5 ways to streamline and grow your plumbing business

The plumbing industry, despite coming up on 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, is still experiencing a lot of growth with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3% by 2027. Currently, this industry is the 5th ranked construction industry by market size and the 100th largest in the US. The market is becoming more and more competitive each year, which is why plumbing businesses need to find ways to stay ahead of the curve.

One effective method is optimizing the workflow of daily tasks of managers in plumbing businesses. Maximizing effort and productivity while still being practical is key to ensuring your business has stable growth and fewer costs. 

So how can you optimize your workflow? We’ve got the perfect solution for you - time and location tracking software. 

Using a time and location tracking software solution

Plumbing businesses, like any other business that specializes in field service, can benefit from the use of the latest tech to help manage the day-to-day of its staff. It includes a wide range of functions that support businesses in different focus points.

Accurate reporting and team management

With the help of a time tracking solution, managers can generate accurate reports in just a few minutes. This saves them a lot of time from doing paperwork and recording data like billable hours, timesheets, locations, etc. No more pen and paper, everything in today’s world can be done digitally with just a few taps. 

When managing a team of field technicians, managers can use a solution like Atto to track how many hours each employee works by making it possible for them to clock in and out in only two taps. To not disrupt the workflow of a job, you can also provide the option for on-site managers to clock in and out of multiple plumbers on their behalf. This way, large teams don’t have to track their time individually, but rather as a whole when working on the same project.

Breaks, overtime, and vacation days are also an integral part of a manager’s day-to-day because they have to be aware of available technicians. With a time tracking solution, you can categorize breaks as either paid or unpaid, decide when to track overtime hours, and if you want them to be calculated on a weekly or daily basis, as well as additional time off for employees who are on vacation, sick, or personal leave. All of these functions help managers plan out jobs both ahead and last minute by knowing who is available.

Reduced admin time is perhaps one of the most useful perks of using a solution like Atto. For better and more accurate tracking, time and location tracking software also give you the option of setting reminders so plumbers don’t forget to clock in and out as well as activating geofencing so they can clock in only when they arrive at job sites. This way, you’re able to generate reports and timesheets in just a few minutes that will help you make better estimates and forecasts. 

Categorize job types

With a time and location tracking solution, managers can separate the types of jobs that plumbers complete. You can assign a job code to each type for maximum efficiency, and also categorize jobs according to the type of job or client. This helps optimize workflow by accurately tracking working hours and project progress, all in one place. 

For example, when tracking time according to a job, plumbers can or managers can choose available options like “bathroom fitting”, “drain blockage” or “pipe burst”. On the other hand, when categorizing jobs according to the type of client they can choose “residential”, “industrial” or “commercial”. This helps for more accurate data tracking and more precise reports. The more details you add for each job completed, the more informational the overview will be. 

Reduce wait times

Managers are often responsible for calling and dispatching plumbers to job sites. Knowing who is available and who isn’t therefore is extremely important. For emergency calls and days when there seems to be a burst pipe in every part of town, plumbing businesses need to be able to know the location of all their employees so that they can send teams to clients easier and faster. 

Long wait times can result in the loss of customers, low customer satisfaction, and also a lot of headaches for managers who have to deal with managing staff. This is where a time tracking and location solution comes to save the day. With this solution, managers can see the exact location of each team and how much time they’ve spent on their job. The closest teams can be assigned to the next client request to improve response times and maximize billable hours. 

Time tracking software is a great addition to the team since job progress can be checked at any time during the day. This helps give clients an estimate of when a team can arrive at their location, so you don’t have to guess or give a template answer to all calls anymore. Managers can also leave notes within the app so that plumbers are immediately aware of the next job, location, and other details. GPS tracking is a major time saver for plumbing businesses because it has a positive effect on wait times. You can optimize routes so that teams aren’t stuck in traffic, take a long route and reduce overall fuel costs.

Stay on top of maintenance

There’s nothing more annoying than sending a team out to a job site only for them to discover that some tools and parts are either lost or damaged. Replacing items and fixing broken tools takes a long time, and you wouldn’t want to deal with these issues while you’re in a client’s house about to fix a leaking pipe. To prevent these types of scenarios, it’s important to make sure that you do regular maintenance checks, replacements, and repairs. 

With a time and location tracking solution, managers and plumbers can add notes to every job they complete in a day. Besides noting the usual “job done”, encourage your employees to report any faulty equipment as well. They can also note any repairs they do themselves while on the job. Even if you have a regular maintenance schedule, these little notes help identify potential problems before they even happen. Has one of your vehicles been making a weird sound lately? When it’s been noted by an employee, make a plan to send it to the mechanic during the week. Have a few plumbers reported that some tools are missing? Make a reminder to purchase new ones. Tools get lost all of the time. What you don’t want to be lost is hours that should be spent working on a job.

Keep employees happy and motivated

When your employees are happy and satisfied with their working conditions and compensation, they’re more likely to have a positive attitude towards work. Taking care of your staff should be your number one priority because they will take care of your customers. 

A major indicator of employee satisfaction is accurate and timely salaries. Time tracking software makes this process a breeze for both managers and employees. All of their working hours are tracked from the moment they tap to clock in. Managers only need a few minutes to generate timesheets that include the total number of working hours and add them to the payroll system. The admin time is greatly reduced, so there is no hassle at all. 

What’s more, is that everything is digitally stored and automated. Extremely precise timestamps for each project and job will always be in the system. This protects both the plumbers and your business against any accusations from clients that say no one showed up. With both GPS and time tracking, employees know that your business will protect them. 

Conclusion

With renovations on the rise, plumbing businesses will continue to have a demand to meet. Optimizing the workflow of all your employees, especially managers, should therefore be on the top of your list for 2022. There is a lot of room to grow and increase profits, so why not integrate a time and location tracking solution like Atto to make things easier? Save time, maximize efficiency and increase effective support for your team and clients.