Whip Around vs HomeGauge: Which is a better fit?

Scott: Hi, I'm Scott. I'm a safety compliance manager. And today, I'm reviewing Whip Around, and I give it a five out of five. For more reviews like this, click below. So we were having problem with paper logs. These are used to provide compliance, not only for a daily pre-trip inspection, but also for a post-trip inspection. As you can probably imagine, if the inspection is done inefficiently, it won't detect if there's an item that could be failing or a safety item that could put the driver and the general public in harm's way. So I saw this as a very inefficient way to maintain and control these logs. And also the fact that we could be audited by DOT, or if there was an occurrence of an incident, then they could really dig into our files and we might not be able to provide that information. So I thought it was a necessity to look at different options. So the reason I came about to choosing Whip Around was, I looked at the ease of the platform and how it would be easily managed by, not only myself, but also by the separate managers and dispatchers throughout our network. But then I started digging into it, and I looked at its tremendous diversity as far as being able to conform different forms and have those available for the different regions. Some areas actually have to go into other states that require them to report mileage. And I was able to create a special post-trip that included that mileage. And now we have reports instead of hoping that we got all that information in hand. The other thing that I did was, when I did the pre-trips, it's very important that you have an efficient pre-trip. So what I did was, from my previous trainings, was incorporate an engineered walk path for the drivers to take. So every driver was doing the same exact thing. It would tell them what door to go to first and then begin their pre-trip. And they would finish back at their driver's side door and get back into the cab, and then they would complete their pre-trip. But it told them exactly what to do step-by-step. Move to the front of the vehicle, move to the passenger side of the front, et cetera. As they went down and around the vehicle, there were different cards in the forms which required them to respond. Now, if they located a defect, it had a camera feature, whether it be on their phone, Android or iPhone, but also it was usable on tablets that we use as well. And they were able to take a picture of it. What was great about that was, once they sent that pre-trip, it went directly to one of our mechanic vendors. And the mechanic vendors could order parts, check their inventory, make sure they had it on hand, schedule any serviceable items right away. And anything that wasn't necessary to be serviced, they could schedule later on. So it really transformed the way we were maintaining our fleet. Which was important, because it was an aging fleet in some cases, and giving that proper maintenance is necessary to everybody's fleet. So what's it like getting all this information in? Well, you have to have all the driver's information, you have to have all the vehicle's information. And they give you templates, which you can download very easily, and then take that information, use what you already have, transpose it over onto the template and press a button. It would upload instantly. And that included forming out teams. I used the teams to break apart the markets that we service. And there was a total of eight markets, so it was important to know which markets were doing the training, were doing the initiating of the Whip Around apps in all the driver's equipment, whether it be a tablet or a phone, and then taking the driver information. And here's something that I haven't even been able to reach yet, and I hope to get to it soon, it stores all the information in there that the drivers would need compliance-wise, license, et cetera. So all that information can be stored in there. And also, you can set days of the week. Some drivers work Tuesday through Saturday, some drivers work Wednesday through Sunday, et cetera, et cetera. So you could only have them operate vehicles during that time. It's easily for them to select the vehicle, and it converts right over to any vehicle, whether it be a bobtail, which is a propane delivery vehicle, or a tank wagon used for home heating and fueling. So once they selected that vehicle, it had the appropriate cards in there that are designed for that type of vehicle. We also use it on our cranes, pickup trucks, et cetera. And again, the ease of transforming that information that you have in your database, and then putting onto this template, it was a no-brainer. It was up in two minutes and I could start. That day that I uploaded that information, I actually put on 50 drivers. And they went on, when they're introduced into the app on their phone or tablet, it actually shows a preview video of the training. And before they were done, they were ready to go. I didn't have to do much training. If they had a question, I answered it and we moved on from there. But they've run with it and it's a great, great tool. And again, I was impressed with how easy it was to implement. I think the most important thing about when you're out there searching for the right criteria for a platform that you need to maintain your fleet and to assist you in being in compliance with DOT and all the different regulations is its versatility and how flexible it can be. And I have found out that it is quite flexible. But also, if you need to communicate that information over a vast distance, that again is attainable through the Whip Around app. And I'm sure there are other platforms out there that offer that. I've looked at a few of them. Some were more pricey, very much more pricey than Whip Around. It wasn't overwhelming at all to make that decision for me. I looked at all the criteria and then I took it to the next level, and they felt confident, so much that they wanted me to implement immediately right away in all areas. Which I'm still not 100%, but I'm getting close. I'm about 75% effective in my implementation. And the training, like I said, was just... They give you a video. The drivers watch the video. It's easy to understand, and so is the app. Because some of these drivers, some of them didn't even have iPhones. So for them to go from never having an iPhone or never having a phone at all, to now having a tablet and now utilizing the concept of the Whip Around app and using it to keep them in compliance, it was a breeze. So I'd recommend you take a long hard look at it.

William F.: This is William, co-founder and inspector. I give HomeGauge a five star review. For more reviews like this, click below. We considered a lot of different products before choosing HomeGauge. Some of the things that were very important to us were, of course, ease of use, functionalities so that I can use it for different types of inspections, because we do commercial inspections, multifamily inspections, residential as well. But then some platform that contained a lot of different functionality, such as the thing to be able to send emails to clients, to be able to handle the billing, to be able to handle the scheduling and calendar portion of it. So those were some of the key things that we were looking for, but of course, it all comes down to price as a big factor because keeping your cost of overhead low is very important in a business like this. So having something that's cost-effective, very efficient and makes you be able to perform your job at a professional level was the key factors for our company. We chose HomeGauge because after looking at the full comprehensive package that they offer, it was definitely the best value for us. From getting everything set up, the onboarding support, the web services that they offered, everything just seemed to be a very efficient package and definitely at a good price. We stayed with HomeGauge because it's continued to be a great value for our company. We've looked at the other competition that's out there in the field, we want to remain being an industry leading organization within our own market, and HomeGauge helps us do that. When we first started with HomeGauge, there were a ton of training videos, as well as online support to help us get up and running. So it was fairly easy to get the program up and running for our company. We were using it right away with our first inspections. One of the things that we really enjoyed about the program is that there is so many different directions that you can go with this. So much functionality within the program that we've been able to tailor it and tweak it to our needs as the years have gone by. If you're considering choosing a software package for your company, I really recommend that you do a deep dive into each of the different packages as well as you can, because there are so many different items that come with HomeGauge that you end up paying a little bit extra with other companies. So just the overall value of longterm, as your company grows, as you're doing X number of inspections per month, whether that's five inspections or whether that's 150 or 500 inspections, add up the cost for the different services and take a good look at what's going to be a good value for your company. To us, that's what it comes down to is that efficiency, the productivity that we get out of the HomeGauge. For sure at the cost, it's a no brainer it's the package for us.