By Brad Hawkins
The past few years have seen residential maintenance and repair contractors benefit from record spending on home renovations and appliances. During the pandemic, homeowners with more disposable income and time finally splurged on the new purchases and home projects they had been putting off—pushing the home services market past the $500 Billion mark.
With interest rates up and a possible recession looming, home sales and remodeling growth will likely cool this year. Already, the property management market is seeing growth decelerate in 2023. For residential contractors, this slowdown could significantly impact their business.
To combat these challenges, one way residential maintenance and repair businesses can continue growing business volume is to join a field service network. Using modern field service management (FSM) software, service networks connect contractors with new jobs from top industry brands. When a retailer or home warranty company maxes out its internal resources, it looks to a third-party contractor in-network to service customer needs.
Today, third-party contractors perform close to half of all field service work. For contractors, this means acquiring new jobs and maximizing their workload without the cost of added marketing or overhead. For this reason, joining a service network is a valuable opportunity, especially with property management’s predicted slowdown.
Service networks are not just an added source of work—they also come with incredible benefits for both the contractor and the customer. The FSM software that runs service networks provides technologies that automate much of what residential service contractors do manually. Streamlining administrative operations means less stress and more opportunities for contractors to showcase their skills and expertise.
Additional Benefits of Joining a Field Service Network
Advanced Dispatching
Instead of juggling multiple job requests for the same time slot, FSM software helps contractors stay focused on the job at hand. With FSM software, it is easy to set availability online and get dispatched to jobs that match contractors’ expertise and location. Contractors can confidently take on assigned jobs, knowing that advanced dispatching sets them up for success—only giving them jobs they have the resources to complete, ensuring excellent outcomes.
Fast Claims Processing
Service networks provide real-time validation to detect fraudulent warranty claims before assigning a job. These checks help reduce the turnaround time on claims and ensure fast payment processing, eliminating the burden on third-party contractors to know the ins and outs of a brand’s warranty claims process. Ultimately, service networks save both brands and contractors valuable time and money.
Added Credibility
Working with industry-leading companies offers many benefits to contractors who specialize in home services. By partnering with a service network that caters to these large brands, contractors can expand their customer base while simultaneously adding credibility to their business.
Quick Onboarding
When contractors see a slowdown in business, that is a great time to add a network into the mix. Because service networks generally have short onboarding times, contractors can start accepting jobs immediately. Additionally, being part of a service network can provide access to new and diverse markets, empowering contractors to offer their clients a more comprehensive range of services.
Customer Service Tools
Service networks empower contractors to deliver exceptional customer service. With an FSM dispatch tool, companies can provide real-time visibility into contractor location and job progress, allowing customers to better plan their day around the service appointment. Dispatch software can also increase contractor efficiency by identifying the right part to resolve the issue on the first visit. For contractors, this means they are walking into a job where the customer knows the arrival time and has access to other relevant details—creating a job environment where customers and contractors are on the same page from the start.
Resources
A wide variety of resources are available to contractors when they join a service network. Many of these tools help them improve operations and efficiency but are cost-prohibitive for their small businesses. The suite of tools can include:
- Mobile applications that give contractors access to work orders and customer information on the go.
- Access to repair histories and manuals for each job.
- Predictive AI and machine learning that identifies repair patterns and generates insights on parts possibly needed for a job.
- Access to customer service and dispatch support teams who provide parts and technical and application support.
- Ongoing training to sharpen contractor skills.
Growing Network = Growing Business
One of the most significant challenges repair and maintenance contractors face is maintaining a steady influx of work. Whether it is a seasonal slowdown or a dip in demand due to economic uncertainty, contractors often struggle to find new clients and keep existing ones.
Joining a service network is one of the best ways for contractors to grow a thriving home repair and maintenance business. These networks can support business operations and serve as insurance policies against waning home service growth. Plus, a field service network gives contractors access to modern technology and customer service tools they might not be able to afford for their own businesses.
When contractors join a reputable field service network, they become part of a community of professionals committed to delivering high-quality services—elevating a contractor’s reputation in the industry and making attracting new clients easier.
Brad Hawkins has been with ServicePower since 2004, where he currently serves as Senior Vice President of Products and Solutions and oversees operations, development and product management. A long time veteran in the world of field service technology, Brad brings more than 20 years of experience in work force management software.