It was tough getting past the gatekeeper. Every sales call was blocked.

Sorry, we are not interested.

We already have a system.

We looked at such a system a few years ago and decided to keep what we have. No, he’s not available.

Didn’t you call last week?

Then one day during the lunch hour, a substitute who was not versed in the art of blocking and parrying was taking calls at the front desk. I pounced. She said that most of their field techs were gaming the system and that management was frustrated, but had no choice but to go along with the game.

What system were they gaming, I asked? The text messaging system, she replied, and the GPS system was a joke, she added. Was he in, I asked?

And just like that I was transferred to a human voice of authority.

Now, let it be known that most owners of small to medium sized HVAC companies are cut from the same cloth. Once was happy that the company had grown and finally they could do whatever, whenever, but suddenly the pressures of keeping the business going, care and feeding of the sometimes prickly, sometimes double-dealing field crew and ever increasing customer demands and lingering debt load made these folks wishing there was a better way to make a living.

So who wants to talk to a damn sales guy while eating a baloney sandwich at the desk?

Yes, we have a decent text system, especially when it’s working.

No, a replacement was not in the cards because his boys just got used to the new upgrade and there would be a riot if he introduced a new system.

No, it was not a question of the tail wagging the dog it was just a question of the expensive stuff and all the tech heads that he’ll have to hire and he likes his existing dispatching system, anyway.

But send me some stuff, not too much, he said.

Needless to say, three calls and two cancelled visits later I’m sitting in the office of the Man. After the usual sports trivia small talk and him perusing paperwork on his desk, he says that he looked at our stuff and can’t see why we would waste time programming FAQs and manufacturer repair instructions into the device.

His boys know what they’re doing and would never look up computer instructions. But he likes the look of the new PDAs, especially if it can secretly track some of the laggards in his field crew. He can’t see any need for a receipt being printed on a mobile printer because most of his business is on commercial contracts and he invoices weekly. Just as he tries the built-in camera on the device he is interrupted by a phone call from one of his crew.

I sit through five minutes of him tell and advising his team member how to fix a particular problem. When he hangs up the phone he swears and calls the guy an idiot.

What do these babies cost? Aren’t the screens a little small? They’ll lose it for sure. It’s too small. These clowns will probably flush it down the drain.

Any hoots, come back and do a demo and let’s see where this takes us.

This is a far cry from:

Sorry, we are not interested.

We already have a system.

We looked at such a system a few years ago and decided to keep what we have

Don’t you wish business owners had the time to step back and reexamine their procedures before a crisis hits?

Don’t you wish business owners had a quota of taking a dozen new calls every week?

Don’t you wish owners took time out to attend a course on something not directly related to their main business so as to get away from the daily busy stuff?

Don’t you wish that small business could get some of the breaks that the big boys do?

1	The Problems Text Messaging system	TaskCaddy Solutions TaskCaddy provides a formatted system
2	Time spent assisting techs	Built in FAQs and ability to store repair rules
3	Devices too small	Small devices more advanced than old bricks
4	Lack of visibility at job site	Camera to take b4 and after pics of job site
5	Gaming the system	Tasks are given standard start and end times
6	Receipts not necessary	Printed doc is solid confirmation of work
7	Invoices done weekly	Rapid feedback = daily invoices
8	GPS system a joke	Can be integrated with advanced GPS

For more information on how HVAC companies could benefit from the utilization of affordable field services technologies go to www.taskcaddy.com

Instant Benefits from TaskCaddy

1-Using the TaskCaddy system, the project manager can input all task orders into the database. Task steps are defined once, and used often, so that the job ticket creation for routine maintenance projects is dramatically speeded up.

2-All job standards – Task duration, scheduled stat time, planned material usage and other costs are measured against actual

3-The field tech can print the work acknowledgement directly unto a mobile printer in the presence of the customer, thus speeding up the approval process and reducing return calls, faxes and unnecessary correspondence

4-Using TaskCaddy, the supervisor would match the technician with the assignment before deploying the project

5-Using TaskCaddy, the supervisor would attach installation instructions and other support material if required, to be viewed on the PDA or on the host server via the mobile device.

6-Using TaskCaddy, the supervisor may automatically assign multiple projects to multiple techs (paperless)

7-Using TaskCaddy, the system would match tasks by qualifications and certifications

8-Using TaskCaddy, the tech start-stop activity would be logged and sent to the main server

9-Using TaskCaddy, the tech would capture an electronic customer signature and print a service acknowledgement

10-Using TaskCaddy, the system would automatically compute inventory usage upon job completion

11-TaskCaddy provides the ability to store and reuse estimates from previously completed jobs for current or future use

12-You can Incorporate the ability to use GPS for driving optimization and Location Based Tracking

13-Using TaskCaddy a field tech has the ability to take a before and after photo capture of the job site

14-Using TaskCaddy mangers can capture the task completion metrics and feed to Excel or other business reporting systems

For more information on how HVAC companies could benefit from the utilization of affordable field services technologies go to www.taskcaddy.com

Improving the Plumbing and Solar Repairs Process

It was hot out here in the California desert. Although city fathers had carved out a thriving community of middle class homes, trees, parks and pools, the sun was still the boss.

When we purchased our home, we inherited a rooftop solar heating system whereby pool water is circulated through a series of PVC rooftop conduits and heating elements then to be returned as heated water for our nearly year around enjoyment. Close-up, it was Rube Golbergesque.

So we were very concerned when the rooftop system developed a leak.

This was no minor issue, because if that leak became more fractured and if we were away from home, we would have the entire contents of a 14x 20×10 pool of water demolish our home from above.

You’d think it would be easy to find a repair crew to make the fix but I soon found out that most of the local solar companies specialized in installing and repairing their own systems but were reluctant to waste time on repairing someone else’s work. Crazy, huh?

Finally our pool cleaning guy recommended a reputable company that was not afraid to take a challenge.

We were happy when a pleasant and talkative Field Technician arrived early one morning to address the problem. He was on the roof in a heartbeat and quickly diagnosed the problem. His repair estimate was reasonable and included two hours of labor.

About 1½ hours later, I saw him spraying black paint on a length of PVC piping. He explained that he had run out of supplies material and had to substitute available PVC into black to match the remainder of the piping.

At the two hour mark, the technician was still on the roof. At the three hour point he called from the roof to explain that he had under estimated the time it would take to allow for the drying of the epoxy and the spraying of the white PVC pieces.

Next he had to conduct a series of test runs to allow the pool water to traverse the entire system and he had to examine the system for leaks. By now the sun had come up and the roof was not very hot.

In the end the entire job took just over 4 hours, or double the estimated time.

What went wrong?

	The Problems	TaskCaddy Solutions
1	The Solar Repair Technician failed to estimate the time that it would take for the epoxy to dry.	This important step would have already been anticipated during the reengineering of the task steps when using TaskCaddy
2	The Tech did not have sufficient supplies, even though he knew the nature of the job	All planned inventory would have already been issued to the technician’s PDA before he left for the job site
3	He failed He failed to estimate the time needed to spray the PVC pipes	This step would have been identified during the reengineering analysis of TaskCaddy
4	Due to the delay he had have to curtail his activities for the remainder of the day, thus losing valuable jobs	With a workable task plan and a developed estimate this risk would have been reduced

 

Most small to mid-sized companies have evolved without having a professional systems process analysis of their business, therefore a sound process analysis during the TaskCaddy implementation stages would be beneficial for the company.

For more information on how Plumbing and Solar Installation and Repair Companies could benefit from the utilization of affordable field services technologies go to www.taskcaddy.com

Instant Benefits from TaskCaddy

• 1. Using the TaskCaddy system, the project manager can input all task orders into the database. Task steps are defined once, and used often, so that the job ticket creation for routine maintenance projects is dramatically speeded up.
• 2. All job standards – Task duration, scheduled stat time, planned material usage and other costs are measured against actual
• 3. The field tech can print the work acknowledgement directly unto a mobile printer in the presence of the customer, thus speeding up the approval process and reducing return calls, faxes and unnecessary correspondence
• 4. Using TaskCaddy, the supervisor would match the technician with the assignment before deploying the project
• 5. Using TaskCaddy, the supervisor would attach installation instructions and other support material if required, to be viewed on the PDA or on the host server via the mobile device
• 6. Using TaskCaddy, the supervisor may automatically assign multiple projects to multiple techs (paperless)
• 7. Using TaskCaddy, the system would match tasks by qualifications and certifications
• 8. Using TaskCaddy, the tech start-stop activity would be logged and sent to the main server
• 9. Using TaskCaddy, the tech would capture an electronic customer signature and print a service acknowledgement
• 10. Using TaskCaddy, the system would automatically compute inventory usage upon job completion
• 11. TaskCaddy provides the ability to store and reuse estimates from previously completed jobs for current or future use
• 12. You can Incorporate the ability to use GPS for driving optimization and Location Based Tracking
• 13. Using TaskCaddy a field tech has the ability to take a before and after photo capture of the job site
• 14. Using TaskCaddy mangers can capture the task completion metrics and feed to Excel or other business reporting systems

For more information on how Plumbing and Solar Installation and Repair Companies could benefit from the utilization of affordable field services technologies go to www.taskcaddy.com