management software like this is the fact that you can share the data via the app so that everyone that needs to know what is going on with a job can be kept in the loop and check out any details they need.
There are several different project management software providers to choose from so look for the features you particularly want and see what a difference they could make to your roofing business.
It makes a lot of sense to consider some of these apps to help make running your roofing business easier and more efficient, and the financial outlay to acquire some of these gadgets and software can often be justified when you look at the potential cost and efficiency savings this technology can deliver.