HBS Painting Finds Field Based Operations Solution with WorKMax Platform
Industry
Commercial & Home Painting
Location
Yorba Linda, CA
Employees
45 - 50
Integration
Foundation
Solution
WorkMax TIME WorkMax FORMS
WorkMax Ensures that Field Data that Drives Payroll and Billing are Accurate and Reliable
Tyler Hoppe, the Controller at HBS Painting has seen his fair share of tracking systems but has never had the confidence he has in WorkMax in any other data collection platform.
Before working with WorkMax Hoppe worked with over ten different data collection platforms including Intuit. None of the other systems gave him the ability to trust the data without time consuming oversight from his management team. The construction field today needs to provide data insights as an expected service to clients and partners and is essential for HBS Painting to deliver the experience their clients look to HBS for. Clients today are looking for consistent insight into the progress on their projects, what they are being billed for and an accurate estimate for project completion. Fast accurate information is essential to maintain the highest level of customer satisfaction. Before WorkMax it was next to impossible to maintain the information needed on the seven to fifteen projects HBS has going at any given point. After WorkMax the data is on hand at all times, with live, up to the minute updates.
Key WorkMax Features That Increased Accuracy and Productivity
Clock In/Out in Real Time
Facial Recognition
GPS & Geofencing
Robust Forms
Real Time Reports
WorkMax TIME is a Efficient User-friendly Experience for HBS Employees
There are challenges with managing a remote workforce and WorkMax has some great features that help eliminate these challenges.
- Facial recognition and Geo-fencing: Confirms that the person logging in is the right person and geo-fence will mark their location on clock IN preventing ghost employees. This is especially helpful on smaller jobs where a supervisor is not required.
- Language options: Many HBS workers prefer to speak Spanish, and they felt comfortable using WorkMax in Spanish. With the click of a button, the entire platform can be viewed in Spanish giving employees peace of mind about the information they are sharing and the platform’s purpose and function. Making the data collected even more reliable.
- Location information: Job site locations are stored on the app, so it’s easy for employees to know where to go when they are assigned work. The app also provides directions to the job site. The same feature is also helpful for HBS’s office staff to quickly locate workers and get in touch with them when needed.
- User-friendly app: The WorkMax platform can be installed on any smartphone or tablet and is easy to use by workers in the field. The app uses a pin login for quicker access with no need for a complicated password.
Passwords were extremely prohibitive for our guys in the field. They are not data-driven individuals, along with language barriers. There are unforeseen barriers as you are deploying a solution like this, that you think, oh, it's really simple. I'm sitting in the office and I ran through it. What could go wrong? Well, then we get out in the field and we either have no cell signal or maybe the user doesn't speak English. There are unforeseen obstacles that come up along the way. WorkMax has been in this game for a long time. This is their core competency. They're not trying to do 15 different things at once and do all of them very mediocre. They know time collection, very, very well. They have clearly been through a lot of these issues with other customers over the years, and they have addressed them. Things like pin logins, and not needing a password. These are the things that are extremely helpful. The ability to switch the app from English to Spanish is one of those huge wins for us.
One aspect of WorkMax that HBS’s workforce has loved is how intuitive the entire process is. Everyone that has a smartphone – almost everyone at this point – has a PIN password and facial recognition to unlock their phone without it being a deterrent. WorkMax has the same PIN security in place. The app is also completely customizable to match the workflow of every business giving every employee a familiar flow to their tracking. Tyler loves that every piece of WorkMax can be as robust or as simple as he wants it to be. HBS didn’t want there to be 14 questions every time someone clocked in or out so the WorkMax implementation team set up custom rules for HBS including lunch breaks and start and stop times at the initial launch of WorkMax. These built-in custom rules simplify things in the app so California labor laws are automatically upheld and employees only need to take a minute to clock in or out.
“PIN logins and not needing a password ... are extremely helpful. The ability to switch the app from English to Spanish is one of those huge wins for us.”
Tyler Hoppe, Controller
Detailed Information from the Job Site in WorkMax FORMS
HBS Painting uses various forms to track job progress and employees. It is always a challenge getting foremen to complete these paper forms out in the field and is especially hard in the painting world. The lack of paperwork is one of the reasons employees start in painting. A key aspect of the WorkMax Platform is the fact that each module is available in the same app, so everyone is immediately able to start utilizing forms because they are already familiar with the platform. When a form needs to be submitted, you open the WorkMax App, complete the form, click submit, and it sends the forms directly to everyone the form is programmed to be shared with in real time. This means that project managers, general contractors, the client, other subcontractors, or anyone else can be looped in on the forms pertinent to them and only the pertinent forms. Keeping everyone updated on job progress or issues. HBS also takes advantage of the customization of the forms in WorkMax so that by answering a few questions any employee can get to the right form every time.
HBS Painting found WorkMax FORMS to be fantastic. You can have questions based on answers to previous questions. All of that stuff is amazing, and the ability to make WorkMax FORMS as robust or non-robust based on your company's preferences is a game changer.
Real-Time Visibility of Remote Sites
WorkMax gives HBS project managers a real time snapshot of what is happening on the job site. From how many hours were worked that week to how many workers are on a specific job site, there is an accurate accounting of progress and work without having to drive to the site to count heads. By looking at the WorkMax app, Tyler can see how many employees are at the site, when they arrived and left, and what they were doing while they were there.
Running 45 employees out in the field in multiple locations can be challenging under perfect conditions, but the reality for a subcontractor relying on other service providers to complete their work is never perfect.
“There are times you are scheduled to be there on Wednesday to get going on the priming, but unfortunately the drywall guy didn't get finished up the day before. You have to make these adjustments on the fly as a contractor. You have to figure out, okay, where is this employee? What is the next closest job I can send them to? What is convenient? WorkMax helps with that. It gives you a live visual map you can look at.” – Tyler Hoppe
Being able to see your workforce and assign them to teams and projects on the fly gives HBS Painting flexibility that is needed to stay ahead of any issues that would stall out work and waste hours of time and productivity in the past.
Tyler likes the ability to look in WorkMax and just see who's clocked in. Who's not clocked in, what projects have they clocked into, and where were they when they clocked in? Getting that call at 7:04 on Monday morning, "Hey, where's my superintendent? He's not on the project." In the past, you would pick up your phone. Likely when a guy's late to work on Monday morning, he's probably not going to pick up that call. He wants to get on the project and have some good news for you before he answers that call. We want to hear, Hey, I'm at the gate. I'm five minutes away. WorkMax gives me that. I can literally look at it. I don't need to call him. I can jump on there, see we have a long line at the gate. Call the client or GC back and say, I can see him. Here's where he is at. Within five minutes he should be there. That ability to have that data in real time and see who's where, where are they at, and what are they doing, is imperative for us.
“WorkMax is the real deal. When they tell you they're going to onboard you, work through the process with you, and custom cater it to any different accounting software you need, any import file format you may need, from my experience, they were able to do it really quickly.”
Tyler Hoppe, Controller
WorkMax is Invested in Your Success
Tyler has had a lot of experience working with ten different tracking platforms and none of them had the connection and investment he has experienced with WorkMax. Tyler said that he loves that he has direct email addresses and phone numbers for his support team and that his support team has a deep understanding of HBS Painting, their goals, and their concerns. It makes troubleshooting an issue a simple process instead of a process where you want to pull your hair out.
I'm not trying to trash Intuit. I know they are a monster, but when you are working with Intuit, you are calling the 800 number. You are explaining who your company is, and how you are set up. The first 25 minutes of any tech support call is just a waste of time. You are on hold for 20 minutes to get to an individual. Oh, unfortunately, you have got to the wrong area. Let me go ahead and transfer you.
You don't have any of that experience with WorkMax. They know you, they know who you are. You are working with an individual, that individual. I happened to have an experience that I was troubleshooting last Friday. I got busy during the afternoon and stopped responding to him. He followed up with me first thing Monday morning, and said, "Hey, I know things get busy. Are we good? Can I close this or should we keep troubleshooting?" That's the kind of stuff that I feel, we as a small business deliver to our clients, and it's going away in the world we live in and it's more or less say, what have you done for me lately world?
WorkMax is there for HBS Painting and the rest of their clients. Tyler explained how he was uncomfortable with working in one of WorkMax’s modules and when he mentioned that WorkMax was quick to back that module out until the time is right to reproach that feature. It made Tyler feel like WorkMax is his partner in business and is not looking to trap him into a contract that is against HBS’s best interests instead they are focused on making his business as productive as possible in the easiest and stress free way possible.
