Today we are excited to have a chance to talk with John Chiangi of Brand Services, one of Punchzee's first customers. We wanted to ask John how he integrated our construction management app, Punchzee, into his existing team and processes, and what his results were like.
Q: John, can you first tell us a little bit about your company, types of work you do, and where are you located?
A: Hi Ron, Brand is in the passive fire protection business, we are based in Connecticut and work throughout New England. We install firestopping, inspect and repair fire doors, inspect and repair fire dampers & do above ceiling surveys in Healthcare facilities.
Q: How did you see using a Punchzee fitting into your existing tool box of applications? Were you using a similar construction management app before trying Punchzee?
A: We initially started off using another “punch list” app, unfortunately it was very slow and extremely limited in its flexibility. Once we discovered Punchzee and the almost unlimited flexibility, making the change was a “no brainer”. We have now developed customized inspections & reports for each of our different services.
Q: How easy was the install process, and how easy was it to get up and running?
A: The installation process with very easy, our Admin just assigned users and sent out invites. Training took about 20 min and after 1 full day our men were very comfortable using the app.
Q: How many projects have you used Punchzee on?
A: We have used Punchzee on roughly 50 projects, the projects have ranged from a 1 day survey to over a month. The feedback from our field techs has been nothing but positive, we have received several suggestions for changes, but because of the flexibility on the app, we were able to make the changes in-house and push them out to the team instantly.
Q: You told us that Punchzee saved you a lot of time in the field. Can you elaborate on that? How did you save time compared to the app you utilized before Punchzee?
A: Sure Ron, the app we were using was Finishline, the app was very slow and not user friendly. Because of the “canned” reports in Finishline there was a lot of user input involved, this led to a lot typo’s and employees using different terminology. All these errors had to be corrected before sending the final reports to our customers, With Punchzee’s customizable inspections and reports, we have minimized the user data input by creating forms with check boxes. We have increased our inspections by 30-40% and we have significantly less errors.
Q: You work in a pretty specialized industry, do you think Punchzee would be a good tool for other specialty contractors? If so, what types? What about as a software application for General Contractors?
A: With the flexibility of Punchzee, I would say its ideal for any contractor in our industry. It could also be used for inventory surveys, as a work order system, eye wash stations inspections etc, etc. It would also be effective for General Contractors to use for progress check lists.
Q: As you know, we are always looking for feedback and trying to improve Punchzee. With that in mind, what are the features of Punchzee that you like best? And where can we improve?
A: The single best feature is the customization. The 2nd best feature is the option (for a fee) to be able to name the app anything you desire, this allows each contractor to have their own “proprietary” app. As for improvements, the only thing we have found that’s needed is the ability to further filter the reports. Currently everything you need is available but access could be streamlined for better efficiency.
Thanks for the feedback. That's interesting because we have actually heard the same thing from a couple different people and are currently working on that! We should have the improvements out in the next few days, so once the improvements are released, we look forward to hearing what you think.
So John, thanks again for taking the time to talk with us and we look forward to talking again in the near future.
You bet, talk to you soon!
