Why Your Plumbing Business Needs Job Management Software

Here’s why job management software is a popular choice for leading plumbing businesses – with real-life case studies to see the measured impact on profits.

In today’s competitive market, plumbing businesses are hit with several challenges:

• Labour shortages – like most trades, there’s a shortage of qualified and skilled plumbers
• Price pressures – customers are more price-conscious and some competitors are driving prices down
• Greater customer expectations – whilst customers expect lower prices, they still have high expectations 

Combined, these challenges make it harder to maintain profitability while delivering top-quality customer experience. And what’s likely compounding these issues is that some plumbing businesses are leveraging technological advances to stay competitive.

Let’s delve into why plumbing job management software is a popular choice for leading businesses – and look at real-life case studies to see the measured impact on profits.

How plumbing businesses use job management software for competitiveness

So, there are quite a few ways it helps. But these are the ones that tip plumbing businesses over from surviving to thriving 👇

• Book in more jobs – without hiring additional plumbers: Thanks to digitisation and mobile apps, jobs can be updated in real-time and the back office can see precisely where plumbers are at all times. This means that if an emergency call-out comes through, they can quickly despatch the nearest plumber and can reallocate that person's existing jobs to a colleague, all at the touch of a button.

• Automate time-consuming admin tasks: From job scheduling and dispatching to tracking job progress, plumbing job management software makes it quicker and easier to manage jobs. It’s as simple as dragging and dropping jobs onto a schedule and everyone gets notified.

• Better client communications: With powerful tools that provide tracking and alerts, customers can see a plumber’s ETA. And with some tech, everything is much more convenient for them. Online customer portals mean customers can rebook, check job histories or pay for invoices without being restricted to office hours.

• Improves first-time fix rates: Plus, the tech has so many built-in functions that support this. This ranges from online and comprehensive job details for each customer – so plumbers have all the information they need, and the right plumber can be sent to site – through to finding nearby parts stockists so a plumber can order and collect what they need to complete a job the same day. 

Let’s do a deeper dive into the key features of job management that make this possible.

Most profitable features of plumbing job management software solutions

Reducing admin hours, getting more jobs booked in and improving customer response times sound appealing?

Take a look at these most popular field service management software features for plumbing businesses.

#1: Intelligent job scheduling and dispatch – all mobile device accessible!

With cloud-based job management software, the entire business is on the same page and knows exactly which jobs are booked in – accessible anytime, anywhere.

It makes logistical coordination a dream.

Back-office staff can quickly schedule hundreds of jobs at once with optimum travel routes – avoiding traffic and saving on fuel and travel time. And the right plumber – with the right skills and accreditations – receives a job notification straight to their mobile app.

📕 Read more: Moving from manual to automated job management

#2: Real-time updates

This is all made possible thanks to real-time tracking of job status and a plumber’s live location. But there are so many more impressive benefits of real-time updates:

• Send the nearest plumber to emergency call-outs
• Send direct alerts to customers with plumber ETAs and even GPS tracking links
• Capture live job completion updates (including digital signature capture and photographs)
• Instant visibility of operational performance for quicker reporting and better decision-making

Plus, with some smart service software, you can even live track stock. This helps maximise first-time fixes as plumbers can find the nearest part – whether that be at a supplier or on a colleague’s van. 

📕 Read more: 5 ways real-time job tracking boosts efficiency (with examples)

#3: Paperless and comprehensive customer records

Each team member will have access to an online Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that gives a 360˚ view of every account… This is super handy for when a field worker attends the job, or when a customer calls into the office with a query.

Here’s just a snapshot of the digital documents plumbers can access:

• Schematics, gas safety certificates, COSHH sheets, best practice guides and other essential health and safety documents
• Digitised risk assessments, safety certificates and other compliance forms

📕 Read more: Going paperless: What does it really mean for field service companies

#4: Customisable job sheets and templates for compliance

Heavy admin costs plumbing businesses because it means they’re limited in how many jobs your mobile workforce can complete in one day.

The challenge is, documentation is essential for compliance.

So, how does plumbing job management software help?

Using digital job templates, you can standardise and automate processes. These documents prompt workers to complete specific tasks and tick them off upon completion, simplifying compliance requirements and boosting productivity levels.

Psst. Did you know? BigChange has partnered with Gas Safe to create job sheets that adhere to compliance.

📕 Read more: Benefits of digital job cards (+ free field service job card template)

Plumbing job management software in action: Use cases

Here are just a few examples of plumbing businesses that have benefited from the tech…

Celsius sees a 30% increase in productivity 📥

“BigChange has improved job allocation, scheduling and provided a much slicker paperless reporting process.  We used to average 6 jobs a day but now we are doing 7 or 8 meaning that our field teams are often 30 percent more productive.”

Read the full case study here.

Heatforce benefits from a 25% boost in customer service rating ⭐

“With BigChange, office efficiency has already increased by 25 percent. In addition, improved job scheduling means less miles are being travelled and productivity is up; especially as engineers don’t need to come to the office as often. We’ve also increased contract win rates thanks to the added capability BigChange gives us and, despite the lockdown challenges of recent months, the system has actually enabled us to increase our profitability.”

Read the full case study here.

MHL sees 90% improvement in admin efficiency 🚀

“Our field staff are connected in real time to receive and complete jobs including digital certifications. For our clients, everything is completely seamless and with instant, fully digital reporting including photographs from site, we can meet even the most stringent reporting requirements including those of facilities management who in turn have to report to their own clients.”

Read the full case study here.

Maximise profit margins today with plumbing job management software

To sum up, job management software is a game-changer for a plumbing business. It allows you to leap-frog competition by providing cost-efficient services quickly, all while delivering amazing customer services that people now expect. 

In fact, in the case studies above, we’ve just proven it’s growing revenues and allows plumbing businesses to boost productivity too.

It’s a win-win for plumbing and heating businesses and their customers.

Keen to start using tech but don’t know where to start? Take a look at these ‘Top 5 must-haves when choosing job management software [quick checklist]’. 

Created a shortlist? Great! Now, make sure you take the tech for a test spin.Book a personalised demo of our market-leading job management software. Our team will talk through the most profit-boosting features for plumbing businesses.