We bet you know this feeling: You’ve been grinding every day, doing the work that keeps homes safe, restores property, and brings peace of mind to families. You’re working late nights, early mornings, and sacrificing weekends to meet deadlines. You’re pouring your heart and soul into your restoration business. And, you’re exhausted.
But no matter how hard you hustle, the money just isn’t flowing as it should. Cash flow is unpredictable. You’re chasing payments, fighting with adjusters, and battling disputes with customers.
Sound familiar?
Let me tell you something right now—it doesn’t have to be this way.
The secret to controlling your cash flow, eliminating delayed payment, and safeguarding your business isn’t “work harder.” It’s (and you’ve surely heard this): “Work smarter.”
But what does working smarter, actually mean? Surely, you must be working as “smart” as you can.
While I’m sure you’re working smarter than most, I’ve never been above seeking help from other entrepreneurs. Here’s one of my best hacks and, possibly, one of the most underrated tools in our business: comprehensive documentation.
Yep, that’s right—documentation. This is the secret weapon that separates the successful from the struggling. Documentation can bring faster payments, fewer disputes, and more freedom to your business.
It’s time to leverage documentation to stop being exhausted and feeling behind. Instead, bring your business to new levels you never thought possible.
The Difference with Documentation
Our take on “the devil is in the details” is “your success is in the details.” And those details live in your documentation.
For us, documentation isn’t just about keeping good records. It’s about creating an unshakable system of proof that protects your business from every angle. Keeping solid documentation eliminates uncertainty and allows you to do your best, most efficient work.
Here are four ways documentation can become an amplifier of your success.
Proof of the Work You Do:
Insurance companies, customers, and adjusters aren’t out there with you in the field when you’re making it happen. They don’t see the hours you put in or the complexity of the job.
Documentation is what shows them. It justifies every task you perform and every dollar you’re owed. Without in-depth documentation, you’re short-changing your work and leaving yourself open to questions, challenges, and disputes.
Justification of Your Costs:
You know this as well as I do — Insurance adjusters and customers don’t always want to pay what you’re asking. They have a tendency to question your pricing, hours, and materials.
Do you know what throws a wrench into their time-consuming, nitpicky, and costly exchange? Line-by-line documentation. When you break down every cost, effort, and good purchase, you create irrefutable proof. Stop asking for money—simply state what’s yours. No one can argue with that level of clarity.
Shield Against Disputes:
Disputes are a sinkhole of your time, energy, and costs. The best remedy is comprehensive documentation. It offers concrete, undeniable evidence should you enter a dispute and often eviscerates the threat of a dispute before it even begins. More documentation, fewer disputes. Start now.
Accelerator for Faster Payments:
I’m sure you’re well aware that time is money. Every day you’re waiting on a payment costs you. Less cash in the bank means a slower rate of progress for you and your business.
The thing few business owners realize is: incomplete documentation is the #1 reason for payment delays.
When you provide adjusters with a complete, airtight documentation package from jump, you’re eliminating the back-and-forth, the questions, and the time wasted. You’ll be shocked at the difference in payment speed.
Convinced about the power of and leverage documentation provides? Let’s jump in.
The Blueprint for Bulletproof Documentation:
Build Your System
From initial assessment to final inspection, excellent documentation needs to permeate every step of your process.
Here’s our 7 Steps to Bulletproof Documentation.
Ace Your Initial Assessment
The moment you walk onto a job site, the documentation begins. Your initial assessment sets the standard and level of success for the rest of this job.
If you skip this step or do it half-heartedly, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Save yourself the heartache and instead nail this step from the start. Here’s what that entails:
Thorough Descriptions:
Go deep. Don’t just do the bare minimum. Describe every detail of the damage you’re there to repair. The more information you provide, the stronger your claim will be.
Photographic Evidence:
This is your secret weapon. Take high-quality photos of everything. Before, during, and after the job. These photos are proof that backs up every word you say and every dollar you charge.
It doesn’t cost you anything to take thorough photographs, but it may cost you if you don’t. Take more photos than you need and learn what makes an excellently documented project.
Accurate Estimates:
Your estimate isn’t just a number you throw out there. It’s a carefully calculated breakdown of every cost associated with the job—materials, labor, and anything else involved. Take the time to build a thorough estimate. The more precise you are, the smoother the process will be.
When you start with a meticulous eye for detail, you set the tone for the entire project. You eliminate surprises, prevent disputes, and establish yourself as a professional who’s in control and understands their worth.
- Take Photos Worth 1,000 Words (and $10,000s of Revenue)
The photos you take the time to take are your irrefutable evidence. They tell the story in a way that will far surpass your written description. When you’re dealing with insurance claims and disputes, visual proof is often the deciding factor. Here’s how to master photographic documentation:
Crystal-Clear Images:
Don’t settle for blurry, poorly lit photos. Invest in a good camera, or even use your smartphone if it has a high-quality camera. Your photos need to be clear and professional.
Take the Time for Lighting:
Along with excellent quality images, take the time to light or add light to the scene. This up-levels the quality of your photos and adds ease to deciphering what the photo is of. Beyond that, it adds a layer of professionalism to your work and your photos that increases your credibility should it come to a dispute.
AR Pro Tip:
Buy or borrow a few lighting tools to properly light your photos. Once you understand the lighting tools that best support your workplace, make an investment in your lighting tools.
Label Everything:
Organization is key. Label your photos clearly, so you know what they’re photos of, and so that you can find them easily when you need them. Trust me, when you’re knee-deep in a claim, you don’t want to be searching through hundreds of unnamed photos.
AR Pro Tip:
Don’t be afraid to use folders. Along with naming your photos, organizing them in project folders and subfolders makes sorting through them that much easier.
Show the Full Story:
Don’t just take “before and after” shots. Take photos throughout the entire process. Show the damage, the repairs, and the final product. Anytime something visually changes, take a photo. This will paint a complete picture of the job and provide the evidence needed to justify your work.
AR Pro Tip:
Every day you do work, take a photo. You can always delete the “extra” ones later.
Photographic evidence is one of the most powerful tools you have in your arsenal. Use it to your advantage.
- Build Indisputable Invoices
Your invoices aren’t just bills—they’re a detailed record of the work you’ve done. They need to be so clear, so detailed, that no one can question them. Here’s how:
Itemized Breakdown:
Every charge needs to be listed separately. Don’t lump everything into one category. Break it down by materials, labor, and any additional costs. If it can be further broken down, do it. It’s worth the granularity to increase clarity.
Attach Proof for Every Charge:
Receipts, subcontractor agreements, work orders—attach everything you can to support your charges. When you can back up every dollar with documentation, you’re removing any reason for an adjuster to push back.
Avoid Lump Sums:
Lump-sum invoices are a recipe for disputes. Be clear, be specific, and provide all the details that show exactly what you’re charging for and why.
AR Pro Tip:
At the end of each day, adjust and add to your invoice. Track your spending and your paperwork by taking a moment to close out your day by marking any purchases and charges to your accounts.
- Document Every Change
As things change, you need to document your changes. As the scope of work evolves, so do the costs. If you don’t document those changes, you’re opening yourself up to disputes and potentially not getting paid for them. Here’s how to stay on top of your work:
Formal Change Orders:
Anytime the scope of work changes, create a formal change order. Include what changed, why it changed, and how it affects the cost.
AR Pro Tip:
Create a template for your change orders to streamline this step and make your process quick and professional.
Get Approval in Writing:
Verbal agreements don’t cut it. Get written approval from the customer or adjuster for every change. This protects you from disputes later on.
AR Pro Tip:
Again, at the end of the day or the start of the next day, set aside some time for your communications. Part of that time should be spent putting down in writing any changes to the project and getting them approved.
- A Paper Trail is Your Friend: Log Every Communication
How many times have you found yourself in a “he said, she said” situation with a customer or adjuster? To avoid that, log every communication—emails, phone calls, meetings—everything.
Here’s how:
Date and Time Everything:
Record the exact date and time of every conversation. This adds a layer of credibility and makes your records bulletproof.
Be Specific:
Document what was discussed, what was agreed upon, and any next steps. The more detail you include, the better.
Send a Confirmation to the Customer:
If the matter you’ve discussed was not in writing, put it in writing and send it to the customer for confirmation. That way, you’re creating a paper trail of what was agreed upon and where the project is. This helps you track the project and build trust and alignment with your customer.
Leave and create a paper trail; it’s worth taking the time to build clarity and credibility.
- Organize Like a Pro: Value Clarity Over Chaos
Let’s be real: If your documentation isn’t organized, it’s useless. You need a system that keeps everything in its place, easily accessible, and rock solid.
While I acknowledge this might take a bit of time (especially in the beginning as you get used to new systems), staying organized will accelerate your projects overall and enhance your level of professionalism. Overall, you’re saving time, creating SOPs, and clearing out clutter to focus on the work that really matters.
Here’s a few tips on how to jumpstart your organization habit:
Centralized Storage:
All your documentation needs to be stored in one place—estimates, invoices, communication logs, photos—everything. Use a cloud-based system like AR Workflow to keep your documents organized, secure, and easy to access. Organizing your accounts receivable not only saves you time, it also makes it easier to do every other aspect of your job.
Consistent Naming:
Ever spent hours searching for a document because it wasn’t labeled properly? Let’s not do that ever again. Instead, use consistent naming conventions, like project name, date, and document type. This makes it easy to find what you need when you need it.
Backup and Security:
Imagine losing all your documentation because of a technical glitch. It’s a nightmare scenario, right? Protect yourself by backing up your documents regularly and using secure, cloud-based storage solutions.
AR Pro Tip:
We know that starting initiatives like these is scary, especially when you feel behind on the day-to-day. Take a day (or half day) at the end of this upcoming month and do an “organization audit.”
If you have a barebone of organizational systems, use inspiring literature (such as this article) to build out and further streamline your systems.
If you like the systems you have in place, take some time to examine them.
How could they be further automated?
How could the processes you have in place take less time or cost you less?
Is everything you have backed up?
Use the above article and tips as a jumping-off point to level up your organizations’ organization.
- Final Inspections and Sign-Offs: Seal the Deal
The last thing to ace is your final inspection and sign-off. Here’s how to ace this and reduce the time delays and disputes:
Photograph the Final Product:
Just like you did at the beginning, take photos of the completed work. This adds another layer of visual proof.
Get Written Sign-Offs:
Don’t rely on verbal agreements. Get written confirmation from the customer or adjuster that the job is complete and satisfactory.
Simplify and Streamline Documentation
with AR Workflow
While you can take all of the steps listed above without any help, why? What if you had an industry-specific tool to help you track your progress, automate your communications, and centralize your communications? Do you want your new documentation habits to take an hour at the end of each day or just a few minutes?
Make your documentation practices quicker and simpler with AR Workflow. We’ve designed this tool for you and our industry, and as a result, you get:
Centralized Communication:
Consolidate and organize your paper trail in one place for ease, clarity, and maximum organization. Save time and always know what’s going on. Sync and combine emails, SMS messages, phone calls and in-person notes all in one system.
Pre-Built Campaigns:
Standardize and systemize your projects with pre-built campaigns, templates, and documents to accelerate the rate of any project. Use our industry-designed email and SMS campaigns and messages to align customers and keep the project on track.
Consolidated Documentation:
Keep all photos, notes, communications, and status updates in one place under your customer details page. Build comprehensive dossiers for each project, accelerating project completion and payment.
You’ve got the power in your hands to eliminate the uncertainty that’s been holding your business back. And once you do that, you’ll see cash flow like you’ve never seen it before. Access more freedom, more control, and more opportunities for growth.
Try our free 14-day trial today. Let’s get documenting.
Free Your Restoration Business from Financial Uncertainty with Ironclad Documentation
It’s time to take control of your business’s financial destiny. Stop chasing payments. Eliminate disputes. Say hello to financial freedom. Are you ready to do all of that?
The power is in your hands.
Comprehensive documentation is the key to faster payments, fewer disputes, and a business that runs like a well-oiled machine. This isn’t just about protecting your business—it’s about scaling it. Create a system that works for you, so you can focus on what you do best.
The time to act is now.
Get your documentation in order, build a system that protects you, and watch as your cash flow skyrockets and your business thrives.
And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We’re here to help.
