The Client
For over three decades, ‘Big H The Plumber’ (https://www.bigh.ie) has been at the forefront of plumbing and extensive renovation services in the Wexford and Wicklow areas, building a reputation for reliability and excellence. A preferred supplier for several county councils, their commitment to quality has established them as the go-to experts for both homeowners and local government projects. With an innovative approach to service delivery, they embarked on a journey to revolutionize their operations, aiming to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction through digital transformation.
Project Brief
As a busy business, they were looking for an easier and quicker way to do things. Bogged down by paper-based surveys that took too long to fill out and then had to be entered into an Excel spreadsheet, they wanted something sleek to take their survey process online, making life easier for the team both on the ground and back in the office.
The Challenge
Traditional methods were slowing them down. Picture this: piles of paper forms, manual data entry, and the risk of losing important info. It was clear; they wanted to streamline their operations and make them more efficient.
Our Solution
We looked carefully at how they did their business, what was important to them, and came up with a plan. We designed a bespoke web application, tailored just for Big H The Plumber’s needs. Here’s what we included:
- Digital Survey Form: A digital form that was very easy to fill out on any tablet.
- User Management: A solid system allowing the addition and removal of team members, ensuring everyone had access to what they needed.
- Data at Your Fingertips: A real-time database meant survey results were always up-to-date and accessible. Entries, amendments, and updates were all saved automatically to the database.
- Red Flagging: A really easy way to red-flag areas the surveyor needed to highlight to the office or revisit later on. Just press down on the text for a second and it goes red.
- Sketch and Snap: A handy feature for drawing pictures or plans directly on the tablet (with multiple colors and brush types) and adding photos to surveys, making every report as detailed as necessary.
- Keeping Things Tidy: A dashboard to keep track of everything and a clever job management system to archive old jobs and highlight new ones.
- Privacy Matters: We made sure everything was above board with GDPR, keeping customer data safe and sound.
Technology at Work
We built the app with the best tools for the job: Google Cloud Platform and Firebase for the back end, with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (plus a few libraries) to make it look good. Ease of use was top of mind in the design, ensuring even the least tech-savvy could get the hang of it without a problem.
The Outcome
A saving of 8 hours of administrative tasks per week (that’s a full day to you and me) and a saving of 4 hours per week per surveyor on the engineering side. Overall, that’s 12 hours out of 80 (15%) saved every week.
The new system has been a game changer for Big H The Plumber (their words). What used to be a tedious chore is now much quicker and simpler. Engineers can conduct surveys faster than before, with all the info stored securely and accessible at the touch of a button. This transformation allowed the team to reallocate precious time to areas that needed it most, making operations smoother and more productive. The folks at Big H The Plumber couldn’t be happier with these significant savings and improvements.
In Conclusion
Our journey with Big H The Plumber was all about making their workday a little easier and a lot more productive. By bringing their survey process into the digital age, we helped them save time, reduce errors, and keep their customers smiling. It’s what we do.