“We’re becoming more proactive rather than reactive thanks to the tools in AccuLynx.”
| Estimator
Options ExteriorsEstimatorOptions Exteriors
How Options Exteriors used AccuLynx to improve visibility & accountability
For over 20 years, Options Exteriors has been providing quality roofing and exterior services throughout the Midwest. As the business grew, their internal processes became increasingly challenging. With AccuLynx roofing software, they were able to gain greater visibility into their jobs and leverage data that helped them grow profits over 200% in three years.
Increasing challenges with spreadsheets and job visibility
When Travis Crego joined Options Exteriors in 2020, the company was drowning in spreadsheets. From tracking sales and monitoring permit statuses to reporting job profits and calculating commissions, all of their data was compiled manually by different people across the organization. This tedious process created a number of problems, as spreadsheets were often outdated and inaccurate. According to Crego, “There was a lot of redundant data entry. And we had almost no visibility when projects moved into different stages.”
Crego and the production team faced slowdowns, due to the reliance on multiple spreadsheets for crucial job status information. The lack of accountability for maintaining and updating these spreadsheets resulted in Crego’s team spending excessive time gathering the necessary data to identify which jobs were ready to move into production, which impacted project progress.
“Using spreadsheets was affecting our ability to move jobs forward,” Crego explained. “We needed a better process.”
Transition to AccuLynx leads to major time savings
To solve their issues, Crego turned to the reporting features in AccuLynx. His goal was to be able to use the pre-built reports in AccuLynx to recreate the spreadsheets they were using with real-time data from their job files.
He started by customizing a report to identify all of the approved jobs that still needed permits. This simple report eliminated the need to search through individual job files. The time savings was immediate. Now they could quickly identify which jobs were ready to move forward.
Utilizing real-time data within AccuLynx, Crego built out reports for materials orders, labor scheduling, and invoicing. This saved the company an estimated 40 hours per week. Managers could quickly see the status of jobs, allowing them to identify and address issues faster.
“AccuLynx eliminated our blindspots so we can move a lot faster,” Crego said. “Now everyone knows what to do and when to do it.”
Using dashboards and automations to increase employee accountability
Taking advantage of the robust reporting features in AccuLynx was just the beginning for Options Exteriors. The company took their new processes a step further by implementing department-specific dashboards for their sales and production teams. This provided their teams with increased visibility into their tasks, allowing them to execute next steps without having to wait for updates. “What I love about AccuLynx’s customizable dashboards is that you can see your data together in one place,” Crego shared.
They were also able to create automated tasks to help keep the entire team on track using AccuLynx’s Automation Manager. Automated tasks related to different project milestones, like a job being moved into an approved status, or when a material order is placed, helps ensure their projects stay on schedule. “We’re becoming more proactive rather than reactive thanks to the tools in AccuLynx,” Crego added.
Advice for roofing companies looking for ways to improve operations
Crego encourages roofing contractors to consider how AccuLynx can help them eliminate bottlenecks in their processes as well as how easier access to their business data can improve their company’s bottom line. “It’s tough to see hardworking people really struggle when they are forced to work with inefficient systems or processes.” Crego continued, “When you give people a really good tool, they will know what to do.”
