Builders: Mobile Power for Your Warranty Vendors & Homeowners

A recent Retail Customer Experience article by Tom Goodmanson suggests successful brands are always evaluating plans for creating improved customer experiences and building customer loyalty. Today, many find home building to be more brand-focused and retail-oriented than ever.

Offer Mobile To Your Homeowners!

What better time to evaluate and solidify customer strategies than early 2017? Goodmanson makes several 2017 predictions including: mobile customer service will close the gap between consumer expectations and reality.

Combine those thoughts regarding customer service (Go Mobile!!) with the anticipated tsunami of entry level buyers, highly driven by millennials who are already mobile-oriented, and it suggests that adding mobile to the new home experience makes sense for 2017.

And, the experience doesn't stop in the sales center!

Today's home buyer has high expectations regarding their home and the post-sale warranty process in terms of timeliness, quality and reliability.  Make sure your warranty/customer service organization is capable of responding to those requirements -- as well as the goals of improved customer experiences through mobile access.

Let your home owners submit warranty requests using CPS' WarrantyWatcher software from your website using their laptop, smartphone or tablet - and provide the same access to review request status and overall problem resolution history. Vendors have the same cross platform and browser functionality -- from desktop to devices.

CPS has been helping builders offer improved customer service for over 30 years -- let us show you how WarrantyWatcher can improve your customer's experiences!

Builders: Are You on Track for Profit?

ProBuilder, in August 2015, had a great article entitled The 12 Processes for Sustainable Profit with the subtitle: How to establish sound business systems that ensure a healthy bottom line.

The processes range from land/lot selection to product design to sales & marketing processes.

ProBuilder suggests builders shouldn't focus on traditional questions or their answers.  For example, the article suggests virtually all sales training focuses on getting the deal.  That's great but..there needs to be a focus on determining the true total cost of the deal to determine it is a "good deal."

We're going to focus on Process #9: Building Schedules. The article says:

The best builders are the best schedulers -- and the best schedulers are the best builders. 

CPS FieldCollaborate; getting to a healthy bottom line!

What are you doing to be the best scheduler?

While it is true that it doesn't make sense to automate a bad process, we'll suggest that it doesn't make sense to schedule with a cell phone or pen & paper.  Take a look at CPS' FieldCollaborate -- an automated scheduling software application designed for homebuilders.  You're able to create your own standard templates and schedule from either a desired start or completion date. Your vendors  are assigned work dates and field managers track, record and monitor progress. 

Of course, there are all sorts of bells and whistles, too: a Vendor Portal to share schedules and drawings, Safety Assessments, Ratings, Punch Lists.

Key is the ability to create consistent schedules and measure results -- anywhere/anytime and accessible by all of your stakeholders (corporate staff, schedulers, field managers and your vendors).  

Yes; there are trade and material shortages, options/upgrades, all sorts of weather -- the list is endless. But, nothing beats an accurate and predictable schedule to enhance your operations and profits.

Home Builders: Taking on the Search for Skilled Labor

We've been reading interesting articles regarding a labor shortage in the homebuilding trades and seeing suggestions as to how to find qualified vendors.  We'll highlight a few -- as well as ask have you considered how to best manage the resources available to you?

First, the suggestions:

-- Network
-- Encourage current employees/vendors to join in the process
-- Build a pipeline
-- Make sure you're competitive
-- Develop talent within
-- Consider apprentice programs (your own and those in the community).

All great ideas; some will take a fair amount of time to produce results.

FieldCollaborate: anywhere/anytime scheduling & more!

We have one additional suggestion that can generate results almost immediately: make sure you're maximizing your current resources. 

Automated construction scheduling will not only create schedules and allow you to track/report progress against the schedules.  It will highlight problem areas, allow you to focus attention on trouble spots and help you develop solutions.

Do you know which trades show up on time, have all their equipment available and are ready to work, leave the job site clean and ready for the next trade? Scheduling systems that include quality ratings, punch lists and safety assessments will take you a long way in answering those questions.

How about taking your knowledge and expanding it throughout the supply chain? Make drawings available on line through a Vendor Portal; provide illustrated guides to specialty installations; put your schedules on line to streamline the trade partner notification process and keep everyone up-to-date.

Growing your labor pool is essential; maximizing its effectiveness is critical, too. Talk to us and see how CPS' FieldCollaborate can add efficiency and effectiveness to your construction process.

House of Cards Offers Construction Strategy, too!

Recently, Koka Sexton wrote that the much-anticipated second season of Netflix' House of Cards offered some interesting lessons as well as sales strategies;  you can read his article here.

We're going one step further to suggest some of those same House of Cards strategies might apply to your construction team, as well!

Vendor Portal: Information as Networking!

Which ones?  How about #1:  Know (and grow) Your Network? Sexton suggests selling is a team effort -- and new home construction is certainly a team effort with architecture, estimating, field management, subcontractors and accounting (amongst others!) actively involved.

How does this concept of construction networking play out?  We're suggesting collaboration is key; keeping subcontractors in the loop, providing up-to-date schedule information, offering real-time access to drawings and other construction related paperwork. It's the classic win/win approach as both builder and vendor become more efficient with all the related benefits accruing to both!