Plumbing Service Software

For Plumbers, heating and cooling engineers and other service industry contractors, plumbing service software can be a powerful business management software tool. Here's an overview of plumbing service software and how it can bring huge benefits to businesses in the service sector.

Firstly there are a number of key roles that plumbing service software can bring to a business. These include customer relationship management (often abbreviated to CRM), scheduling and accounting.

Customer Relationship Management

Customers are a critical part of a successful service business. Using customer relationship management software can track customers and help to assess if their expectations are being met. Customer retention is an important element of CRM solutions as it's generally much cheaper to win repeat business from customers than have to advertise to attract new customers.

When choosing software for a plumbing business, CRM should be at the core of the solution chosen.

Estimate Management Tools

Job estimate management is another important requirement for plumbers and heating and cooling engineers. Getting a correct estimate on a job can minimize costs due to wasted materials and poor inventory management, as well as improve customer satisfaction.

ServiceCEO's plumbing software is one example of an application that can help with managing estimates and costing projects.

Scheduling Software

A plumbing business can be made more profitable if the field staff are sent between jobs as quickly and as efficiently as possible. GPS systems and sophisticated modern mapping technology means that it's never been easier to find software that will plan an employee's schedule according to the location of the work order and route. Modern scheduling software will automate the production of work orders and route sheets, so all a plumber has to do is set off in his or her van and follow the route plan. While it's possible to print out work orders, the latest generation of mobile computing devices and tablet computers mean that the paperless office can be extended to the mobile worker.

Software such as QXpress can visualize work routes and even provide driving instructions.

Accounting

For a service business such as plumbing, it is essential to choose a high quality accounts package. Not fully billing customers due to inefficiencies in paper based systems can lead to a huge loss of revenue for a small business. A good accounts package will allow billing cycles to be properly tracked, as well as flagging up overdue accounts for chasing.

Most office bookkeepers and small business accountants prefer to use industry standard accounts packages such as QuickBooks. SmartService have a range of software add-ons for QuickBooks that are specifically designed for a range of service based industries such as Plumbers.

Increasing numbers of mobile workers are using hand held computers for credit card processing. These can assist in maximizing company turnover by allowing customers to pay for work while the contractor is onsite.