“I find all the tools on Commusoft for estimating really easy to use.”

Premier Heating Surrey is an award-winning plumbing & heating business based in Guildford, Surrey. They carry out installation and maintenance work for domestic and commercial clients, and rely on Commusoft to help them manage the estimating and quoting lifecycles that underpin every job. These processes are integral to their daily operations, and require precise co-ordination to ensure that quotes are accurate and jobs can run smoothly.

They’ve used Commusoft for more than a decade to help them achieve their goals, and have been able to successfully grow their business as a result!

Join us as we discover exactly how Commusoft’s field service management software has allowed Premier Heating Surrey to optimise quoting and maximise productivity.

The Problem: Using a Basic System Caused Operational Inefficiencies

Before switching to Commusoft, Premier Heating Surrey were using ServiceMax, a standalone CRM system. Keith Richards, Owner, detailed how this system wasn’t advanced enough for their everyday needs:

It was very basic. It was just storing customer information. There was no automation to it.

These limitations weren’t ideal for a business that was handling a vast amount of job requests and quotes every day; it was negatively impacting their productivity. A lack of visibility added to their frustrations, as information wasn’t instantly available to his team to use.

We were finding that engineers were having to ring in a lot more, and we were having to ring engineers a lot more for updates about how they were getting on.

Keith Richards

Keith decided to upgrade their systems because there was simply too much paperwork to manage. Communicating important information to customers by phone call or physical letters also wasted valuable time.

Initially they tried building a custom system with another company, but ultimately decided against it because it was expensive, and the developer lacked insight into what a trades business needs from specialist software.

This led Keith to seek an all-in-one FSM solution: something designed specifically for plumbing & heating businesses like his that could help them efficiently manage their quoting workflow, and other business needs. He concluded that Commusoft ticked all the boxes.

The Solution: A Streamlined Quoting Journey Ensures Service Excellence

Commusoft’s integrated quoting software has been hugely beneficial for the operations team day-to-day, enabling them to seamlessly manage a large volume of work.

I send out on average between 10 and 20 estimates a day to our customers. I find all the tools on Commusoft for estimating really easy to use.

Leigh Lush, Maintenance Manager

Providing a Smooth Booking Experience

Our all-in-one system has elevated their customer experience with intuitive features that make booking services straightforward. Charlotte Wignall, Installation Administrator, discussed how this works in practice:

We do the quote through Commusoft, send them a link on the email, and then they can physically click that link and accept it, and make the deposit.

Commusoft’s secure self-service portal offers plenty of convenience for their customers, allowing them to settle bills without any involvement from their team. Premier Heating Surrey processes these payments instantly with our Stripe integration, with everything automatically synced back to the office.

Utilising intelligent scheduling to save time

When the client accepts a quote online, Commusoft automatically converts it into a job ready to be booked in. Charlotte explained how they leverage our intelligent scheduling tool to streamline this process:

We use the suggested appointments in the diary, rather than scrolling through for ages trying to find the next engineer. We just use that and it pings up.

By analysing their calendar, this tool suggests optimal appointment times based on factors like travel distance and engineer availability. Once the team has selected a suitable slot, a confirmation email is automatically sent to the customer with all the details needed for their upcoming appointment.

And thanks to connected mobile workflows, Premier Heating Surrey has access to information from the field available in real-time. This makes it much easier to monitor quote progress, and means important information is never missed.

We can see the engineer’s forms and completed work really quickly, and send invoices quickly. It’s such a simple process, and a really good system to use.

Leigh Lush

Looking to the Future with Commusoft

Commusoft has played a key role in allowing Premier Heating Surrey to organise their quoting lifecycle more efficiently and maintain high service standards. Keith explained how this will prove crucial as they expand service lines and process even more quotes for customers:

We would like to start offering more electrical services, and possibly a few other things, like air conditioning. Obviously with Commusoft, we can use the system to grow those different aspects of the company.

At Commusoft, we prioritise continuous innovation to meet our clients’ evolving demands, and devise solutions that enable them to scale with confidence. Our decade long partnership with Premier Heating Surrey is testament to this, who appreciate our commitment to excellence:

Commusoft are always bringing out new things. They’re always evolving and keeping up-to-date with what’s going on within the industry and other trades.

Keith Richards