The Construction Industry’s Productivity Slump – and How Tech Helps

Does your construction team work harder than ever before — without seeing the payoff? Many analysts believe the construction industry is in a decades-long productivity slump. This doesn’t mean that buildings and roads aren’t being built or that money isn’t being made, but that construction companies and construction workers have to work longer, more grueling hours to produce at the same level.

What’s to blame? The research points to individual job complexity and poor or inefficient communication on the construction site as culprits. And with many project managers and general contractors still relying on paper as the main method of record keeping and invoicing, real-time collaboration between the worksite, the office, and the client is impossible.

Some in the construction industry are turning to mobile technologies to work more efficiently and boost productivity on the construction site. How are they doing it? And just how bad is the decline in productivity? Here’s what the latest research and numbers reveal.

View As Text

Check out even more resources

Best Ways to Collect Data in Manufacturing

Data analysis is the heart of any well-functioning manufacturing company. Without accurate, real-time data, manufacturing plants are left in the dark about costs, areas that need improvements, quality assurance, employee production, and so many other valuable insights.

Read the Blog

Improving Your Manufacturing Workflow With Apps

Have you ever wondered how manufacturing companies like Nvidia, SpaceX, Tesla, Intel, and Nike remain at the forefront of their industries? These companies obsess over optimizing their manufacturing process. To create and maintain a near-flawless workflow…

Read the Blog

Wastewater Processing: 8 Tips to Make Your Manufacturing Site More Sustainable

When it comes to wastewater disposal, manufacturers can place a significant strain on municipal water systems. The lack of proper waste management leads to sanitary waste, particularly in metropolitan areas’ water supply.

Read the Blog

Connect with an Expert Today.

We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.

Let’s Build A Plan Together

Text Version

The construction industry’s productivity slump – and how technology can help.

Productivity in construction declined 32% a year over the past 3 decades. In all other non-farm industries, productivity grew by 3.06%. In 2013, the average construction worker produced $15,000 less in product per year than in 1993. Yet construction crews log about 20% more hours.

So why the decline?

Complexity

35% of construction work involves retrofits, maintenance, or remodeling, which is more difficult than new construction. The work is complex and time-consuming. A single project brings between 200 – 500 requests for info between stakeholders.

Waste

$6.9 Billion = The cost of inefficient processes among operations and maintenance staff in construction.
$1.7 Billion = The amount of money GCs waste every year due to outdated communications like paper forms.
$3.5 Million = what large construction companies waste searching for information or recreating documents they couldn’t find.
50% of a worker’s time, while punched in, is devoted to wasteful activity caused by factors like poor communication, inadequate management, and overstaffing.

Process

Up to 78% of construction companies use cloud solutions for some portion of their operations.
65% of construction professionals name “rework” (or repetitive processes) as the NO. 1 business process to fix.
47.9% of construction companies believe that mobile capabilities are very important when selecting any solutions purchased.

The Solution

An average construction company could increase productivity by 45% by improving systems integration or moving to digital records. Eliminating paper could boost efficiency among office staff by 29.7%.

Case Design Accelerates Sales Cycles with GoCanvas

Case Design Accelerates Sales Cycles and Improves Invoicing with GoCanvas

Overview

Apps used

Home Repair Work Order (Contracted)
Home Repair Work Order (Time & Materials)
Plumbing Work Order

Highlights

Project Managers receive Work Order forms immediately via email so invoicing or additional work can be scheduled.
Calculations on costs and mark-up are performed automatically and therefore with greater accuracy.
Craftspeople do not need to return to the office just to drop off paper work.
The completed Work Orders are automatically attached to the customer’s record in Case’s CRM system, MS Dynamics.
Their customer receives a PDF document customized by GoCanvas to reflect and match Case’s distinct branding.

The Background

Case Design is a family-owned, award-winning firm based in the Washington, DC metro area. Started in 1961, Case has always been a company of innovation. Whether that is the work it does or the company’s process for getting it done, Case has pushed the envelope in improving the results it delivers for its customers.

Case Design offers a range of services from full additions, to kitchens, baths, and handyman services. Case’s innovative twist around its handyman business was to launch a separate brand and business called “fred” (www.schedulefred.com). This slick, contemporary offer required some slick, contemporary technology.

The Problem

Multi-part carbonless paper forms don’t scream “innovation”. They take time to fill out when you’re calculating job costs and margins. They are hard to read and easily lost. And they need to be driven back to the office before anything can be done with them. A truck is definitely a slow way to transmit work instructions.

At Case, the craftspeople were supposed to fill out the top section of the paper form first and get a signature from the client agreeing to the work. Then they were supposed to start the job. After the work they would add in and calculate the materials, labor, travel fees, and mark-up. “Calculations for the mark-up on materials was left to the craftsperson. This led to calculation errors”, says Karen Eckert, Sr. Director of Technology for Case.

A credit card number was collected from the customer and written onto the paper form. Another signature was collected. And then it was driven back to the office. “In the past”, says Karen, “The paper forms required the craftsperson to return to the office before the invoice could be processed.”

The Solution

In March 2014, Case addressed this business challenge by turning to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses. Thousands of organizations leverage GoCanvas’s mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paperwork order templates with highly customizable mobile forms (We call them apps!) that improve their data collection and productivity.

Businesses can search from over 21,000+ mobile app templates in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be completely customized with the online, drag-and-drop App Builder tool. Using that same tool, many businesses elect to build their own from scratch. Factor in features like Dispatch, Workflow, uploading your price and customer lists, and integration with other systems and Canvas changes the way work gets done.

Set-up

Karen built Case’s work order using GoCanvas’s powerful App Builder tool. GoCanvas’s professional services team then customized the PDF document that the GoCanvas platform generates to match Fred’s paperwork order.

Case also leveraged GoCanvas’s Professional Services team to connect GoCanvas to Microsoft Dynamics CRM in order to further automate the process.

According to Karen, “Building out the work orders and getting the integration with our CRM system went very smoothly. The team at GoCanvas was wonderful to work with. They created custom PDFs that look just like our paper form. GoCanvas was also very responsive to assisting me in building the work orders.”

The Outcomes

Case now has one cool team of craftspeople out in the field each with an iPad mini, and their fred business is more streamlined than ever. Now what does their process look like?

Craftspeople

They quickly populate the customer’s information at the top of the form by choosing the appropriate job number from a drop-down. The rest of the customer’s information is populated automatically using GoCanvas’s Reference Data feature.
The Reference Data (their customer list) is updated automatically thanks to the integration with MS Dynamics CRM.
They then review the job with the customer and capture their signature prior to starting work. They have to because GoCanvas does not let them advance to the rest of the form until they do!

After the craftsperson completes their work, the process looks like this:

They enter their costs into the form and mark-up is automatically calculated for them using GoCanvas’s Calculation functionality.
They collect the customer’s signature agreeing that the work has been completed to their satisfaction.
Or, if more time needs to be scheduled, the form is updated to indicate that and it is sent off to the Project Manager right away.
They can collect payment via swiping the customer’s credit card with the iPad mini (Case does not use GoCanvas’s mobile payment solution because they had an existing relationship with their bank for this.).
The form is transmitted immediately to the office so next steps can be taken right away.

Project Managers

The Project Manager receives an email with the PDF form attached.
If the job is complete, then the Project Manager can close it out right away in their system. Electronic forms are much easier to read and craftspeople can’t skip required fields.
If the job requires more hours, the Project Manager can schedule that right away to keep things moving.
The PDF is automatically attached to the customer’s record in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The Impact

A number of things have been dramatically improved for Case since moving this process over to GoCanvas.

Customers are happier because jobs requiring an additional work request are scheduled right away.
Case Design’s billing is more accurate because pricing and the associated markup is calculated automatically.
Job close-out happens sooner and faster.
Cash flow is accelerated. Especially if the customer pays via credit card on the spot.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.

Schedule a demo

Check out even more resources

Man inputting digital work order into a tablet from a work site.

How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes

Is your company still using paper sheets to manage work orders? The drawbacks of using paper forms are often hidden, making it difficult to understand the true impact of paper forms on a business…

Read Blog

Woman reviewing data via her mobile phone.

See How Centurion Got Amazing ROI from GoCanvas

Centurion is the largest heavy haulage provider in Australia. They deliver national supply chain solutions to the resources, energy, construction & retail sectors throughout Western Australia, Queensland & the Northern Territory…

Read Story

A man reviewing data on tablet collected by GoCanvas solutions.

5 Tips to Improve How Your Business Collects Data

Companies rely on collecting data in order to operate. In a fast-changing world, companies that focus on streamlining and improving their data collection processes will be able to do more. The good news is that it’s become easier than ever for businesses of all…

Discover Tips

Great Lakes Fusion Saves 400 Hours Annually Going Paperless

Great Lakes Fusion Saves 400 Hours a Year By Going Paperless

The Background

Great Lakes Fusion (GLF) started in 1998 as a small construction company specializing in the Landfill Industry as a Methane Gas pipeline installation and repair contractor. Since that time, they have grown into a multi-faceted construction company with the expertise to take on most any project in the excavation and construction industry.

As a family run business, they’ve worked hard for the past 17 years to grow their company. But with that growth, their paper records became a heavier and heavier burden on their business.

The Problem

This burden was affecting GLF in various ways. Forms, from equipment inspections to work orders, were supposed to be returned to the office every night. However, if employees were working at job sites far from the office, these forms could come back days or even a week later.

As their team grew to over 30 employees, this delay also put pressures on the back office. “Time cards wouldn’t come in until Monday”, Jamie GLF’s office manager, said, “With payroll going out on Tuesday, it put a lot of pressure on our office.” GLF decided they needed a solution to these slow and cumbersome processes.

The Solution

In April 2013, they decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for the construction industry. GLF found the transition to paperless processes easy and full supported in taking their construction company paperless. “Employees picked it up easily” Jamie said, “It’s been a simple transition.”

GLF found itself in the same position thousands of GoCanvas customers have; the GoCanvas platform—with 20,000+ customizable mobile apps, the app builder and real-time data collection—was revolutionizing their internal processes.

The Outcomes

GLF has seen real, measurable results from implementing GoCanvas as their paperless solution for construction projects. Some of their immediate benefits include:

Measurable Time Savings

Previously, GLF struggled with a growing burden of paperwork. Job site timecards, for instance, would come in on Mondays, and payroll would have to be finished by the next day. This time crunch put pressure and stress on the office. Being on paper, they would need to be organized and typed up again into the database for processing.

With GoCanvas, this process has been dramatically streamlined. Foremen now collect time cards on their smartphones. These mobile time sheets now go straight to the cloud and is immediately available to the office staff on the same day.

This streamlined paperless process has given GLF measurable time savings. Switching to GoCanvas saves them two hours a day. Over a year? That’s over 400 hours they can use towards growing their construction business.

Faster Invoicing

In additon to saving time in the office, GLF also has a faster sales cycle as a result of paperless workflows. With all their construction projects, GLF relies on work orders to invoice customers. From the week’s work orders, the office sends out billing every Friday. But if a form didn’t return until Friday afternoon, GLF couldn’t bill the customer for another week, slowing down their sale cycle dramatically.

With GoCanvas, these issues have been largely eliminated for this construction firm. All work orders are immediately available in the cloud. This makes it easy for the office to create and send invoices straight to the customer. If a form is missing fields, then the field employee won’t be able to submit the form. This forces completion of inspections with all necessary documentation.

By eliminating paper forms, GLF has dramatically sped up their sales cycles with paperless billing. What once could take weeks to send to customers now happens in a day or less.

Improved Data Accuracy

Working in the field at job sites and on construction projects, it’s easy for conditions to change. Yet with paper, employees would have to start over their work orders if something happened. This meant additional work on already long shifts.

Today with GoCanvas, GLF employees can edit their records while they work. Is the well drill taking longer than expected? That can be added into the report. The shift to mobile ensures that employees spend less time reporting, and can focus on great work for customers.

With drop down lists, employees in the field capture important information faster. They also use reference data. This feature allows them to pre-populate parts of their app with information from their own system, including pricing and equipment information.

By taking their construction company paperless, employees spend less time trying to find information, return forms with fewer mistakes, and focus more on doing great work.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Organizational Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use app builder, GoCanvas provides this construction firm the flexibility to quickly add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas apps can be updated easily, with no programming required.

For instance, as GLF’s equipment changes, Jamie can go into her GoCanvas account and update the equipment inspection. Within seconds, the updated equipment inspection will be available for all her users. These real time updates ensure easy transition, with limited possibility for errors in future inspections.

Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

With GoCanvas, GLF has replaced all of their paper forms with mobile apps and paperless workflows. They’ve cut down administrative work, and receive more accurate information from the field. Going paperless and using electronic documents allows them to continue to grow as well and provide the best quality work to their customers.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

Schedule a demo

Check out even more resources

The Ultimate Guide to Quality Control Inspections

Managing a construction project is a complex and stressful process. Among other things, you have to coordinate project team members, materials, and equipment and ensure that contractors are not afflicted by the potential risks and hazards present at the construction site. That said, quality means different things to different people which is why you should…

Read the blog

A man using GoCanvas for the digital transformation of his workflow.

Constructions Digital Transformation

Your competition is finding faster ways to capture data and get critical insights from the field into their existing systems. In short, they’re not going bigger, they’re getting smarter. In this 15-minute broadcast on the construction industry’s digital transformation, find out why the trend is to modernize workflows – and how you can stay ahead of the curve…

see for yourself

See how VIP Lighting optimized efficiency with GoCanvas

VIP Lighting is a retail lighting and electrical maintenance business that services over 10,000 retail locations all over Australia and New Zealand. Before GoCanvas, VIP Lighting had two separate systems that were impossible to integrate, leading to inefficiencies. GoCanvas made it easy to integrate their systems into single, centralized platform…

read their story

WEINIG Increases Sales with GoCanvas

How WEINIG Australia Saved Time and Increased Sales with GoCanvas

Overview

Highlights

Faster invoicing and sales cycle
Improved tracking of labor and parts cost
More accurate and comprehensive information

Apps Used

Weinig & Holzher Parts Distribution Form
Weinig – Service Call Details
Weinig – Service Call Details (SLA)

The Background

WEINIG Australia is part of the WEINIG Group. Around the world, they are known for providing solutions to solid timber processes. With a variety of innovative wood process machinery, and round-the-clock service, WEINIG Australia puts their customers first.

The Problem

As WEINIG focused on customer service, they kept struggling with their back-end paper processes. For each service call, technicians were taking down notes on a carbonized engineer report pad. Taking multiple calls a day, these reports could take hours or days to return to the office.

Once a form arrived, the process wasn’t done yet! An employee would have to enter this information into the database as well. Often these forms would come back missing important information, requiring further time trying to find the technician to get answers. Only then could WEINIG respond to the customer issue.

Customer service response time matters: American Express found that 55% of customers will abandon a purchase because of subpar customer service. As WEINIG strived to provide even more for their customers, they realized paper processes were holding them back.

The Solution

In October 2013, WEINIG Australia decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps.

Businesses can search from over 14,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application Store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

WEINIG Australia has found a remarkable difference in multiple ways. These include:

Measurable Time Savings

Switching to GoCanvas has dramatically streamlined WEINIG’s back-end processes. With GoCanvas, all finished forms are sent directly to the cloud. Instead of taking hours or days for a form to return to the home office, WEINIG can access the information in real-time.

GoCanvas also removes the need for redundant data entry as well. With bulk export options, WEINIG can also easily take this information from the GoCanvas cloud and import the information into their own databases. What once required hours of extra work now happens in minutes.

The result? WEINIG Australia can respond more quickly to customer needs and issues. Invoicing and sale cycles have also improved with faster invoicing and processing in the home office. Employees are now freed for more critical and creative roles.

Easily Track Labor and Parts Cost

Previously, tracking technicians’ movement and parts ordered was difficult. With the time lag in receiving forms, it was hard to know in real time where people were, or what they needed.

With GoCanvas, WEINIG Australia gets all this information in real-time. With GPS location capture, they can see where technicians are. They can also use time stamps on their jobs. These functionalities allow WEINIG to understand the technicians’ work quickly and quantify their labor costs in minutes.

If WEINIG had wanted to understand these issues previously, they would have had to plot locations on a map as well as enter the times and calculate it manually. Not only does GoCanvas gather information more quickly, but also our mobile app makes it far easier for WEINIG Australia to analyze and understand what’s happening on the ground.

More Accurate and Comprehensive Information

Beyond faster information, WEINIG Australia also gets more and more accurate information with mobile apps. In their service reports, they can now add:

Images of the work done
Location via GPS
Computer powered calculations

By drawing on the information from their own systems, technicians are able to have more accurate reports. Using mobile apps has also reduced ambiguity and inaccuracies by replacing handwritten notes with clearly typed text. Required fields in the mobile app ensure that WEINIG Australia receives all the information they need for proper invoicing or further customer support.

WEINIG’s information becomes stronger as well due to removing data entry. With paper forms, it’s easy to misread a 7 for a 1, or to see someone’s handwriting and not understand a word they wrote! Mobile apps remove the need for data entry and the opportunity for possible misunderstandings. Thus, WEINIG Australia receives the best possible information, straight from the source.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides WEINIG the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.

For instance, as parts change, it’s easy for WEINIG to upload a new list of materials and new prices into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use.

Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Today WEINIG Australia technicians enjoy faster reports with iPads. With the day-to-day pressures of their work, they haven’t gone completely paperless yet. As they move forward, they hope to convert more forms into apps and discover more time savings for their business.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

Schedule a demo

Check out even more resources

How Digital Work Orders Impact Your Key Business Outcomes

Is your company still using paper sheets to manage work orders? The drawbacks of using paper forms are often hidden, making it difficult to understand the true impact of paper forms on a business…

Read Blog

See How Centurion Got Amazing ROI from GoCanvas

Read Story

5 Tips to Improve How Your Business Collects Data

Discover Tips

Frontier Construction Company Blazes Trail with GoCanvas

View As Text

Check out even more resources

Connect with an Expert Today.

We’ll help you put together the right solution for your needs.

Let’s Build A Plan Together

Text Version

Success With Canvas – Frontier Construction is a mid-size general contractor in the Chicago area. They outstrip their competition by digitizing their field operations with mobile data collection.

Frontier Construction – Chicago Construction Company Blazes Trail with Canvas.

Mobile Success – With Canvas, Frontier has replaced data stress with data efficiency.

Paper, the Pain! Frontier Construction Struggled From:

Difficult getting workers to consistently fill out required forms.
No standardized reporting system.
Payroll manager needed to spend hours trying to find forms

With Canvas, Frontier Construction now can:

Capture Photos.
Capture GPS locations.
Capture Signatures.
Harness Reference Data.
Communicate with Office in Real Time.

Benefits with Canvas – Saved payroll manager hours with easy access to time cards. Reduced stress for both payroll manager and project manager. Saved money while becoming more competitive.

“Switching to Canvas improved our communication dramatically. It’s been invaluable as we grow our business.”
Gregory Parr, Jr.

Fire & Safety Commodities, Inc. goes 100% paperless with GoCanvas

Fire & Safety Commodities, Inc. Goes 100% Paperless using GoCanvas

Overview

$134,000 Annual ROI
Overall efficiency improvements
Revenue forecasting
Accurate inventory
Consistent processes & training
Improved dispute resolution

The Background

Fire & Safety Commodities started their business over 35 years ago in Kenner, Louisiana. They specialize in wet chemical fire systems in restaurants, dry chemical fire systems in paint spray booths, portable fire extinguishers, exit lights and emergency lights for the commercial marketplace. Their 30-plus employees are focused on designing, installing, inspecting, and maintaining fire safety systems throughout southeast Louisiana. Customers include top restaurants, collision centers, hotels, commercial buildings and government facilities.

The Problem

“Before we transitioned to GoCanvas”, says Mace Bourgeois, owner of Fire & Safety Commodities, “we were pure paper. We did not have access to any extremely detailed information. Our ability to forecast services with any specificity was non-existent.” Like many businesses, FSC was drowning in paperwork and the costly inefficiencies associated with it. “We literally had thousands of file folders in every nook and cranny of our office. We had over-stuffed filing cabinets. There were documents tucked under, between, and behind the seats of every service vehicle we had in the fleet.”

The Solution

Back in 2012, Fire & Safety Commodities went live with the GoCanvas platform to address their challenges. At the time they only had a single office but had visions of expanding their fire safety services to more customers. They needed to gain some efficiency in order to scale their business to meet the demand of on-site consultations. GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses, has helped thousands of businesses replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable GoCanvas Apps (Think “Mobile Forms”) and mobile processes that greatly improve productivity, especially when it comes to fire safety and general safety inspections.

Businesses can search from over 20,000 GoCanvas App templates in the GoCanvas Application store that can be completely customized with the online, drag-and-drop App Builder tool. Using that same tool, many businesses elect to build their own from scratch. Factor in powerful features like Dispatch, Workflow, uploading your price and customer lists, and integration with other systems and the GoCanvas platform changes the way work gets done.

According to Mace, “We wanted to improve our efficiencies, our processes, and our productivity. There was little communication, no consistency and nothing could be duplicated time and again. We lacked the consistent processes needed for proper training, meticulous inspections, and quality service.”

Set-up

Mace came to GoCanvas looking to address his paper problems to help him scale his business. “Because it is so easy to work with and set-up, I was able to customize our forms quickly and easily. From there we did some brief field testing and within no time we were up and running.” Canvas’s powerful App Builder tool allows businesses to build their own mobile forms that adhere exactly to how they operate. Capturing the data, sharing the data with customers and colleagues, and analyzing the data all can happen very quickly when using the GoCanvas platform.

The Outcomes

After GoCanvas

Today FSC has 32+ employees using the GoCanvas platform and over 600 forms are filled out each month. They have removed their filing cabinets and filled the space with new employees to attend to their growing business. They’ve even integrated their GoCanvas platform into their Service Trade CRM system for an even more streamlined data collection process. The trucks in their fleet are free of old paperwork blowing around. Lost paper forms? Illegible handwriting? Blank data fields? All things of the past. “File folders, index cards, a Rolodex and other primitive 20th century business relics are now on display in our makeshift museum of business history”, says Mace.

Suppression System Installation

When installing a new fire safety system, FSCs technicians use a number of GoCanvas Apps to document the work being done, communicate to the customer, and communicate to their colleagues in the office. Custom GoCanvas Apps Used:

Installation Certificate – This documents what fire safety equipment was installed and the state it was left in when the job was completed. Pictures are taken and included in the PDF document. The customer gets a copy via email right away and a copy is stored inside GoCanvas for FSC to retrieve anytime.
Installation Inventory – This records every piece of fire safety equipment installed at the customer location. Team members back in the office immediately remove all equipment from inventory.
Punch List – This GoCanvas App is used to capture any work that needs to be completed after the initial on-site consultation and installation.

Suppression System Maintenance

FSC also uses GoCanvas Apps when maintaining and inspecting existing fire safety systems. Custom GoCanvas Apps used:

Restaurant Report – Each fire safety system is regularly inspected and that inspection is documented with this form.
Post Repair/Service Report – If additional work is required, then this GoCanvas App is used to document the work.
Hood Cleaning Report – When FSC cleans a hood in a commercial kitchen this App is used to document the work. “Before” and “After” photos are taken to clearly show the results of the work.
Exit & Emergency Lighting – This is used to document inspections of exit and emergency lighting elements.
Fire Extinguisher – This is used to document extinguisher inspections. Technicians record when the next inspection is due so FSC knows where their future revenue will come from.

Since Fire & Safety Commodities started using GoCanvas they have opened up two additional offices and are continuing to grow. How has GoCanvas helped?

Overall Efficiency Improvements – A lot of time was spent chasing paper, reading paper, and figuring out what to do when paper was lost. All of that time has been recouped. Says Mace, “Reading faded carbon chicken scratch covered in coffee stains is no longer a necessity.”
Revenue Forecasting – Since all of the data is exportable from GoCanvas they can easily see what equipment needs inspecting in the future by doing some simple analysis in MS Excel. This gives them an unprecedented view of future revenue opportunities!
Accurate Inventory – Now that items are immediately removed from inventory upon installation, FSC has a much more accurate understanding of their inventory and their needs. When paper forms were lost, illegible, or left then taking inventory was something that had to be done regularly. Now it is part of their process. By seeing what safety equipment is due for inspection in the future they are also able to order parts they are likely to need in advance.
Consistent Processes & Training – All technicians follow a GoCanvas App when doing inspections. The GoCanvas App helps enforce a consistent approach and helps new folks get up to speed faster. This has helped them scale their business. “The mobile forms we use now follow a step-by-step process that ensures a quality product each time”, according to Mace.
Fewer Return Trips – When they are inspecting safety equipment and find something that is “impaired” then a Department Manager is notified right away. That person can then put together a quote to fix that item and send that to the technician right away. “More often than not, now that these problems and repairs are being resolved in a single visit rather than lingering on requiring more time, effort, fuel cost and other cost”, says Mace.
Accountability and Dispute Resolution – Businesses (Restaurants especially) are notorious for adding equipment without upgrading their fire suppression systems. Photos clearly show what fire safety equipment was in place at the time of installation.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

Schedule a demo

Check out even more resources

Three people in hard hats looking at a tablet.

Smarter, Faster, Safer: Improving Safety Compliance with Mobile Technology

Compliance, there are many ways we talk about it. A necessary evil, a chore, a struggle, or a critically important part of business. We all know how crucial it is, helping save…

Read the eBook

Woman reviewing information on a tablet.

Your Guide to Waiver Forms — Examples and Templates

Waiver forms are a type of legal protection used by businesses to reduce their liability and risk. This type of agreement between a business and its customers is used…

Read the Blog

Duotank Transforms Business Processes with GoCanvas

Duotank is a bag-in-tank alternative to the traditional keg beer system. The aseptic tank environment enables breweries to maintain the quality of their beer after it leaves…

Read their Story