Productivity Solutions; Contractor-Centric Social Media

The cloud-based dispatch and field management service software, Zip Solutions (www.zipsolutions.com, 636/222-2222, [email protected]) is designed to be easily scalable for residential and commercial contractors ranging in size from one truck operations to those with numerous trucks serving multiple locations.

In the office, the program can streamline various aspects of business operation for dispatchers, service managers, and accountants by facilitating job scheduling and dispatching (with screens showing by day, week, or monthly view), recording and reminding about equipment maintenance and service plans, reporting on important KPIs, and the sending detailed invoices to QuickBooks with a click of a button. Dispatch can assign technicians with consideration of the tech’s location, sales statistics, and technical experience.   

Contractors can upload their own flat rate books, use the flat rate books that come with Zip Solutions, or create their own within the program. Each book can have different labor rates and materials margins applied depending on if a customer is residential or commercial. The rates can also be automatically updated if a technician is currently installing or doing service work.

Technicians in the field can generate a custom price quote from the flat rate products, edit and present predesigned packaged options, or calculate a price using predetermined labor rate and materials margin. They can also get routed to the job, let the customer know they are on the way, view and update customer and equipment history, sell service agreements, and take payment.

After the work is completed, the technician can send review requests to the customer. In addition, they can track inventory, and create a PO on the fly and attach it to the job for accounting. Photos taken at the jobsite are kept with products being installed and optionally, within the maintenance history for equipment serviced.  

Because phone calls are tied to each customer’s invoice, the program can report on each marketing piece’s ROI.

In the office, customer service representatives can see who is calling and the status of the caller’s service agreements and service history, including equipment photos and recommendation history. They also have access to QuickBook’s balance, prior reviews, and any notes associated with the customer. All incoming calls can be recorded and the phone system can automatically track which advertisement the customer is calling from. Because phone calls are tied to each customer’s invoice, the program can report on each marketing piece’s ROI.

Other functionalities include job costing, time keeping, location tracking, instant messaging between users, commission tracking, sales closure rate, call back, coupon, and financing presentation.  

BILL4TIME (www.bill4time.com 877/245-5484) web-based time tracking and billing software is suitable for small to medium sized businesses. The solution features time tracking, expense tracking, and billing and invoicing. Company personnel can accept online payments by credit card and with PayPal and Stripe through a secure dedicated client payment portal.

In entering data for a bill, the user inputs the client name (searchable), project (searchable), activity (from a pre-formatted list), and the type of billing (e.g. hourly, flat price, or percentage markup) on the time entry screen. The user also indicates whether the time is billable or non-billable and if overtime. The app can, in real-time, capture start time and stop time on a phone, tablet, or desktop. The app comes with invoice templates that are customizable with a contractor’s own rates and flat fees. Users can bill by project or employee. Expense tracking features two-way image syncing, enabling the user to upload images of receipts from a desktop or a mobile device.

The solution integrates with QuickBooks and with Box.com for storage of documents. Report types include client summary, internal time, invoices, expenses. Fee is per user/per month, billed annually, free 14-day trial available. 

The app Stanley Smart Connect™ enables users to capture measurements (area, volume, and distances) and create room floorplans using the Bluetooth-enabled Stanley laser measurer or by entering data manually. The software supports auto-scaling of the room. Drawing of a room can start with a default rectangle or a freehand drawing, with the user then adding doors and windows to the walls. The floorplans can be saved and exported. The program also allows marking up a photo with text notes or annotating it with lines, circles, squares, or freeform shapes.  The app is downloadable free for mobile and tablet devices at the App Store or Google Play.

BlackBeltContracting.com (Aptora Corporation, https://blackbeltcontracting.com) is a social networking website for service companies, including HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors. The site features a file sharing system that allows members to share ideas, ask questions, and upload resources and share them with employees and other companies. There are worksheets to help contractors with labor and materials pricing and a heat gain/loss calculator for equipment sizing.

The site also hosts HVAC, plumbing, and electrical manufacturers, suppliers, distributers, and consultants who share product information, part numbers, item descriptions, photos, and other documents with members.

Member contractors can use BlackBeltContracting’s online flat rate pricing book builder to build their own flat rate pricing books. There is a basic sample book to build from or, for a fee, you can access and adapt various available ready-made flat rate pricing books for service, maintenance, and replacements. (At present, there is no QuickBooks interface or export.)

Membership for contractors is free and includes the ability to create a business page hosted at the site.

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