BigChange Paperless Working Gives Rapid Maintenance Solutions a Competitive Edge

Rapid Maintenance Solutions (RMS), the Manchester-based provider of property maintenance services, has implemented the latest mobile working technology from BigChange.

The cloud-based system provides end-to-end paperless working with tradesmen and engineers equipped with rugged tablets running JobWatch, the 5 in 1 app from BigChange.

RMS are specialists in residential property maintenance, providing everything from plumbing, heating and electrical services through to repair, renovation and construction supervision. Formed in 2017, the company has seen a four-fold expansion since introducing BigChange's building maintenance job management software.

Meir Halter, Director, RMS says:“Having worked in the property market ourselves, we were very aware that property landlords and agents continually struggled to get professional, reliable services for emergency work and small jobs. We realised there was an opportunity in the market to offer a better service, and our mission from the outset was to make trades reliable,”Previously RMS relied on paper to manage the business with mobile phones for communication. With JobWatch, the property management maintenance software, everything is now automated as part of a real-time digital system that has eliminated paperwork both in and out of the office. The tablets are used for everything from job sheets and photographs on-site, to health and safety procedure workflows and certifications.

Meir says:“Our market is still served mainly by the independent handyman and plumber who still rely on their phones and paper records to run their businesses. This is the way we started but we were acutely aware of the shortcomings of our paper-based way of working. Just the fact that we had to call and disrupt our tradesmen to find out where they were and how they were getting on was frustrating enough,”"BigChange is a game changer; from having very limited communication and desks piled high in paper we now have a seamless digital system. We now know where everyone is, how they are doing and when they’ll get to the next job. It’s all live and allows us to provide really professional customer service; way beyond the scope of our competitors. It’s also easy to use so we don’t really need to worry about training; it is largely apps based."The majority of RMS work involves plumbing and gas work. However, the team of multi-skilled staff – all with over ten years of experience – enable the company to deal with any property-related work for their clients that include property owners, letting agents and estate agents.JobWatch handles all job scheduling and links to BigChange satellite trackers allowing customer services to see where tradesmen are and provide ETA’s to customers. With live reports and customer sign-off on job completion, the office can immediately deal with any issues on site and quotes for any additional work can be raised and agreed quickly.

Meir explains:“With the system we have real time visibility and everything can be done much more quickly and efficiently. Invoices are raised within 24 hours and customers are kept up to date on the status of work – they are all very impressed with the reliability and professionalism of the service we provide and that is ultimately down to BigChange,”RMS cover the Greater Manchester area and RMS has started picking up business from Manchester property owners and agents spread as far as London and Dubai.

Meir comments:“One the biggest benefits of JobWatch is that it allows us to expand freely. We reckon we can run an operation with 40 to 50 vans with just 3 office staff. Our business – and certainly our ambitions business growth plan – is only viable because we have JobWatch,”