Given Covid, has anyone considered or better yet conducted a call-out via video call? i.e. instead of going out to the clients home, you run the diagnostic via a video call saving time and money?
I do lots of 'plumbing by phone' and have done for years. It doesn't make me any money, but it does usually ensure I'm the customer's first port of call next time they need a job doing due to the goodwill engendered. It also means I'm not forced into working when I don't want to (which these days, is most of the time!) But most folks turn to the internet for help at the moment. The Screwfix Forum is apparently very good....
Appreciate the response, Joe. Would you ever consider doing some "plumbing" over video for a fee? Do you think there are certain recurring problems that could be fixed via a quick call with an expert?
I'm sure some plumbers would do it (and YouTube has plenty of video tutorials on most common plumbing jobs), but personally, I wouldn't want to. For one thing, I don't have a webcam, and for another, it would shatter the illusions of everyone on here about how handsome they imagine me to be, and I'd hate to do that to them!
If virtual diagnosis over the internet is the new earning platform, there's lots of people on here owed thousands I really must chase up my invoices.
So are you asking would we engage with a customer on a direct 1to1 video call to assess a fault, with the client with a smartphone and use the onboard camera to point at where we tell them to?..Calls charged at a premium, and the engineer gets a cut Or are we to Host a Virtual Video channel, where clients can call in via video and ask us to demonstrate them how to do something in particular? For money.... or some of it?
Hmmmmm. Russel, are you by any chance considering or building a business that seeks to connect customers to tradesmen via an app or website where we advise customers remotely how to fix their problems? I could see some limited problems being fixed over video. But I can't see it being a commercially viable venture. 1) - Assume a best case scenario. Customer has a 4k camera running on a dedicated fibre connection directly to my computer with a huge 4k screen. You can't really see properly though camera. Theres too much that an experienced eye takes in on so many levels that just don't come across on camera. If I'm on a job in person something that looks really obvious to me can be really difficult to photograph. 2) - Lot's of other senses come into play, half the time tradesmen probably don't notice. Certain smells, noises, the tone of a knock on a wall in the right place, the slight temperature variations on a pipe or how long it takes to reach hand temperature after you touch it, how the light off your torch just slightly glints off something and half a million other tiny little things all tell a story. I can't even find a way to get clients to figure out if they have hollow or solid walls, let alone anything more complex. 3) On this basis, it would need to be a really standard job, like how to change a toilet seat. Youtube is free and exhaustive, as is this forum and the rest of the web. 4) Liability? Who's going to take that. I don't want to take liability when I was hampered by only being on cam, if you take it you're trusting that I know my stuff (when if I was a good tradesman I'd be out on a job not on your app) 5) This assumes the client has the right tools and knows which way round to hold them. In all seriousness, how I do a job varies because I have a vastly different toolkit to most DIYers, not always an issue but will be sometimes. 6) How much would you charge? Lets say a client wants to change a tap. They are connected to me, I tell them what they need to do. So they go to the garage, get their toolbox and start to have a bash. It's slow going, they have lots of questions. This fairly simple job ends up easily taking an hour with me there every step of the way. For an hour of my time I want an absolute minimum of £30. You also want a cut. At that point, hire a local handyman for about the same or a touch more who will do a better job, in less time, with a workmanship guarantee. I have a very big family. I have a degree in Computer Science and I'm also the only tradesman in our family. I can fix IT problems remotely most of the time. When a sibling calls with even a simple DIY problem it often takes a long time and results in them having to bribe me with lunch so I'll come round and do it myself. If that broadly is your business plan, it is a nice one, but I really don't see it working. Look on YouTube for an old dragons den clip where a guy started a premium rate phoneline for people to speak to a mechanic. Total failure.
This won't really work in the construction industry because even if someone was told where to put a wire how would they know how tight the terminations should be? Many intelligent people do not have manual dexterity and are incapable of holding a screwdriver without injuring themselves. If there was a way to do away with trade call outs it would have already been invented but there is no way to do virtual call outs for thousands of reasons
Trying to teach someone how to properly seat an olive on a pipe is hard enough when you are in the same room and is not something that could easily be done by video call..how long would it take? Then if and when the olive is installed just need to tell someone how to use a tap spanner...this could take a while....
Remember, they'll be trying to hold up a smart phone at the same time. So much is experience as well. Its great saying 'don't over tighten it' but what does that mean in practice to somebody that's never done it? I'm imagining hearing a hissing noise, seeing a stream of water, a swear word, some fumbling then a view of the bottom of the toilet before I kick the plug out the router and head to the pub....
I have done a fair amount of diagnostics over the phone on electrical problems but usually to get the electrics working again in an emergency. It would be easier with a camera but people have sent me photos when asked and they are usually blurred, of the wrong bit so i am not sure having a video would be a great improvement. I would not expect to get people to try and rectify the fault, some have problems saying if a breaker is on or off despite the sign alongside say if up or down is on/off. I don't fancy my chances in court when someone dies of electrocution and I say "they did say it was turned off"
Hello everyone. We've been operating as a virtual heating and plumbing service for over a year now. A lot of what people have written has been obstacles we have faced but I'd like to think we've overcome them. Really happy to talk to anyone further if they'd like to know more. For us, it was always about saving people money whilst keeping people safe.
So tell us all then, just how has this saved people money and at the same time kept them safe ? Perhaps a good start would be how much per min you charge ?