When Kaiser Roofing was founded in 2006 they used their own ERP system, but knew it wasn’t a scalable solution as their business continued to grow. When it came to getting estimates ready for an adjuster and keeping their business organized, their process took a lot of time and included many file folders. Since Kaiser Roofing adopted EagleView in 2007 and then AccuLynx in 2011, Co-Founder Scott Kaiser has spent less time on the day-to- day operations and more time focused on expanding the business. The combination of these simple and effective digital solutions allowed Scott and his team to improve job profitability, increase time savings, and grow his business, more than he ever thought possible.
We sat down with Co-Founder, Scott Kaiser, Kaiser’s Roofing Chief Operations Officer, Dan Billings, and EagleView’s Director of Business Development, Brady Campbell, to discuss how Kaiser Roofing has scaled their company in both size and profitability by being more efficient due to technology.
Q: How did adopting EagleView and AccuLynx into your processes impact you, just on time alone?
Dan recalled the process of getting an estimate ready for an adjuster meeting taking at least 2-3 hours to complete. He would have to get up on the roof with all of his equipment to diagram it out, being as precise as possible because it not only affected the material orders but the labor he would bid. By adopting EagleView, this whole process was cut down immensely. “If you order an EagleView report right now, you could get a quick square in maybe 15 minutes and a premium report in as soon as three hours. It’s been a game-changer in the sense of time and being more productive.”
By adopting AccuLynx in 2011, Kaiser Roofing streamlined their internal processes and can now keep all their documents, notes, and communication receipts in one place. Before investing in technology, Kaiser Roofing would stay organized with file folders and staff would refresh themselves with the little notes they included inside when meeting with customers or starting a new project. With Acculynx, this whole process became more efficient, especially when interacting with the crew. “You can look at the message boards, put all your notes in the order as crew instructions, and the message board is great to communicate with our production department to make sure that they don’t miss a beat,” Kaiser said.
Q: How has AccuLynx helped improve your communication and organization throughout the roofing process?
AccuLynx has allowed Kaiser Roofing to keep an account of everything that happens within their business, from material orders to communication between the crew and with homeowners. They take advantage of the production scheduler to keep track of material and labor orders and can easily adjust everyone’s schedules if there is a rain day. “The ease of just going in and changing things if the weather is bad or something comes up is just fantastic,” mentions Billings. “You can take it even further with automatic emails. We have it set up so when a process or milestone is completed, automatic emails are sent to the homeowner, or the rep, or our supplement department. It has allowed us to help keep everyone informed.”
The Mobile Crew App is another feature Kaiser regularly uses that has helped bring their business to the next level regarding productivity and efficiency. “You send the labor order through the crew app, and it all just links right into the production schedule. You always have current real-time information.”
Q: How do EagleView aerial measurement reports integrate with projects in AccuLynx?
For Kaiser, the integration between EagleView and AccuLynx has been crucial. Since they have used the reports for so long, Kaiser is always confident that the estimates are spot on, which has helped save them time and become more precise with ordering supplies and labor. “We have a template set up that automatically calculates the number of specific materials we need through the integration of EagleView in AccuLynx. We can easily know what our hard costs are going to be for materials, labor, and we can track it all right in one place,” Billings said.
Kaiser remarks that while it did take some time to set up these processes, in the end, it was the best move for their company. “If you put the time in at the beginning, it equals 20x more free later— it’s really worth it.”
Q: When the pandemic hit, how did Kaiser adjust and how was technology a part of that?
When the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic first hit, Kaiser Roofing already had a lot of their remote processes in place, which enabled them to keep business running smoothly, with very little interruption to their day-to-day. The SmartDocs feature in AccuLynx became a crucial piece of technology for Kaiser during this time. “For as many jobs we sold at a fold-up table in a driveway, we also sold by using SmartDocs in AccuLynx. All we had to do was click a button, send the forms to the homeowners to sign virtually, and they would send it right back to us,” Billings commented. “We would set up appointments to drop off samples, our customers would pick what they wanted, and our sales guys would do everything else virtually over the phone.”
Q: How did EagleView and AccuLynx help Kaiser scale, and what does that mean to you and the company?
EagleView and Acculynx have helped Kaiser Roofing streamline all processes so that their sales team can focus more on helping the customer, educating the homeowner of the process and price, and working with the adjuster. It has helped them hire, train, and grow internally as a company. “We can train AccuLynx and EagleView very easily; it’s so efficient. We trust and depend on it because we know that it works,” stated Kaiser.
Grow Like Kaiser Roofing
Kaiser Roofing saw incredible success after adopting EagleView and AccuLynx, but they’re not alone. AccuLynx has helped thousands of roofing contractors grow their business with one easy-to-use software. See the full webinar and learn more about how AccuLynx and EagleView can transform your business.