No HVAC business can survive without understanding the time, costs, and margins of each job they undertake. This is highly crucial for them to price their HVAC estimates appropriately. In spite of having a busy year, many HVAC companies go out of business only because they price their services low.
It’s common for HVAC contractors to miscalculate labor rates or material pricing. Some of them even fail to update inventory or get the bid management wrong. With such issues, every new work hemorrhage cash. Some businesses fail by pricing themselves high, hoping customers will pay for their inefficiency.
For these reasons, preparing accurate estimates is critical to the success of any HVAC repair and service business. Standalone software automates the process but does not solve the underlying issues causing wrong estimates. Here is how an end-to-end, integrated software solution such as ReachOut helps perform HVAC estimates precisely.
Read more: Field Service Software To Keep Small HVAC Business Competitive
Preparing HVAC estimates is time-intensive, with repetitive, cumbersome, steps. Grappling with spreadsheets, cutting-and-pasting rates from catalogs, and copying templates breed inefficiency. The increased lead acquisition costs make the business non-competitive.
The transfer of information from the paper to the computer, or from a stand-alone estimate tool entails inefficient toggling with different software suites.
An integrated end-to-end field service management software can automate HVAC estimate preparation. This enables the technician to spend less time on unproductive estimates, and find more time to:
With manual estimates, the technician juggles reams of papers and calculates, while engaging with the client. This is a perfect stage for mix-ups, mistakes, skipping, and overlooking important information. Arithmetic mistakes, such as inputting wrong variables, mistaking a “9” as a “6” in haste, and similar human errors cost high for the company.
The lack of a consistent system leads to ad-hocism which in turn prompts the technician to make subjective and inaccurate guesstimates. Paper records or even digital files not integrated into a centralized depository increase the risk of lost records or wrong data.
This is where an automated end-to-end FSM suite helps:
Download our free white paper: A CIO’s guide to enable swift and efficient technology integration for your HVAC Business
Most homeowners and businesses dislike waiting for long to get their faulty HVAC systems repaired. Average customers seek estimates from two to three contractors. If everything else is equal, they may select the one who delivers the estimates first.
With speed being the essence of HVAC estimation, an automated, integrated, cloud-based field service management software enables you to:
An integrated field service management suite pulls in information from various sources and allows deep customization. It allows the technician to:
Read more: Find secrets to how a single HVAC sale can be converted into a repeat customer
An integrated FSM suite allows businesses to provide value-added services, along with the HVAC estimates.
The business may:
Very few customers write a check as soon as they receive an estimate. They often consider estimates from multiple vendors or seek more clarifications. Many customers may negotiate on rates or want to tweak the service to match their budget.
An automated and integrated field service management suite allows technicians to:
A patchwork of disconnected solutions impedes efficiency. HVAC businesses that fail to invest in an integrated field service management software often lose more than they save. They make costly mistakes that annoy their customers and make them appear unprofessional. Preparing accurate and fast estimates is just the first step.
Read more: Running HVAC Business In 2020: What You Need To Know
With quick invoicing and estimation from the field, ReachOut offers everything you need to optimize your HVAC estimation process. Contact us to know more!
Sachin works as a part of the digital marketing team at ReachOut Suite. He believes in a healthy and resourceful web and does his own little contributions for the purpose by creating and disseminating innovative and quality content.
More posts by Sachin Krishna