Mother nature is unpredictable, and it’s that unpredictability that’s behind the rapid growth of the property restoration market. With that, comes technology to manage the endless projects.
Which is how RocketPlan was born.
“There’s heavy documentation involved in restoration projects,” says Joe Tolzmann, CEO of RocketPlan, a SaaS platform for property restoration contractors and insurance claims professionals. “If even a small piece of information is inaccurate – like a flooded bedroom gets tied to the wrong address – insurance claims are delayed and it hampers progress.”
Vancouver-based RocketPlan facilitates communications between field teams capturing data on job sites, and teams back at the office. Tolzmann says legacy platforms weren’t solving the issues that field teams faced when trying to share data. And the platforms were also difficult to onboard. Tolzmann should know. He used to work in the field as a restoration pro.
“This is from experience: multiple people on multiple field teams are taking photos, documenting damage for reporting, estimating, and billing, they need to order the right equipment, track billable hours, submit insurance documents – it can be a struggle to keep track,” he explains.
“The software I was using didn’t live up to promises. They did not integrate or generate automatic reports as claimed by the vendors.”
“Legacy platforms also took weeks and sometimes months to train users – only to fail the users anyway,” he adds.
So when Tolzmann couldn’t find software to solve all those problems, he decided to build one. RocketPlan’s entire philosophy is that users should be able to conduct their business from the device that’s always with them – their smartphone – to save time and money.
“Insurers are wasting thousands of dollars per employee just to ‘redo paperwork’, first capturing it in the field, then re-entering it at the office,” he explains. Based on experience, Tolzmann estimates insurers spend at least $6,600 per employee per year for redundant tasks like data entry. RocketPlan automates those tasks.
“This means insurance claims are submitted quickly, accurately, and paid out on time – speeding up the restoration process so projects move forward, and people can get back into their homes faster,” he adds.
All of its features have attracted RocketPlan some significant attention. Tolzmann says the company is signing some of the biggest property restoration companies in the world.
On the RocketPlan website, users say “there’s no guessing or wondering where documents are stored or shared using the app.” They also praise the platform’s ability to maximize operational efficiency, which has helped RocketPlan’s clients land new customers.
In the last few months, disaster insurance claims have taken center stage in places like Florida, where insurance adjusters have come forward saying their claims had been altered by insurers.
Tolzmann says advanced technology can keep everyone in the property restoration process honest.
Because RocketPlan is an all-in-one app, all stakeholders – from the insurance adjuster, to the insurer, restoration company, contractor, estimator, project manager and policyholder – all have access to the same, relevant documentation at the same time.
All documentation is GPS-tracked and time-stamped, undergoing what Tolzmann calls an ‘automated data verification’ process.
“Reports all in one place creates transparency. Not only minimizing the insurer’s liability, but it prevents fraud by every stakeholder,” adds Tolzmann.
