Trähus Oy
Case study · Renovation & wooden home building
How Trähus increased their billing rate to 95% in a few weeks
While Trähus is in the home building business – specializing in restoring old, wooden houses – the company initially had difficulty in building strong customer relationships.
Results
The results were quick and impressive
Pictures and videos from the building site increased by more than 100% in just a few weeks
Everybody involved in tasks has a visual overview of ongoing construction activities - reducing the need for checkups and check-ins
Job Managers saved 2.5 hours per person, per day because of improved collaboration and real time communication
Billing rate increased to 95% of all hours spent on customer jobs. There are minimal invoice queries as customers are included in task updates
Rework decreased to 30 hours over 12 months (out of 75,000 hours invoiced) in over 12 months
Finding the problem
A year ago, Thomas Noreila , the CEO of Trähus, was about to call it quits. Profitability was weak and multiple customer complaints had resulted in costly rework having to be done on already completed jobs.
"The big eureka moment for me was when I realized that all the rework and customer complaints we experienced had less to do with the quality of our work and more to do with not meeting customer expectations.
Successfully completing a job requires close communication and collaboration between all task team members, especially the homeowner," says Thomas.
Implementing a solution
Armed with this insight, Trähus took deliberate action to increase transparency in their communication by always including customers in their building phases, ensuring that they were kept in the loop at all times.
“We chose to use Buildbite as the tool to help us improve customer relationships and retention, and we have never looked back," he adds.
Enhancing customer experience
With Buildbite, customers are informed about job updates, timelines, and milestones. This creates trust, demonstrates professionalism, and enhances the overall customer experience.
Homeowners and field workers feel involved and empowered when they can actively participate in the construction process.
Increasing accountability
Thomas was shocked with the results. “We are a traditional business, and many skilled craftsmen aren’t used to using smartphone applications for documenting their work. For some, it can feel intrusive and a sign of distrust.
The breakthrough for us was when we started using Buildbite’s sharing capabilities directly with the customer and the craftsmen would receive praise from the customer directly in the job task chat for all to see.”
Trähus Oy
“There's a big difference between building a house and building a home. The former is defined by four walls and one roof, whereas the latter has a much deeper meaning and is often the embodiment of lifelong dreams and aspirations. Trähus not only builds homes, but with Buildbite we also build great relationships with our customers, and get many referrals.”
Thomas Noreila
CEO, Trähus Oy
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