Optimized for use on an iPad but also usable on an iPhone, ArcSite CAD app (www.arcsiteapp.com, 888/266-1843) enables users to quickly and accurately create CAD drawings of a detailed floor plan that can be utilized by contractors as part of a proposal during an in-home presentation to a customer considering new installation. The drawing you create, using your finger, automatically creates a visual site-plan based on the shapes and products you input.
How it works: You start by taking measurements manually of the room or space which you then transpose as a floorplan onto the screen. You can add dimensions into the drawing. Once they are inputted, you add walls, windows, doors, and other components, selectable from 1000s of pre-formatted lines and shapes and dragged and dropped to snap in place. When you draw on the app, everything is to scale. You can draw precisely with your finger or draw a rough estimate and tap to insert the exact measurements.
You can also create your own custom shapes and products that you can share among your team to insert into future drawings either with a finger or an Apple pencil or entered manually. A photo tool enables taking snapshots of various spaces and situations from within the app and embedding them into the plan. To customize your drawing, you can draw freehand on the screen and the software converts that into precise shapes and lines and records the dimensions in the background. It is possible to insert text annotations on the floorplan and any accompanying photos.
Additional capabilities, including proposal generation and takeoff, are available at the ArcSite Takeoff and Estimate level and above. When using your drawings as part of a sales proposal, the application accounts for the products and materials used in the drawings and creates a priced estimate. Proposal templates can be customized upon request. (According to Arcsite, drag-and-drop editing is in the works that would implement making your own templates easily.)
Arcsite integrates with Quickbooks for customer invoicing. The drawings are exportable from within the app in a variety of formats.
Pricing: per month 14-day trial available, fee dependent on subscription level
pulseM (https://pulsem.me, 855/866-3253) is a reputation management platform, aimed at home services businesses of all sizes, that provides functionalities for use before a technician arrives onsite, after the work is completed, and after reviews requested from within the software are posted on social media sites.
How it works: Before a scheduled technician arrives onsite, the homeowner automatically receives a text message that includes a short profile of the tech and, optionally, a video which can explain contractor’s business practices (and which, during this time of desired social distancing could be reassuring to a customer), along with the estimated time of arrival. The bio is customizable and can include a company logo and the service person’s photo.
Soon after the job is completed (a time when the customer is most likely to respond) pulseM can automatically send the customer a request for a review of work performed. The customer is texted and emailed a user-friendly form with selectable color coded emojis representing happy, ok, and unhappy and the ability to explain the rating with subjective comments, if desired. (The email serves as a backup.) This request-for-review feature can be disabled on a job-by-job basis.
After a customer’s reviews are posted online at whatever social media sites the homeowner chooses to use, the contractor is notified and can, in the case of a negative review, immediately phone a customer or enable live-chat with a customer to address customer concerns.
A variety of reports on reviews generated by pulseM are available on the dashboard, including number of pulseChecks your company has set within customizable date ranges, and engagement rates.
Pricing: based on number of technicians or locations
Reach Out Suite Premium (www.reachoutsuite.com, 914/615-9171) is a field service solution that works on computers and tablets and includes a mobile app for iOs and Android devices for technicians in the field.
Web applications deliver administrative features include the ability to log issues, including customer reported issues; schedule and dispatch jobs based on availability, expertise and travel time of technicians; create standard forms for use at a jobsite, and manage invoices.
The mobile app enables technicians to receive notification of upcoming jobs and when new service requests are assigned; record time on the job; fill out preformatted work order and inspection forms and include notes and images generated within the app; and generate invoices and accept customer signatures on their phones.
Account owners can create as many custom forms as desired, with the forms optimizable for use on a technician’s cell phone. Contractors can also request, for a fee, that Reach Out create a “styled” form that displays on a tablet much like a paper form, which can then be filled out by a technician using an iPad pencil. Both free and paid-for forms can be custom branded.
Reports can be created from the web application by administrators or other users given that access.
The software integrates with QuickBooks and XERO for accounting.
Pricing: per user per month, volume based, paid monthly or annually.
Patti Feldman writes articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products. She can be reached at [email protected].