How Trähus increased their billing rate to 95% in a few weeks
While Trähus is in the home building business – specializing in restoring old, wooden houses – the company initially had difficulty in building strong customer relationships.
Trähus Oy
Finland
Finding the problem
A year ago, Thomas Noreila , the CEO of Trähus, was about to call it quits. Profitability was weak and multiple customer complaints had resulted in costly rework having to be done on already completed jobs.
"The big eureka moment for me was when I realized that all the rework and customer complaints we experienced had less to do with the quality of our work and more to do with not meeting customer expectations.
Successfully completing a job requires close communication and collaboration between all task team members, especially the homeowner," says Thomas.
The results were quick and impressive
+ 100%
Documentation
Pictures and videos from the building site increased by more than 100% in just a few weeks
- 30%
Internal messaging
Everybody involved in tasks has a visual overview of ongoing construction activities - reducing the need for checkups and check-ins
+ 2.5 hours
Saved per person per day
Job Managers saved 2.5 hours per person, per day because of improved collaboration and real time communication
95%
Billing rate
Billing rate increased to 95% of all hours spent on customer jobs. There are minimal invoice queries as customers are included in task updates
0.1%
Ammends required
Rework decreased to 30 hours over 12 months (out of 75,000 hours invoiced) in over 12 months
Implementing a solution
Armed with this insight, Trähus took deliberate action to increase transparency in their communication by always including customers in their building phases, ensuring that they were kept in the loop at all times.
“We chose to use Buildbite as the tool to help us improve customer relationships and retention, and we have never looked back," he adds.
Enhancing customer experience
With Buildbite, customers are informed about job updates, timelines, and milestones. This creates trust, demonstrates professionalism, and enhances the overall customer experience.
Homeowners and field workers feel involved and empowered when they can actively participate in the construction process.
Increasing accountability
Thomas was shocked with the results. “We are a traditional business, and many skilled craftsmen aren’t used to using smartphone applications for documenting their work. For some, it can feel intrusive and a sign of distrust.
The breakthrough for us was when we started using Buildbite’s sharing capabilities directly with the customer and the craftsmen would receive praise from the customer directly in the job task chat for all to see.”
“There's a big difference between building a house and building a home. The former is defined by four walls and one roof, whereas the latter has a much deeper meaning and is often the embodiment of lifelong dreams and aspirations. Trähus not only builds homes, but with Buildbite we also build great relationships with our customers, and get many referrals.”
Client reviews
Why contractors trust our field management app
Keeps all the parties in the loop and eases their minds about progress.
Amy
- Field ManagerBuildbite cut our admin time in half and keeps our field and office perfectly in sync. It's truly transformed how we run our jobs.
Markus Pau
- CEOAt Trähus we not only renovate homes, with Buildbite we build great customer relationships and have increased our billing rate to 95%.
Thomas Noreila
- Construction OwnerWe chose to use Buildbite as the tool to help us improve customer relationships and retention, and we have never looked back.
Oliver
- ElectricianCommunication between customers, workers, subcontractors, and project management has never been easier.Buildbite is so easy to use and we’ve never got this much documentation before.
Eddie Johansson
- TIMABThis app has allowed us to consolidate all our onsite job management tools into one. I love how easy it is to use and it’s great that they’re releasing new features all the time.
Josef
- Husvarden