Technology brings us so many more options than we ever had before.
We are now at the point where we can give someone a home improvement estimate without having to lay a hand on the house.
This is because companies like HOVER allow us to get a fully rendered and measured 3D model of any home simply by transforming photos taken with your smartphone. This has helped contractors and insurance carriers to become more efficient, reduce their costs, and minimize closing times all through an app.
What Things Should Matter Most to Roofers Regarding Estimation?
When it comes to the estimation process, there are three main things that should matter most to roofers. These three things are accuracy, errors, and options and can be seen from both a sales and production perspective.
When it comes to accuracy, you need accurate quoting by the sales reps in the organization at all different experience levels. You have experienced reps, new reps being trained, and reps that have been there for most of their careers, so how do you make sure your quotes are accurate and on the same level regardless of experience level?
On the production side, you need to make sure that the measurements are highly accurate so you can reduce your material costs and only get what you need. This will help you preserve your profit margin and give you more profitability, which is why accuracy is so important.
There are a lot of natural human errors and mistakes that come into play with things like paper-based systems or point solutions that are disconnected and don’t communicate with each other.
Think about providing options for your proposal. Having things like good, better, best, and most popular in your proposal is a great way to give people options they are looking for. It is important to remember that people like to have options. You should also keep in mind that they don’t like being overwhelmed with too many options, so make it easy for people to make a decision because they don’t like being labored with decisions.
What have you seen are the benefits to Onsite vs. Aerial estimation tools?
The accuracy of onsite measurements is more accurate than a plane flying hundreds of feet higher. The aerial measurements are usually rounded to the nearest foot rather than the in-person measurements where they get down to the inch.
Another challenge with aerial estimation is getting the full dimension of the site and getting detailed wall measurements. It is not possible to see all the details from the aerial view so there are a lot of things that you give up such as accuracy, comprehensiveness, and depth. And when it comes to depth for things like soffits and ice and water barriers, you want to be sure you have the accurate information which can only be done when you are at eye level.
HOVER engaged with Haag Engineering to conduct an independent study to determine the accuracy of measurements that were done using HOVER, aerial measurements, and onsite measurements with tape on a sample size of 40 homes. They found that HOVER had a 2.6% variance on measurements done by Haag, where the aerial measurements had a 3.4% difference. This turned out to be a 23% improvement in accuracy.
The failure rate of the measurements from things like tree coverage, etc. was at 0% for HOVER where the aerial measurements had an 8% failure rate.
| Â HOVER | Â AERIAL | Improvement | |
| Variance from Haag measurements | Â 2.6% | Â 3.4% | Â 23% |
| Failure rate | Â 0% | Â 8% | Â 800% |
| % roofs that required additional measurements to complete | Â 0% | Â 6% | Â 600% |
What are the benefits of Aerial technology?
Because Eagleview is able to scan a lot of homes on their flight routes, you are able to get the measurements right away. This is beneficial for contractors because when they have a meeting with a potential client, they can come to the meeting prepared with all the measurements ready and in hand.
With onsite technologies, you need to take photos and the information is sent to you in about an hour depending on the kind of product you are ordering. You can’t order ahead because you need the pictures.
If this is just done for roofing, it may be the route to go because you do not nee the depth of the rest of the home. But if it is needed for other parts such as siding, doors, etc., then the onsite technology is going to be the one to go with as the aerial view is measurements only.
What are the Benefits of a Technology like HOVER?
With onsite technologies, you are able to get measurements for the complete job and can do things outside of just roofing. You get a high fidelity measurement and 3D model of the entire home. With HOVER, you are able to let your customers interact and engage with the model and choose things like different colors, materials, etc. and they will probably end up upselling themselves.
This is an amazing opportunity for contractors to help homeowners understand their estimates and see their new roof, siding, and windows with real products on their homes. Using the 3D model is a great way to drive incredible customer experiences and lead to more referrals for your business as well.
If you have any questions about HOVER or are ready to implement it into your company, find more information about them here. You can schedule a meeting to talk with someone on the sales team and see if it’s the right fit for you.
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