South East Timber & Damp adopt digital solutions to improve their workflow and drive growth
About:
South East Timber & Damp are made up of small team of dedicated staff and headed by husband and wife duo Dean and Anabelle. Dean is both a timber and damp surveyor and a certified structural waterproofing surveyor, with over 30 years of working in this specialist industry and surveying 1000’s of properties throughout Kent and South East London. Annabelle takes on the business and personnel development oriented role, constantly striving to go above and beyond clients’ expectations and driving the business and the Property Preservation industry with her passion for technology.
Customer Need:
Over time as South East Timber & Damp’s reputation in the industry grew, their volume of work also accelerated. They wanted to be able to increase the number of surveys and inspections and continue to offer the option for 48-hour turn around. However, operating as a micro business with just one surveyor, they could not risk sacrificing the quality of service and decided it was time to revaluate their workflow.
The team were already familiar with using a variety of survey equipment such as high spec protimeter, infrared, endoscope and borescope cameras to assist with their range of services. Through active participation in various industry events and discussions, Anabelle was up to date in future trends and understood the effectiveness of using digital data capture and reporting. She realised digital processes would help to support South East Timber & Damp’s increasing workload and the desire to drive their overall efficiency, while maintaining a high-quality professional service.
“We pride ourselves on delivering a first-class service for our clients. At the end of the day, they trust us to come into their home and provide sound honest advice, so we like to respect the property as if it’s our own and strive to do everything as effectively and efficiently as possible.” said Annabelle Webster, Business and Personnel Development.
South East Timber & Damp set an extremely high standards from themselves and the industry and with a commitment to getting it right first time they use only the best tools and people to achieve their goal. When they decided it was time to digitise the surveying process, thorough due diligence lead them to GoReport.
Benefits of using GoReport:
South East Timber & Damp had a clear vision of what they wanted from their chosen partner. From the first interaction with GoReport they soon discovered they could achieve all the bespoke requirements and much more. The GoReport solution enables South East Timber & Damp to manage workflows in a way that best suits the company’s specialist business needs rather than having to adapt their behaviour to suite the software.
From the outset it was important to capture Dean’s wealth of knowledge and experience, and this could be done with the ability to store standard phrases using the GoReport solution. This function saves Dean a great deal of time on repeat admin and relieves the office staff from typing notes, deciphering handwriting which has it’s risks especially if the client requests a Fast-Track Survey.
Annabelle commented: “GoReport experience in the surveying industry and attention to detail was exactly what we needed for our decision to go digital to be a success. Our specialist surveys are quite unique and require a thorough hands on approach during the inspection. Having the ability to use dictation, take photographs and use pre-defined picklists all in one device means Dean is free to spend his time focusing on the damp and timber issues and working through advice for remedial treatments.
In order to differentiate ourselves from competitors and remain at the forefront of the industry, investing in technology was the way forward.”
The challenge their customers face can often be bad advice which can lead to disruptive work and therefore a costly experience. When customers are choosing who to carry out the damp and timber inspection, they are looking for straight forward, professional, advice and most importantly value for money. With a combination of the team’s wealth of knowledge and adoption of digital tools boosting efficiency, allows South East Timber and Damp to provide competitive rates and subsequent growth of the business.
Dean Webster, Owner/Surveyor, commented “Operating a micro business and as the main surveyor, I naturally spend a lot of my time on the road. Having access to GoReport from anywhere at any time means I can send my initial report back to the office and quickly move on to the job, making life so much easier.
Having completed surveys manually for the last 30 years, going digital was certainly an adjustment. However, the level of training and support provided by the GoReport Customer Success Consultants was commendable. Our Office Team are vital to the success of our business therefore it was essential both teams built up a relationship from the outset, thankfully they are working seamlessly together. GoReport are fully adaptable to our business needs and always there to help us out.
Adopting digital data collection and reporting gives me the opportunity to spend more time on the most enjoyable part of my job and that is onsite with clients solving damp, timber and waterproofing issues while allowing Anabelle to spend time focusing on the client and business expansion, I only wish we implemented GoReport solution much sooner.”
