Keep Jobs On Track With Client Sign Off
Have you ever been asked to do more than you were booked to do when you get on the client site?
Scope creep is not just a common occurrence for trades businesses. If left unchecked, scope creep can eat into your profit margins, set other jobs back and even cost you money.
Of course, having a small job grow into a much bigger job isn’t always a bad thing. For example, if you were originally asked to rewire a lounge but were kept on to rewire the whole house. You’ve secured a much bigger job, making a bigger profit without having to look for new customers.
The problem comes when the original job requires lots of additional time and materials. Yet the customer doesn’t believe that they should pay more for the work.
If you’re hired to retile a bathroom and discover a leak, for example, putting that right could seriously eat into your profit if your client simply expects it to be covered by the originally agreed fee.
When jobs change and extra requests arise, you need to have a logical, traceable system in place which tracks these additions and sets out very clearly any additional costs.
You should have a fixed and time-stamped, accurate record, which shows the customer agreed to the extra costs.
If you don’t already have a similar process in place, or your existing job management software doesn’t have an option for making these scope changes you may want to have another look at your systems.
What Should You Do When Changes To The Agreed Job Crop Up?
How many times this year have you been to deviate from the original quote or do a little bit of extra work?
This doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.
If your jobs grow and clients ask you to undertake more work, it’s all the better for your bottom line.
But, there can be a problem when there is a lack of clarity or a misstep in the client communication process.
When that happens, no matter how timely your presence on-site or how quickly you were able to quote with your job management software, the client relationship can break down quickly.
You can avoid this by using your jobbing software to get the customer to acknowledge the amendment to the job and recognise the increase in cost.
If you have chosen a fully capable job management system like ServiceM8, you can have the customer sign off on a job your tablet to confirm any time or cost increases and then move on with the job.
You’ve probably been asked to deviate a little from the agreed quote. Or done some unexpected remedial work numerous times already this year.
That in itself is no bad thing. If your jobs grow and clients ask you to undertake more work, it’s all the better for your bottom line.
The problem arises when there is a lack of clarity or a misstep in the client communication process.
Have A Default Form Set Up
Changes to job scope happen a lot in the trades business, no matter what your specific profession is.
So make the most of these changes and reap the benefits with a fully digitised system. One that has a form ready, easily accessible via smartphone or tablet on demand.
Use It To Your Advantage
Having a PDF form ready for your customers to sign, shows that you are organised, capable and have system in place for any changes.
No matter how long you have been in the business, asking for extra money to what was agreed to at the end of a job can cause friction. Make things easier for you and your customers by having a signed agreement showing any requested changes to the job. You can easily email this out on the job card as well keeping it on your records.