The HVAC industry is amid a boom of growth as, according to the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand will increase by 30% between 2010 and 2020.
For those in the HVAC space, that’s great news to hear. But it also could bring on its own fair share of challenges, as organizations will have to try to meet the higher demand for services, which means more appointments, more work orders and invoices, and more employees needed to complete the work.
Growth could harm a business in some cases, as an overworked core of technicians might not be able to handle a number of calls coming their way. If your business can’t handle the surge, it could be time to turn to a field service management software solution to manage the growth and streamline the approach to scheduling technicians and managing contracts, service level agreements, and large-installation projects.
In a field service scheduling software, automation is the key to ensuring appointments aren’t missed. Signing up new customers during this boom period to preventative maintenance agreements is great to add additional revenue, but could provide scheduling problems with plenty of other work orders than also need to be scheduled.
However, automation will manage work order creation and ensure that appointments aren’t missed, while advanced scheduling tools will give you a large picture of your entire technician pool with the ability to see their full schedule.
The key in any boom period is to streamline your processes and find ways to minimize costs for maximum benefit to the overall bottom line. Growth in the number of services calls your HVAC company can handle is great for improving revenue coming in, but you don’t want to throw away profits by adding more administrative staff, or by having your technicians waste valuable time completing paperwork.
A field service management software can handle the additional workload without the added support staff. Be it through automation of work orders, integrations with financial and CRM software, or with mobile field service app capabilities that allow work orders to be transmitted electronically, you won’t need to hire a larger administrative staff to fill the needs of your growing workforce.
A 30% increase is music to the ears of anyone in the HVAC industry, and the opportunities for growth are right for the pickings. More units will need to be installed on large commercial buildings, and those units will need to be maintained and repaired. However, if there isn’t a solution to take on the surge of clients, a boom may very well turn out to be a bust.