“For the money you spend wasting time on the phone, and traveling back to a job site only to find out your tech did his job, CompanyCam is at your fingertips. You look over the project, explain the situation to the customer, email them pictures documenting their concerns, and the conversation is over!”
We can take Before & After photos, and show the customer that we are cleaning the Air Ducts! They can see the before photo of their dirty duct, and then after photo when we’ve cleaned it.
Recently, we chatted with Clay Winters, the Design Team Leader for Control Tech Heating and Air, and Chad Engle, the field manager and senior tech at Mite‑E Ducts.
What are some of the problems/issues you see in your industry regarding photo documentation (or lack thereof)?
Clay: Organization of photos and ways to communicate/document questions, concerns, issues in regards to the job photos.
Chad: We see a lot of he said she said issues, but those issues are quickly remedied with great documented photos. We can take Before & After photos, and show the customer that we are cleaning the Air Ducts!
They can see the before photo of their dirty duct, and then after photo when we’ve cleaned it. The office gets our customer’s email address to send them pictures while we finish loading up the truck.
What initially brought you to CompanyCam?
Clay: I found CompanyCam through a website/social media post by Smart HVAC Products. They were highlighting CompanyCam as a way to organize photos and collaborate with our team. So I signed up for a free trial.
Chad: Our office manager Clay found CompanyCam. We decided to try it based on no storage on our part, quickly being able to see the techs’ photos, sending pictures to a customer while our techs are still there, and the great monthly price!
We would download hundreds of pictures. Email or print (yes print) off pictures and mail them out. But now CompanyCam does that for us!! So much easier!!
What was your photo process before CompanyCam?
Clay: LOL… basically, we had a PDF from every sales call that we would insert the photos to using PDF Expert. We would then make our notes on the photos and have PDF Expert sync with Dropbox. Once a job sold, we would find the PDF in our Dropbox folder and print the photos.
However, we have had times where someone’s phone went down and the job site photos and PDFs were lost because the guys didn’t have their folder synced. That would require us to make another job site visit to get the photos again.
Chad: Before we used Polaroid, then digital [cameras] which we had to have the techs bring in their cameras, drop off their SD card, pick up a new one. We would download hundreds of pictures. Email or print — yes, print — off pictures and mail them out. But now CompanyCam does that for us. So much easier!
Could you tell a story about a time when CompanyCam really impacted your day or a particular scenario?
Clay: I was on a sales call at a vacant home. I was there because we were looking to reroute some ductwork. I noticed the toilet in the basement was running, but it was not overflowing, just running continuously.
I took a picture of the toilet (lol) and posted a comment in the photo stating that “the toilet was running while I was on the jobsite, but that I didn’t see any water leaking out. Recommended having customer contact a plumber.”
The next day, a contractor who was performing other work in the home contacted me and asked me if I used the basement toilet while I was there for my estimate. I told him “no” but that I had noticed it running while I was there.
He said, “Well, you were the only one in the house, so I have to assume you used it, and the basement flooded overnight.” I said, “Let me send you the photo I took of the toilet.” I then sent the photo with the date and time stamp, and he said, “Well, that clears you! Thank you for documenting this. This just saved your @$$!”
He said, “Well, you were the only one in the house so I have to assume you used it and the basement flooded overnight.” I said, “Let me send you the photo I took of the toilet.” I then sent the photo with the date and time stamp and he said, “Well, that clears you! Thank you for documenting this. This just saved your @$$!”
Which feature of CompanyCam do you think provides the most benefit to HVAC companies?
Clay: A way to organize your photos and collaborate with other team members when questions arise. The reports are awesome as well. They create a great “job description” for our installers in a clean format that is easy for everyone!
Chad: If we go back to the same house to clean dryer vents and air ducts after using CompanyCam, each tech can look back on the previous pictures for easier access and hook ups and determine a customer’s concern since [the] previous visit.
We’ve noticed that if it’s a new system or new dryer, someone else (not qualified) trying to save money messed up and made things worse for the customer. “Last time you were out…” We can show them the pictures from the last time we were out, and they say, “Oh right, I did have another Chuck in a Truck out, but he didn’t do a good job.” Having proof helps defuse situations quickly.
We can show them the pictures from the last time we were out, and they say, “Oh right, I did have another Chuck in a Truck out, but he didn’t do a good job.” Having proof helps defuse situations quickly.
Clay: CompanyCam is a game-changer in our industry. It is long overdue, and I urge any contractor who relies on taking photos and creating documentation to invest in CompanyCam. My father has always said, “Document, document, document! If it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen. CompanyCam has allowed us to thrive with this advice!
Chad: For the money you spend wasting time on the phone and traveling to the job site only to find out your tech did his job, CompanyCam is at your fingertips. You look over the project, explain the situation to the customer, email them their pictures documenting their concerns, and the conversation is over! Why wait? Sign up today!
