Hi all,
I’ve been working in the construction industry for many years and currently own a security company. We’ve had several challenges with finding a single software solution that solves most of the problems we face, and I believe a lot of other owners of specialty trade companies face similar problems and so I’d like to get input from others in the industry about whether a solution I’m working on would be of interest to them and whether they’d be interested in purchasing a software like it.
If we were to build a software solution that solves the problems listed below, and offered the features listed below, which of these problems would be the most important for you to solve and which are not a priority for you?
Bonus points if you can tell me how these problems impact your business and what it would look like if we could solve that for you.
Problem List:
1. Lack of access to information by anyone who needs it, whether details about an estimate, project or service call, etc.
2. No schedule or constantly changing schedule making it hard to manage
3. Communication issues between departments - for example billing not being aware of changes to a projects scope
4. Lots of manual communication between direct reports - for example updating on where project is holding, or what was done at that service call, what still needs to be done, etc.
5. One place to keep track of all our open projects, service calls, fire inspections, etc.
6. Keeping track of all the info related to those listed above. For example, current project status, latest updates, tasks that have been completed vs still pending, due dates for project milestones or fire inspections, etc.
7. Having to manually dispatch techs to jobs every day by either calling or texting them individually
8. Cross department collaboration issues - for example the office knowing when we can send someone to a service call, or when the job was completed, or extra materials were used, etc.
9. Tracking site visits and open estimates
10. Customer communication - lots of updating customer manually, whether about scheduling, updates, changes needed
11. Manual follow up of estimates with customers
12. Increased callbacks due to inefficiency or things being missed
13. Delays in payment collection due to manual payment processes
14. Lost revenue due to extra work not being tracked properly
15. Lost revenue due to lack of insight into actual project costs
16. Multiple trips to suppliers needed since techs or PMs don’t have a written equipment list with all the details, or because they forgot to get something
17. Lack of insight into different types of metrics - for example, time from service call creation to completion, or various sales metrics
18. Alarm account details are spread across multiple platforms, making it difficult to find the correct accounts right away
19. Business owner needs to be involved in everything to make sure things run smoothly
20. Business does not have resale value since the owner is involved in everything and removing him would cause everything to stop
21. No idea how long techs are spending traveling to site and how long on site
22. Undercharging due to inaccurate quoting (missed materials/equipment needed, underestimating labor, etc)
Features List:
1. Sales CRM
2. Estimate Tracking
3. Project Management
4. Service Call Management
5. Technician Scheduling
6. Automated Deposit Collection
7. Change Order Management
8. Contract Management
9. Invoice & Payment Tracking
10. Auto-Dispatch Technicians
11. Automatic Time Tracking
12. Customizable Automated Text Notifications to Customer
13. Alarm Account Tracking
14. Quickbooks/Zoho Books integration
15. Analytics & Reporting Dashboards
16. Pricing Calculator
17. Track Client Equipment/systems
18. Material List Generator
19. Inventory Tracking
20. Support Ticket System
21. HR System Management
22. Automated Customer Feedback System
23. Job Costing & Reporting
24. Automated Invoice Collections & Reminders
Please let me know your thoughts, and if you have any questions, please comment below and I will do my best to answer them.
Thanks in advance for your insight!
I’ve been working in the construction industry for many years and currently own a security company. We’ve had several challenges with finding a single software solution that solves most of the problems we face, and I believe a lot of other owners of specialty trade companies face similar problems and so I’d like to get input from others in the industry about whether a solution I’m working on would be of interest to them and whether they’d be interested in purchasing a software like it.
If we were to build a software solution that solves the problems listed below, and offered the features listed below, which of these problems would be the most important for you to solve and which are not a priority for you?
Bonus points if you can tell me how these problems impact your business and what it would look like if we could solve that for you.
Problem List:
1. Lack of access to information by anyone who needs it, whether details about an estimate, project or service call, etc.
2. No schedule or constantly changing schedule making it hard to manage
3. Communication issues between departments - for example billing not being aware of changes to a projects scope
4. Lots of manual communication between direct reports - for example updating on where project is holding, or what was done at that service call, what still needs to be done, etc.
5. One place to keep track of all our open projects, service calls, fire inspections, etc.
6. Keeping track of all the info related to those listed above. For example, current project status, latest updates, tasks that have been completed vs still pending, due dates for project milestones or fire inspections, etc.
7. Having to manually dispatch techs to jobs every day by either calling or texting them individually
8. Cross department collaboration issues - for example the office knowing when we can send someone to a service call, or when the job was completed, or extra materials were used, etc.
9. Tracking site visits and open estimates
10. Customer communication - lots of updating customer manually, whether about scheduling, updates, changes needed
11. Manual follow up of estimates with customers
12. Increased callbacks due to inefficiency or things being missed
13. Delays in payment collection due to manual payment processes
14. Lost revenue due to extra work not being tracked properly
15. Lost revenue due to lack of insight into actual project costs
16. Multiple trips to suppliers needed since techs or PMs don’t have a written equipment list with all the details, or because they forgot to get something
17. Lack of insight into different types of metrics - for example, time from service call creation to completion, or various sales metrics
18. Alarm account details are spread across multiple platforms, making it difficult to find the correct accounts right away
19. Business owner needs to be involved in everything to make sure things run smoothly
20. Business does not have resale value since the owner is involved in everything and removing him would cause everything to stop
21. No idea how long techs are spending traveling to site and how long on site
22. Undercharging due to inaccurate quoting (missed materials/equipment needed, underestimating labor, etc)
Features List:
1. Sales CRM
2. Estimate Tracking
3. Project Management
4. Service Call Management
5. Technician Scheduling
6. Automated Deposit Collection
7. Change Order Management
8. Contract Management
9. Invoice & Payment Tracking
10. Auto-Dispatch Technicians
11. Automatic Time Tracking
12. Customizable Automated Text Notifications to Customer
13. Alarm Account Tracking
14. Quickbooks/Zoho Books integration
15. Analytics & Reporting Dashboards
16. Pricing Calculator
17. Track Client Equipment/systems
18. Material List Generator
19. Inventory Tracking
20. Support Ticket System
21. HR System Management
22. Automated Customer Feedback System
23. Job Costing & Reporting
24. Automated Invoice Collections & Reminders
Please let me know your thoughts, and if you have any questions, please comment below and I will do my best to answer them.
Thanks in advance for your insight!