DeHamer Landscaping Finds a Responsive, Caring Partner
The Customer
DeHamer Landscaping began over 40 years ago as a full-service garden center and landscaping company. Today, DeHamer Landscaping continues its passion for both the products and the finished landscape as one of the best full-service landscape contractors serving homeowners and builders in West Michigan.
The Challenge
“We were using a combination of Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, and QuickBooks, and we wanted an app to better manage the business, including enabling staff to access info on their phones and time tracking to actually clock-in to jobs. Also, we were sending out estimates in QuickBooks, which doesn’t come off well to our customers,” explained Wade Vugteveen, President, DeHamer Landscaping.
The Solution
“We were relatively familiar with what’s available on the market and we evaluated a few other solutions. In the end, it came down to Landscape Management Network (LMN) and SingleOps. SingleOps seemed a lot more focused on the experience for the actual customer as well as the operational experience for our staff. The SingleOps team showed me what my customer was going to see and why my team members would enjoy it more. SingleOps also had all the functionality we needed such as job costing. It was honestly a no-brainer to go with SingleOps,” said Wade.
The Results
Implementing new technology can always provide its challenges, but after working with SingleOps, Dehamer began to make swift progress. With SingleOps, Dehamer is offering a better experience for customers & staff, managing every aspect of their operations, and has peace of mind knowing SingleOps is committed to DeHamer’s success.
Better Experience for DeHamer’s Customers
DeHamer uses SingleOps to email clients with proposals, invoices, and confirmations of upcoming appointments. Wade explained how SingleOps resulted in many improvements for both DeHamer staff and customers. “The look and feel of a proposal that the customer can interact with, make choices, and accept online is much more professional. We have a pretty high proposal acceptance rate, and I think it has gotten even better with SingleOps. Before, someone had to print off a piece of paper to sign a QuickBooks estimate which doesn’t look professional and mail it back. It was a different start to the experience. Now, our customers start off with better expectations of who we are.
“SingleOps has been a huge upgrade for us. Customers can save time and it’s a better experience for them overall. It’s also great to know that the info’s accurate and all in the same spot.”
Customer Service That Rivals Apple’s
“Two SingleOps Customer Success Managers flew up here and spent a day and a half with us. It was a real game-changer for me to see their commitment to our success. They’re willing to do whatever it takes for us to be a happy customer.
“I’ve been a big critic of SingleOps, but I will also say that I’ve never experienced customer service as good as Single Ops. Not even close. Their customer service rivals Apple’s. It’s been phenomenal. I made the choice to stop focusing on any frustrations and start focusing on the customer service, which took me from critic to huge fan. We’re so appreciative of what they’ve done,” said Wade.
DeHamer Landscaping Office Manager Allison Kniebes said, “The customer service at SingleOps is always great. While the app isn’t always able to do everything we ask, customer service is there to answer the phone and help. For example, time tracking for payroll purposes is not something that I think SingleOps is good at yet. We were frustrated at first but then changed our mindset since we understand that it takes time to get problems solved sometimes. Everyone I’ve talked to has been just awesome to talk to. It’s a really great team of people.
Using SingleOps for Everything
DeHamer Landscaping is using SingleOps to manage every aspect of operations. Crew members can clock in during snow events and DeHamer can view reports to see how much to bill customers. SingleOps is integrated with QuickBooks and the company now uses QuickBooks only for accounting.
Now that we are not using so many systems, fewer things are being missed.
“We generate new leads from initial phone calls, create proposals using templates, and email them to customers. Customers are then able to make selections and accept proposals on the convenient customer portal. We also use SingleOps to manage operations, including planning routes and assigning crew members, who access the system from their mobile phones. After the work is completed, we bill the customer, and they can pay through the online customer portal.
“It’s now easier for managers to plan routes, and great that crews have the app on their phones. It’s a much more professional experience for everyone involved. Someone answering the phone at the office can see where crews are and tell the customer when they’re going to arrive, all without making extra phone calls.”
SingleOps is Listening
Wade concluded, “To anyone considering using SingleOps, I would say that it’s not perfect, but there is no perfect software. SingleOps answers the phone every time we call, and when we have a problem, they work to fix it instead of just saying, ‘No, it doesn’t do that, sorry.’ We feel SingleOps is actually listening and is open to making adjustments to develop a system that works best for us.”