Absolute Drywall Service is a full-service drywall installation company serving residential homebuilders in the Houston area. The company needed to digitize the entire workflow process so that invoice time could be faster, administrative overhead could be reduced, and workers at the jobsites could be better managed. Absolute needed durable smartphones with a long battery life and quick charging. Since the smartphones would stay with the field staff, they needed strong security and device management capabilities.
Mobile App Enables Field Workers to Streamline Workflow and Reduce Invoice Time
Customer Need
The Solution
Absolute Drywall Service issued Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphones to all its field employees and independent contractors. The durable smartphones integrated well with their custom project management application which allows workers to process work orders, check-in at jobsites, photograph drywall repairs, and communicate all in real time while withstanding harsh work environments. Absolute Drywall Service also deployed Knox Custom Configuration for easy device setup and Knox Premium to manage their fleet from one centralized location.
50%
faster invoice preparation
Results
The Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphones have had a major impact on the company’s operational efficiency and working capital needs. Installers digitally complete timesheets and work orders so invoice preparation time has been cut by 50%, saving precious working capital. The phones have also enabled the main office to accurately track the activity of each installer and better coordinate work with builders.
Absolute Drywall Service is a fast-growing drywall installation company that primarily partners with national residential homebuilders in Texas.
The company was founded four years ago and has grown rapidly due its focus on high quality work and customer service.
In order to keep up with the growth and stay flexible in an ever-changing construction industry, Absolute Drywall Service augments its workforce with experienced independent contractors.
The drywall installation process takes multiple visits per home, including hanging tape/float and texture. After texture, each job typically requires three to six patch repair visits.
The Customer Need
Reliable Smartphones to Improve Workflow
Residential drywall installation is a competitive business that entails coordination and project management. “Running a commercial drywall business is more complex than most people realize,” says Jennifer Speck, Chief Operating Officer for Absolute Drywall Service. “On any day, we are working at multiple job sites, with multiple crews, at different stages of the drywall install process – it requires a lot of coordination and communication.”
When the business started, Absolute Drywall Service used paper-based systems to manage timesheets, work orders, invoicing, warranty repairs, and other workflows. Each job could take three to six visits, with each visit generating multiple paper records.
But with the rapid growth of the company, the paper-system was impacting productivity and tying up working capital. “We had two full-time clerical staff manually entering data from more than 600 pieces of paper generated per week and couldn’t get invoices out to customers for three weeks,” says Gayle Speck, IT Director for Absolute Drywall Service. The delayed invoicing meant precious working capital was tied up while waiting to get payment from the customers.
Absolute Drywall Service decided to create a digital project management and workflow system and needed a reliable smartphone that could be provisioned to all of its field staff and contractors.
Requirements
- Locate jobsites
- Communicate with customers and the main office
- Take photos of in-process and completed work
The smartphones would be used for more than just filling in timesheets and processing work orders. Field staff would also use the smartphones to locate jobsites, communicate with customers and the main office, and take photos of in-process and completed work. The company-owned smartphones would also be used to help workers get to the right worksite and pinpoint their activity and location in real time.
“We needed reliable smartphones that had a really long battery life because most construction sites don’t have running electricity to charge phones,” says Gayle Speck. “We also needed a smartphone that could take great photos so we could quickly show customers completed work and get approvals to generate an invoice.”
“On any day, we are working at multiple job sites, with multiple crews, at different stages of the drywall install process – it requires a lot of coordination and communication.”
Jennifer Speck, COO, Absolute Drywall Service
The Solution:
Mobile Project Management Application
Absolute Drywall Service outfitted its entire field workforce with Galaxy S7 smartphones connected to the Sprint 4G network. The reliable, secure devices integrate with third-party custom applications and are easily managed with Samsung Knox Custom Configurator and Knox Premium.
Absolute Drywall Service partnered with VARC Solutions to create a custom project management application on the QuickBase platform. “We needed to develop a cost-effective app in English and Spanish that would enable Absolute Drywall Service’s field workforce to interface with QuickBase,” says Robin Hall, President of VARC Solutions.
“Developing on Android is faster and more cost-effective so we were able deliver a solution that exactly fit Absolute Drywall Service’s operational and budget needs.”
Absolute Drywall Service used Samsung’s Knox software to configure, secure and manage the Galaxy phones. Knox Custom Configurator is a web-based service that enables IT admins to deploy a specific group of settings or apps to enrolled devices. “ Knox Custom Configurator helped us quickly install our project management app and configure the phones so deployment was a snap,” says Gayle Speck.
“Developing on Android is faster and more cost-effective so we were able deliver a solution that exactly fit Absolute Drywall Service’s operational and budget needs.”
-Robin Hall, President of VARC Solutions
Knox also has defense-grade security features that provide multi-layered protection and keep sensitive data secure. “Samsung provides exceptional layers of security with Knox,” says Gayle Speck. “If we lose a phone for any reason, we can remotely wipe it.”
Device features were also important factors for Absolute Drywall Service. The Galaxy S7’s large battery provides up to thirteen hours of internet use time on an LTE network¹. The large, bright touchscreen, high-resolution camera, and IP68², make it an ideal smartphone for construction sites.
The Technology:
Samsung Galaxy Smartphones
Galaxy S Series
Flagship smartphone line for enterprise productivity, performance and security.
Galaxy S7 active
Ruggedly built, military-grade exterior that’s made to endure some of the harshest, dirtiest and most challenging work environments.
The Result:
Radically Efficient Workflow Cuts Working Capital Needs
The Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphones, combined with the custom app, have fundamentally transformed the way Absolute Drywall Service operates. Now, every field crew member has a mobile device they can use to stay in touch with the customer and the main office. “Schedules are always changing depending on other trades at the jobsite and customer requirements,” says Gayle Speck. “The Galaxy S7s enable us to always stay connected with our field staff and customers through messaging, voice and photos.”
The Samsung Galaxy S7 phones are used to digitally input timesheets and completed work orders. “The digital entry has cut our clerical data entry workload by at least 50% so our office staff can focus on higher value tasks,” says Jennifer Speck.
The Samsung smartphones made a major impact on financial performance by reducing the lag time between completed work and invoicing. “Now that we are completely digital, we can invoice quickly,” says Jennifer Speck. “In fact, we have cut our time-to-bill by 50%. That means we get paid faster – a critical factor in a fast growing business like ours.”
“The digital entry has cut our clerical data entry workload by at least 50% so our office staff can focus on higher value tasks” – Jennifer Speck, COO, Absolute Drywall Service
The Galaxy S7s have been a hit with the field staff. “They use the phone 10-20 times a day so the longer battery life and ability to quickly charge in the truck has been great,” says Gayle Speck.
The Galaxy S7s have also had a big impact on customer satisfaction. “One of our competitive differentiators is our customer service. The Samsung phones, in tandem with our app, allow us to track jobs and people, in real time. We are not aware that any of our competitors can do that,” says Jennifer Speck. “We can let our customers know who is on the job and how far they are into the process. Should we need to redeploy our labor, resources or materials we can do so efficiently by notifying all necessary parties at once. Our clients see a nimble trade partner with increased load capacity. This creates incredible customer loyalty which translates to more work and revenue.”
1 Battery power consumption depends on factors such as network configuration, carrier network, signal strength, operating temperature, features selected, vibrate mode, backlight settings, browser use, frequency of calls, and voice, data and other application-usage patterns.
2 Water-resistant and dustproof based on IP68 rating, which tests submersion in clear water up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.
