Many local governments and states include “home repair” as an essential service during lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. And it makes sense pros are at the front lines during this time – blue-collar workers are the backbone of America.
Check with your local government or state to determine if your industry is deemed an essential service provider in your community.
During this time, it is important to make sure your service technicians are in safety when performing job duties around customers.
Download the Don-Jon and Housecall Pro Pre-Visit Guidelines + Phone Screening Script and hang it on the walls in the office to help your admins prep your customers for what to expect when the team comes out to do the job.
What to ask customer when booking a service call
Here’s what to ask before sending a technician to a customer’s home
- Confirm that no one in the household has been exposed to COVID-19.
- Ask if anyone in the household has traveled recently to one of the Centers for Disease Control’s high risk areas.
- (Here is the CDC’s list of high risk countries)
- Has anyone in the household had a fever, sore throat, cough, new shortness of breath or experienced any flu-like symptoms in the past 14 days.
- Will anyone be home with the technicians when the service work is being performed, and if so, will they be willing to follow social distancing.
- Ask if the customer has any special requests for when the technician arrives. For example, the customer might your service technician to call when they arrive so they may and stay in another room/space while the technician is doing work.
Customer communication is more important than ever during this time. Learn COVID-19 home service business tips and examples of what you should be sending to customers that clarifies the safety measures your business is currently taking.
What NOT to ask customers when booking a service call
It’s also important to know what you should be avoiding to ask:
- You do not need to ask your customer’s age or risk factors. Non high-risk groups contract and spread the virus as well.
- Avoid potentially discriminating against customers based on non-coronavirus related health conditions or age. Your decisions to reject service should be based on relevant facts. This not only protects your employees against the risk of contracting the virus but also puts your customers in a safer place of not being infected.
When customers may have been exposed or are showing symptoms
When a customer has traveled to a high-risk area or is experiencing flu-like symptoms or has been exposed, consider whether their service is necessary. If it’s possible to postpone their service until the future, this will decrease your team’s risk of exposure.
However, when the customer is experiencing a home emergency, it is up to you and your team whether to take the job. Consider an opt-in policy for employees willing to perform these emergency services. In addition, the job would be considered a high exposure risk which requires additional safety procedures.
Other safety tips for your tech during the job
We’ve shared tips on how to safely and responsibly perform an essential service during the outbreak, including sanitization practices and social distancing measures you can take based on guidelines by the CDC and OSHA. Learn more here.
Give your technicians the physical protection necessary when they are our performing jobs in customer homes. These are some common safety equipment you should be providing your technicians during this time:
- Gloves
- Masks
- Boots
- Sanitizing products
It would also be beneficial to give your technicians a sanitizing protocol to follow for before and after jobs that directly states how they should be sanitizing equipment and tools between jobs during this special time.
