Field Service Management, Construction Management and Vehicle Tracking/Monitoring Solutions

Service Crews (www.servicecrews.com) is a field service app that handles estimating, scheduling and dispatch, invoicing, and payment from the jobsite and that allows creating and managing maintenance contracts, creating recurring schedules, and communicating with crews in the field.   

Users can schedule on their choice of calendar, including day, week, month, or list, and can see open tickets by the same parameters. A dispatcher can view schedules of all techs by day, time of day, week, month or map. Comments pertaining to each job can be left under “notes” attached to each job and tech.

Technicians in the field, from their own portals, can view their schedules, view and update details of their jobs (including turn by turn directions to the jobsite), attach photos and their own notes, accept customer signatures on estimates, turn an estimate into a contract, and accept a signature on both estimates and contracts. They can also take credit card payment in the field through integration with Stripe (https://stripe.com), an online payment processing platform that carries a 2.9% + 30 Cent fee per successful card charge (volume discount available).

Customers with an established customer portal can book appointments online and access the contractor via a one-click phone call, text, or email.

A template builder facilitates creating base estimates, work orders, or contracts for common work the business performs, including all of the items and labor needed for that type of job, allowing the dispatcher to enter and schedule those jobs in a couple of clicks, along with all the material information the tech requires for the job. For example, a plumbing company may have templates for drain cleaning or a backflow device test and an HVAC company may have template contracts for their platinum, gold, and standard annual service contracts and estimate templates for install of new 13/15/18 SEER AC units.    

Labor is treated the same as material items and services, affording flexibility to assign different rates per job.

Labor is treated the same as material items and services, affording flexibility to assign different rates per job based on the type of tech and work being performed. ServiceCrews integrates with Quickbooks Online.  

Cost for the app is a monthly fee dependent upon number of users, with additional fee for customer credit card payments. Free full-featured 14-day trial with no limit on number of users.    

Fieldwire (www.fieldwire.com, 855/222-4959) is mobile and web-based software for the construction industry. Designed for use by everyone on the jobsite (from foremen to project managers) to enhance efficiency of task management and collaboration with workers on projects in the field, core uses include plan viewing, scheduling and reporting, task management from the office and the field, issue reporting, and punch list.  

When scheduling, users can set a priority, category, due date, and assignee to each chunk of work. The solution can manage up to a three week look-ahead construction schedule and punch list within the app.

You can import and manage large quantities of construction drawings and upload blueprints as multi-page PDFs or sync a project directly to a posted set on DropBox or Box. Automatic syncing within the app ensures all project members have access to new sheets from any device. Users can view plans and compare them and mark up drawings on devices even when offline.

Within the drawing and blueprint app, users can perform measurements and onscreen take-offs and annotate drawings with clouds, arrows, and text in colors. As-built drawings can be archived within the app.  

To facilitate up-to-date document management and keep drawings, files, and progress photos organized and current, Fieldwire syncs with Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) and Box (www.box.com) cloud storage services. Optional two-way functionality available in some subscription plans ensures changes in Dropbox or Box are reflected in Fieldwire and vice versa.

The solution also includes ability to handle user/deficiency tracking, including checklists, categories, hashtags, and due dates.  

The building inspection/punchlist app includes checklist templates, the ability to include progress photos, inspection and punchlist reports, and a signature block.

Fieldwire apps are available for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Windows (beta). Pricing: free for up to five users who can work on three projects at a time containing up to 250 project sheets. Pro Service cost/per user/per month for unlimited projects and sheets; Business Option includes 2-way sync with Dropbox/Box, phone support, and 360 degree photo capability. Customized options also available.

For service companies with multiple teams working in the field, efficient GPS-enabled vehicle tracking can enable more efficient dispatching and scheduling, help with driver management, improve productivity and, through monitoring of each vehicle, reduce costs associated with vehicle use. Here’s one scalable to the size of a company fleet. 

GPS Insight (www.gpsinsight.com) offers tailored GPS tracking for service companies, accessible from any computer or smart device. The platform, designed for ease of use, enables dispatch management, with real-time maps showing vehicle, trailer, and other asset locations and color-coded mapped routes of vehicles being monitored. A “Closest To” functionality supports dispatch of the closest and best vehicle for the job.

The software also offers reports, run on-the-fly or scheduled, that allow viewing of quantifiable vehicle data such as daily activity, idling, stop times, speeding, and other aspects of driver efficiency. Additional capabilities include maintenance reminders and the ability to retrieve detailed history of any vehicle.

The software is available as Standard, for fleets of 1-25 vehicles; Pro, for fleets of 26+ vehicles, and Enterprise, for fleets of 501+ vehicles, which includes additional monitoring features.

Bill and Patti Feldman write articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products. They can be reached at [email protected].