Painting Contractor Saves $7,500 Annually by Reducing Scheduling Workload and Miles Driven With OptimoRoute

Grew proposal productivity from 30 to 80 quotes a week – with half the manpower

Reduced team member travel by 3,000 miles per year

Reduced scheduling workload by up to 10 hours a week and 125 hours annually

Mike Ricker is owner of Crash of Rhinos Painting, a company that specializes in residential exterior painting in the greater Phoenix area. He shared his story about how OptimoRoute helped the company reduce costs and resolve scheduling problems that were holding them back from growing the business.

Scheduling Problem Resolved Seamlessly 

What started out as a one-man show, is now a growing business with 27 employees. Crash of Rhinos paints 600-800 homes per year or 10-14 a week. 

Originally their proposal process involved having an estimator drive over to the prospective client’s home, type up a proposal, and submit a quote to the customer on the spot. All that travel just to provide a quote was time-consuming. When Covid hit in March of 2020, this process had to change because personal contact was too risky. 

A pandemic silver lining was that by eliminating the in-person proposal process, Crash of Rhinos Painting was able to create significantly more quotes per week via Zoom and phone. However, that’s where the problem with scheduling appeared – trying to fit in all the daily quotes and make the whole process efficient. That’s where he found OptimoRoute which was a perfect fit for his company because the software flexed to their specific needs. 

Mike wanted to be able to tell his customers exactly when to expect the painting crew. They were blown away with OptimoRoute’s Realtime Order Tracking feature and sending the “Driver is on its way” notifications, which go out 60 mins before the service. The customers absolutely love knowing the exact time the technician is supposed to arrive.

Up to 80 Quotes per Week Instead of 30 – With Half the Manpower 

Before using OptimoRoute, they would operate on a first-come, first-serve basis and there wasn’t any work done to optimize scheduling. Multiple employees were hired to make the appointments manually, using only a calendar. They would spend 5-7 minutes on the phone with a customer every time they needed to schedule. They had two estimators that would manage up to 30 quotes each week. Today, one single estimator does up to 80 quotes a week.

“If you account for the amount of time that it takes somebody to make a spreadsheet, and just figure out what we’re gonna do on a given day and send out emails, and follow-up texts… There is no way to do that in less than 10 hours a week. We would have to have a person whose only job would be to answer phone calls and to worry about scheduling.”

Now they have an overview of everything that needs to be done and all the locations in one place. They can also choose what neighborhoods they want to cover on which days, and set the times and dates.

“I think that there’s still a ton of people that could hugely take advantage of OptimoRoute. They are not even aware that there could be an alternative way… and the massive amount of time and effort it saves.”

Ease of Use and Flexibility for Both Office Staff and Field Personnel

Mike started out as the only staff member using OptimoRoute to handle scheduling, but soon realized it’s easy and intuitive. He provided his entire crew with the software, and they appreciate the opportunity to have some say in their schedules. Today, Mike supervises everyone’s schedule remotely (and he loves to bust their chops when he notices they’re stopping at McDonald’s again). He has a clear overview of the monthly plans and the ability to make changes if needed.

Stand-Out Customer Service

Crash of Rhinos takes pride in providing their customers with outstanding service. In the same vein, Mike’s taken note of the great support he gets from OptimoRoute. 

“Whenever I call OptimoRoute’s customer service, I feel listened to. I have seen multiple enhancements within the past 12 months, which tells me the company is receptive to providing features based on customer feedback.”

When asked about using the app in the future, Mike concluded:

“When it comes time to re-up next year, it’s not even a thought. Here’s my Visa card.”