The performance of your crews impacts your customer service, your profit margins, your efficiency, and much more. In order to reach your goals this summer, you need to manage your crews so that they perform at the highest level.
While this can be a complex task, there are ways to get the most out of crews that can be easily incorporated into the way you work. Here are some simple roofing project management tips to help you improve the performance of your crews this season.
Roofing Project Management Tips for Easier Scheduling
Tip #1: Keep your schedule in a single, easily accessible place
Use a shared calendar that is easily accessible and can be updated from anywhere. Scheduling with this type of calendar will help you keep track of which crews are available, and will prevent scheduling mix-ups. When all the information about crews, appointments and deliveries lives in the same place, it’s much easier for everyone to stay on the same page about what’s happening when—and quickly assign crews where they’re needed. Roofing CRM systems like AccuLynx offer cloud-based shared calendars so you can view your scheduled crews at a glance and make updates no matter where you are.
Roofing Project Management Tips for Clearer Communication
Tip #2: Give crews a checklist
A to-do list that roofing crews can check off as they complete their work will help them stay on task and ensure that nothing is missed. Send crews a checklist before they visit the job site with specific tasks listed—the more specific the better, so that crews have a clear understanding of what will be expected of them. Once they leave the job site for the day, review the checklist to make sure everything was completed. Not only will this help crews complete their tasks and do their best work, it will also help you keep track of what work has been done on a given job. You’ll be able to see the progress of their work in real time and make adjustments as needed. With a roofing business management app, it’s easy to create a checklist that crews can view and update on their phones.
Tip #3: Make job information accessible from the field
Equipping roofing crews with as much information as possible about the job will help them serve the customer well and deliver high-quality work. When you send crews out to a job, make sure they have access to the essential information they need, especially specific instructions from the customer. Delivering the information in a way that can be easily accessed and updated will ensure that crews always have the latest instructions and information never goes missing. Roofing business management apps, such as the AccuLynx Field App, provide job information directly to a mobile device so it can be viewed while at the job site.
Tip #4: Translate instructions into the crew’s first language
English is not the first language for many crews, so job information and instructions in English may be difficult for them to understand and implement. Whenever possible, give crews access to information in their native languages by translating your instructions and checklists. This will help crews have confidence that they understand what to do and will make it easier to communicate with crews. Some roofing apps, such as the AccuLynx Mobile Crew App, feature an English to Spanish translation option to facilitate multilingual communication.
Roofing Project Management Tips for Reducing Errors
Tip #5: Keep a record of all your communication
When many messages are sent back and forth between the office and the field, it can be hard to keep track of everything that was said. Sometimes, important information can fall through the cracks. Keep a record of all communications to your crews on file so you can refer back to it as needed. If a team member has a question or point of clarification, you’ll be able to see what was said and make sure everyone is on the same page. When you use roofing CRM software like AccuLynx to send and receive messages, it automatically saves a record of all your communications directly to the job file, so it’s simple to find them later.
Tip #6: Automate your schedule change notifications
With inclement weather, customers rescheduling, and other unexpected events, the schedule of a roofing business can change at a moment’s notice. In order to keep crews promptly informed, set up automatic notifications that send whenever an event is rescheduled or cancelled. This will prevent roofing crews from showing up to a job site at the wrong time and help everyone stay on the same page about the schedule. Production management calendars like the one in AccuLynx have built-in automatic notifications that are sent to crews whenever you change a scheduled event in the calendar. Using this type of calendar means that it doesn’t take up extra time to inform crews of a change to the schedule.
Project Management for Roofers Made Simple
With these tips and the help of roofing software like AccuLynx, you can streamline your project management and make it easier for your crews to do their best work this season. To learn more about how AccuLynx can help streamline your workflow, check out our guide to roofing software here.
