Author: Lane Larsen, Clean Claims
In the restoration world, it's easy to make mistakes in the field. Technicians can miss steps and information can go missing. These mistakes can often lead to disastrous consequences for your business such as...
- Additional costs and expenses to your business
- Time and energy spent on unnecessary problems
- A loss of trust from clients and/or insurance adjusters
Mistakes can be the difference between a thriving, efficient restoration business and one that is barely getting by.
Fortunately, there's a solution to this problem: documentation. Documentation protects you, your technicians, and your business in the event of a mistake. It creates accountability for everyone involved in the job and ensures that things are done correctly the first time.
Another core reason that documentation is so important these days in property restoration is the shift to third-party administrators (TPA). This increases the demand for timely information that is accurate and auditable. Over the past five years, PSA has seen the TPA volumes triple with new administrators popping up all over North America. This puts the pressure back on the contractor to ensure they are following the rules. When not compliant, this could result in a suspension or penalization.
By giving your technicians the tools and training they need to document with accuracy, you eliminate your biggest problems and headaches. In this blog post, you'll learn 3 steps you can take to create a better documentation process for your technicians.
1 - Make sure all your necessary information is being collected in one central location
Necessary information includes things like insurance paperwork, estimates, invoices, photos, and any other documents that are required for each job. It's important to have a system in place for collecting and organizing all of this critical information. Otherwise, it can be very easy for things to get lost or mixed up.
One of the best ways to ensure consistent information is creating a standard set of steps for every job. This will ensure that all of the required information is always included, and it will make it easier for technicians to fill out without making mistakes. Having a standard set of action steps will also help to keep things consistent from one job to the next. This should be your main goal if you want to eliminate technician errors going forward.
A platform like PSA, Clean Claims, or Xactware allows you to store all your necessary job information (estimates, contracts, details, etc.) in one central and secure location. These platforms also eliminate duplication, allowing your technicians to make less mistakes and find information easily.
2 - Stay informed by implementing remote monitoring technology
If you're not around to constantly check-in on your technicians and jobs, it's critical to have a system in place that does it for you. 24/7 remote monitoring technology gives you the ability to see everything that's going on with your restoration jobs from any location at any time. You can quickly identify and fix problems as they happen, preventing them from turning into bigger issues that cost you and your business money. Plus, being able to track job progress in real-time makes it easy for you and your employees to track efficiencies and get paid on time.
Remote monitoring devices are offered with many job management platforms. Clean Claims, and integrative partner with PSA, is known for the most accurate remote/wireless monitoring in the industry allowing users to remotely monitor jobs with full control of what is happening in every chamber and room. You will know when a homeowner turns off a dehumidifier, a containment has been breached or left open, or if a breaker trips. This gives you ultimate tracking of all information.
Remote monitoring is an essential tool for any restoration business that wants to improve its documentation and prevent mistakes.
3 - Get a reliable job management platform that enforces a process for your technicians
The restoration industry has hundreds of job management platforms that provide different benefits, but if you want to ensure better documentation, you need to find a platform that will enforce processes and documentation for your technicians.
Your job management platform should have a built-in workflow that your technicians must follow for a job to be completed. This could be in the form of digital signatures, required photos, completing a job checklist, or inputting data into forms. Enforcing these processes may seem like more work upfront, but it will save you time and headaches in the long run. By having this process in place, you can be sure that your technicians are doing their jobs correctly and completely.
A system like PSA helps eliminate duplication, streamline the flow of information, and minimize the possibility of errors simply by sharing information. They create more consistency with information when everything can be shared bidirectionally. This will help technicians not miss a beat.
Clean Claims is a job management platform that was built with process enforcement in mind. A technician can't move on to next steps until the current step is done correctly. This gives restoration owners the peace of mind that every job is completed without missing information. With one interactive PDF, you can see all documentation in order from start to finish with time stamps of all information.
Xactware is another reliable system where information cannot be duplicated across property estimating, collaboration, job management, and other services. They ensure all information is secure and kept in one place, giving you the effectiveness you need to run your business.
The bottom line is that perfect documentation is essential to the success of your restoration business. Technician and employee mistakes are costing you additional time and money. By putting in the right technology and tools to help your technicians, you can solve your biggest headaches and create a more efficient business.