Getting cash flow and billing right is absolutely crucial for utility contractors and those of you in the world of short-cycle work. We understand whether you’re repairing gas pipelines or maintaining network towers, every second you save can be the difference between capturing 100% of your revenue and just scraping by.
While you juggle complex projects, manage countless invoices, and ensure your revenue is up to par — it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day minutia. However, it’s important not to forget the main goal, the reason why we’re here: to get paid as quickly as possible and keep the whole operation trucking along.
This is where HeavyJob comes in.
HCSS has evolved, yet again, and fine-tuned its product to match your pace, making billing easier and ultimately helping you get paid faster. These upgrades to HeavyJob aim to help you stay agile and on top of your game — keeping operations running smoothly and (more importantly) your finances in check in this competitive market.
Feeling the Billing Inefficiencies in Short-Cycle Work
Nothing hurts a utility contractor more than disrupted operations, right? A rocky schedule and overdue invoices often lead to delays down the road and overall…loss of revenue. Managing multiple projects with tight deadlines and fluctuating demands becomes even more painful when payments are too slow. Your margin for error is too razor-thin for these types of inefficiencies.
How else could you be feeling the pain?
Lagging Data, Lagging Decisions
For those who have adopted billing software, the frustrations often stem from systems that are outdated or poorly integrated with other business tools. Legacy software and lack of integrations can slow the billing process for utility contractors, especially when dealing with short-cycle work. When you must make quick decisions, relying on outdated systems only brings you delayed invoices, billing errors, and reduced cash flow. Plus, without financial visibility, you don’t know where you stand or how you can plan ahead. Your quick-turnaround jobs depend on this up-to-date info to keep things moving. If your data lags, your operation lags.
Sloppy Documentation = Slow Payments
This seems like a given, but when utility contractors cannot accurately record worked hours and materials (usually due to inefficient processes), it can severely slow down their payment processing. Inaccurate or missing documentation often delays getting invoices approved, which inevitably keeps you from getting paid in a reasonable amount of time (or at all). This simple mistake not only puts a strain on cash flow but potentially harms client relationships.
Other ways improper documentation can slow things down:
Compliance and Inspections: Good documentation usually includes all the details inspectors need. If anything’s missing, inspectors might have to go back for extra reviews or corrections, which can hold up project approvals and delay invoicing.
Client Disputes and Clarifications: Clients might question charges if they don’t fully understand what they’re being billed for. If hours worked or materials used aren’t clearly documented, contractors could spend extra time sorting out those disputes, which just delays payment even more.
Unnecessary Admin Overload: With mistakes come corrections. Improper documentation typically means spending more time and effort fixing documentation issues, which takes away from building out new projects and work orders — slowing down your payment processing even further.
HeavyJob Evolves to Match Your Speed as Utility Contractors
After listening closely to utility contractors around the industry, HCSS has evolved yet again. This time, we’ve upgraded our HeavyJob product to serve you better and bring true speed to your short-cycle work.
These enhancements aim to simplify billing and help you maintain accurate data throughout your entire workflow, getting you paid faster and keeping your cash flow healthy as a horse. With real-time tracking for hours, materials, and equipment, you can stay on top of everything without drowning in the manual entry of paper daily field reports (DFRs).
Staying agile is crucial in a competitive market. With HeavyJob’s latest upgrades, you can streamline your operations and focus on delivering high-quality work for your clients.
Here’s what to expect from HeavyJob for utilities contractors:
Digital Daily Field Reports (DFRs) to Speed Up Your ENTIRE Workflow
Whichever type of contract you’re getting paid through, whether it’s Time & Materials (T&M), lump sum, unit price, or cost-plus — HeavyJob’s digital DFRs are built to get you to the finish line quickly.
DFRs enable you to accurately record any revenue items directly entered in the field, including their cost, production quantities, and any backup information. It keeps track of all the details about what your crew has accomplished, making sure you get paid quickly for your hard work. After one click, you could have 20 reports ready for distribution to owners, inspectors, and customers!
Paper DFRs:
- Take forever to fill out & ultimately delay invoicing
- Lend themselves to double entries, major errors, & billing disputes
- Lack the visibility to keep your cash flow in harmony
Expedite Your Invoicing Process within HeavyJob
Due to the quick nature of short-cycle work, you may face the risk of not getting paid in a reasonable amount of time (sometimes at all) for your work if it’s not properly captured and processed for invoicing. A few mistakes and you could be spending days going back and forth with inspectors trying to rectify everything.
New HeavyJob features enable your billing team to grab a group of approved DFRs, filter them by pay item, customer, or contract, and send them off for invoicing.
HeavyJob will enable you to:
- Process invoices DAILY
- Keep your billing process accurate and on time
- Take on more work and get paid faster
Keep Master Service Agreement (MSA) Rates Current & Accurate Bulk Import Tool
With bulk importing in HeavyJob, you can update MSA rates for an entire batch of work orders at a moment’s notice. No need to waste countless hours creating 100 work orders just to update each and every one when rates change at midnight.
Simply click and update the rate, and your new batch of work orders for the week will be automatically adjusted to the current rate.
No more:
- Billing for the wrong revenue
- Quoting too high & getting rejected by potential customers
- Quoting too low & not capturing 100% of your revenue
Learn What ‘Fast Billing’ is Like with HCSS
At HCSS, we’re dedicated to supporting utility contractors like you and are excited to help you achieve more. Our solutions are tailored to take your short-cycle work to the next level — helping you streamline operations and focus on delivering high-quality work. If you’d like to experience real speed and streamline your current processes, we're here to help! Let’s team up to find easy solutions that can boost your billing practices, improve cash flow, and set you up for long-term success.
Ready to see how HeavyJob can make a difference? Book a demo today!
