The new year is the perfect time to look at your current business practices and see how you can improve them. So, over the next few weeks, we’ll be giving you tips on small things you can start implementing to make your business more efficient and profitable.
Today, we’re going to talk about one small thing you can do to protect your business this year.
DOCUMENT PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS.
Why? Well, we want to believe that all of our homeowners are honest people who are happy to have us fix their homes – and, for the most part, that’s true. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect yourself. You don’t want to have to pay for a whole new driveway if your crews didn’t actually damage it, do you?
WHAT ARE PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS?
Pre-existing conditions are any damages to the house or property (that you’re not there to fix) before you start production. Cracked or oil stained driveways, broken windows, wood rot, cracked skylights and damaged shutters are just a few items you should be on the lookout for.
HOW TO DOCUMENT
We recommend using some sort of project checklist that your sales reps can fill out to document any damage they find before production begins. Make sure the homeowner signs and dates the document.
AND, we can’t stress this enough, you must also take photos of the damage. This protects you. Remember, the benefit of the doubt will typically go to the homeowner unless you have photographic evidence proving otherwise.