With your GPS-equipped fleet, you can watch from afar where your employees are at any given moment — at least while they’re in transit.
But what happens when they step outside of their vehicles? Likely, you simply trust they’re going to do the job for which they were hired. But what if you could also monitor their performance at the pool from the comfort of your office?
It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Some home service trades equip their staff with body cameras to document their work, hold employees accountable and give homeowners a sense of security.
Miami Mold Specialists is one such company. Body cameras help differentiate the firm from unlicensed contractors that have plagued Florida in the wake of record-setting storms, management says. In other words, the devices are something of a badge of trust.
“Our state licensed mold removal technicians are now able to not only record an entire project from start to finish. Clients are now able to watch the entire mold-remediation process through a live video feed, allowing even more transparency and interactivity with Miami Mold Specialists,” the company touted in a press release.
That some in the home services industry are using body cameras is a surprising development.
“It’s not the intended market we had in mind,” said Neil Coppola, president of American Bus Video.
The Cumming, Ga. company distributes the devices through resellers who primarily serve paratransit drivers — professionals who might need the footage to defend themselves from false claims of abuse. However, Coppola acknowledges that wearable cameras have applications for home service trades. Pool service, lawn-care and pest-control professionals, for example, can use them to gather video documentation and email timestamped clips to customers as proof that they performed the scheduled task.
Small waterproof units sell for $140 or less and are capable of live streaming video. That feature, however, might be overkill in the context of pool maintenance. Coppola warns that streaming high-definition video through these systems can rack up costly data charges. For that, you’re better off using your smartphone.
There’s also something to be said of the double-edge sword of video evidence. Depending on the situation, it can be used to vindicate or condemn, Coppola cautioned.
Kirk Bradley, owner of On-Time Pool Service in Sarasota, Fla., is intrigued by the idea. He advises his employees to work as though they’re under constant watch, “whether it is the camera in the corner of the patio, the neighbor next door or the homeowner hiding behind the curtains inside,” he said.
Body cameras would be yet another layer of scrutiny, one that could give homeowners peace of mind.
“One of my other mantras is ‘perception is reality,’” Bradley said. “It is not actually what we do that matters, it is what the customer thinks we do. So if we can change or fully document reality with body cameras, then we may be able protect ourselves from a customer’s perception that we ‘splashed and dashed.’”
