Restoration Rewind Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter
February 2018
Satisfaction with Property Insurance Claims Surges, Even as Number of Catastrophes Reaches 10-Year High, J.D. Power Finds Some of the key findings of the 2017 study: •
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Record high satisfaction amid rising costs: The Customer Satisfaction Index for property claims has increased to an all-time high while the personal lines segment has experienced an increase in incurred loss costs and more focus on managing claims expenses. Current property claims satisfaction levels are now in line with auto claims satisfaction scores, which have historically trended higher. Claim type matters: One of the external issues driving this year’s industry-wide customer satisfaction improvement is an increase in hail- and wind-related weather events. High wind and hail claims are the most frequent weather-related claims in this year’s study, and both are correlated with relatively high satisfaction scores, regardless of total cycle time. Water-related claims, by contrast, are associated with the lowest satisfaction scores. On the whole, water-related claims score 39 points lower than hailrelated claims. • Claim resolution time is key: Slow resolution time is the primary driver of lower scores for water-related claims, with the time it took to settle claim attribute receiving a rating that is 0.40 points lower (on a 10-point scale) than other claims types for water-related claims.
Study Rankings
Amica Mutual ranks highest in property insurance claims experience for a sixth consecutive year, achieving a score of 893, but this year the company is not alone. The Hanover, catapulted by a 40-point year-over-year improvement in customer satisfaction, ties Amica Mutual’s performance. Both insurers post high scores in the settlement, estimation process and repair process factors. Nationwide (882) ranks third, followed by Encompass (881), Chubb (880) and AutoOwners Insurance (878).
USAA also achieves high levels of customer satisfaction—particularly in water-related claims—although the insurer is not included in the rankings due to the closed nature of its membership. The 2017 Property Claims Satisfaction Study is based on more than 6,645 responses from homeowners’ insurance customers and was fielded between January and November 2016.
CASH IN THE DOOR Based off December’s royalties…DELTA DISASTER SERVICES OF SOUTHERN COLORADO lead the path. Great job team Emmis and team!
Finance Corner GROWTH AND CASH FLOW! Or How to STRETCH your Cash! Our recent Wednesday Webinar focused on way to make your cash stretch. Wouldn’t it be great to put in some type of machinery and just stretch it a little farther! Below is the outlie followed for the webinar.
CASH FLOW: Number One Priority is to preserve Cash to cover the costs as you grow. • • •
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Open a Savings Account to “Save for a Rainy Day”. Critical to have a Line of Credit from the bank to help cover costs as you grow. Use Credit Cards for material purchases. Fuel Card for gasoline purchases. (Continue to try to pay the balance monthly.) Request Terms from Suppliers! Always ask for 120 or 90 days on large items. And/or ask if you can pay half at 60 days and remainder at 120 days.
SUBCONTRACTORS: No Draws unless you absolutely have to. • • •
Pay subs at 30 days instead of 10 days. Pay suppliers and vendors at 45 days when possible. Negotiate with larger subs (abatement, flooring) to pay them when you get paid.
RECEIVABLES: Concentrate on getting the cash in the door as quickly as possible. • • • •
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Draws on all program jobs over 25K. Draws on all non-program jobs. Collect all deductibles, up front (assuming the carrier allows) Weekly meetings with Owner, Manager, Receivables people to discuss and strategize. Have the Mitigation Manager and Construction Manager involved when and where they can help. Have an escalation process and follow it. (Ten-day letters, liens, etc.) Aggressively chase ALL mitigation – this is your fastest turn around on money and provides cash flow. Get a direction to pay and Limited Power of Attorney on all jobs you can. Be involved in the mortgage company process from the beginning. Take control!
PAYROLL AND EMPLOYEES: • • •
No employee advances. No commissions until job is fully closed and all money collected. Always try to keep enough money in the bank to make the next payroll!
WORK IN PROCESS AND PRODUCTION: • • • •
Know which jobs to take, which ones to turn down and when to “Turn Yourself Off” Know your WIP at all times. Your WIP becomes your Payables in days or weeks. Know your Pending Work. What is not booked but is in the process of being estimated. Is this going to create a Cash Drain? Where is your WIP? When does it complete? When does it bill? When can you Collect? Is there a mortgage company?
OVERALL FINANCE: ALWAYS TRY TO KEEP YOUR PAYABLES AT NO MORE THAN HALF OF YOUR RECEIVABLES! Watch the Ratio. • •
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Watch Every penny you spend. If it is not necessary, do not buy it. Keep a very close eye on all transactions: o Your Estimates: These will become your WIP (Sales Orders) o Your Sales Orders will complete and bill. o They also will have costs associated with them. Assume you will need to pay the costs before you can collect the revenue. Use the Financial Dashboard weekly. This is a great tool for tracking what is currently happening as well as what is predicted for the future.
Marketing Corner I had the fortunate experience meeting and attending Tim Ferriss’s keynote presentation at the IFA event last year. He spoke about number of topics, but his main message was being able to control and motivate yourself to be better every day. I subscribe to the notion we can only control one thing in our lives 100%, our attitude. He has written a few books on life hacks and professional development. This latest article outlines his findings from research on what 100 successful people do in the morning and the routine he has adopted. He admits it’s hard to complete the routine everyday but creating a day set for a win comes from a good start. As marketers we need to approach each day anew and ready to win to be successful. Enjoy! Jason
After asking over 100 successful people about their mornings, Tim Ferriss adopted this 5-step routine Best-selling author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss has interviewed hundreds of ultrasuccessful people, from billionaires and chess prodigies to professional athletes and movie stars. He's asked most of them about their morning rituals and, along the way, has tested out their suggestions. In his latest book, "Tools of Titans," the author details the five morning rituals he's settled on after experimenting with those of the most successful people. Ferriss is human, too. While he aims to check off all five rituals every morning, that only happens about 30 percent of the time, he writes: "If I hit three out of five, I consider myself having won the morning. And if you win the morning, you win the day." 1. He makes his bed "It's hard for me to overstate how important this ritual has become," Ferriss writes. Making his bed every morning is a strategy that helps him deal with all of the intangibles and curveballs that life throws at him. It gives him a sense of control over his life.
"No matter how s---ty your day is ‌ you can make your bed," Ferriss writes. "And that gives you the feeling, at least it gives me the feeling, even in a disastrous day, that I've held on to the cliff ledge by a fingernail and I haven't fallen. There is at least one thing I've controlled." 2. He meditates More than 80 percent of the world-class performers Ferriss interviewed practice some type of daily mindfulness, however briefly. By meditating, "you're practicing focus when it doesn't matter (sitting on a couch for 10 minutes) so that you can focus better later when it does matter (negotiation, conversation with a loved one, etc.)," he writes. Ferriss recommends first-timers try a meditation app, like Headspace or Calm, or listen to a guided meditation, from Sam Harris or Tara Brach. Best-selling author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss has interviewed hundreds of ultrasuccessful people, from billionaires and chess prodigies to professional athletes and movie stars. He's asked most of them about their morning rituals and, along the way, has tested out their suggestions. In his latest book, "Tools of Titans," the author details the five morning rituals he's settled on after experimenting with those of the most successful people. Ferriss is human, too. While he aims to check off all five rituals every morning, that only happens about 30 percent of the time, he writes: "If I hit three out of five, I consider myself having won the morning. And if you win the morning, you win the day." 3. He does push ups Ferriss is a big advocate of doing five to 10 reps of any exercise first thing in the morning. He prefers pushups, but you could try sit-ups, squats or lunges. "The 5 to 10 reps here are not a workout," he says. "They are intended to 'state prime' and wake me up. Getting into my body, even for 30 seconds, has a dramatic effect on my mood and quiets mental chatter."
After his reps, he likes to take a "30- to 60-second pure cold shower." 4. He hydrates "This name [titanium tea] was a joke, but it stuck," Ferriss writes. The tea consists of one teaspoon of pu-erh aged black tea, one teaspoon of dragon well green tea, and one teaspoon of turmeric and ginger shavings. He also adds coconut oil or Quest MCT oil powder. It's "excellent for cognition and fat loss," Ferriss writes. He chases that with a glass of cold water. 5. He journals Ferriss alternates between two types of journaling: One is for "getting unstuck or problem solving (what should I do?)," and the other is for "prioritizing and [for] gratitude (how should I focus and execute?)." When he's writing what he's grateful for, he considers four categories: An old relationship that helped him out, an opportunity he had that day, something great that happened yesterday and something simple that is near him or within sight. Again, Ferriss only checks off all five routines 30 percent of the time. "But you can always knock off at least one," he writes. "And if you tick off three, I find the likelihood of the day being a home run infinitely greater."
Two of our software vendors were recently purchased by market leaders. It is safe to say that Delta Development Group was with the right software companies at the right time. We were one of the restoration firms to do business with Dan Long and Restoration Manager. We gave him a lot of insight into the industry and watched him soar to over 800 companies using his software. Delta Development Group also benefited tremendously. The cost for custom software is in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. We were able to get a modified software program under a custom agreement that will continue indefinitely. What is also a benefit being that now that Xactimate has chosen to partner with Restoration Manager. The other software companies that are integrated with Xactimate will no longer have that relationship. The other software company that we bet on was T Sheets. For those of you using TSheets, you know that it integrates very well with QuickBooks for job costing. TSheets was purchased by Intuit the owner of QuickBooks the first part of December 2017. This will only make TSheets stronger and will guarantee that the integration continues.
Industry-leading business management software to become part of Xactware Solutions. — Friday, December 22, 2017 — Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK), a leading data analytics provider, today announced it has acquired Service Software, a leader in business management software for the construction industry. Service Software will become part of Xactware Solutions, a Verisk business that specializes in technologies for the property insurance, remodeling, restoration, and mortgage and lending industries.
"This acquisition makes sense on so many levels," said Dan Long, president of Service Software. "With a team focus on the tightest integration with Xactware in the market we will reduce entry costs, errors and improve service." Xactware’s claims assignment, management, and analytical network, XactAnalysis®, currently integrates with Service Software’s RestorationManager.net™,which provides online and mobile job management software for the home construction and home restoration industry. Xactware and Restoration Manager make it possible for restoration professionals to save time by sharing job information, reducing duplicate data entry, and increasing productivity. Service Software also produces PunchlistManager.net™, which allows contractors to create a collaborative schedule for a contractor, field technicians, and trade partners and InspectionManager.net, which lets contractors automate inspection and quality assurance processes. “Xactware and Service Software are proud to come together to support building and restoration contractors and develop new solutions that will take the profession to the next level,” said Xactware president Mike Fulton.
This national company just bought an Idaho software firm that is adding workers fast IDAHO: One of the Treasure Valley’s fastest-growing technology startups just sold itself to a big Silicon Valley software company. TSheets, the Eagle digital time-sheet firm cofounded by Matt Rissell in 2006, is being bought by Intuit Inc., the Mountain View, California, company that makes QuickBooks software for managing business payrolls, payments and invoicing. The sale was a natural step for TSheets, which has had a partnership with Intuit for more than five years offering customers TSheets and QuickBooks together. “They are our longest and largest partner,” Rissell told the Idaho Statesman. “We already know so many people there.”
And we will leave you with this…