Q+A With Kristine Reinhardt: How Bolt Revolutionized Scheduling For Carolina Fall Protection

Trade contractors need technology tailored to meet their needs—a solution to manage projects, communicate with builders, and grow their business. We spoke with a customer who did that with Bolt, Kristine Reinhardt, scheduler for Carolina Fall Protection. Serving South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, Carolina Fall Protection installs temporary safety rails during the build process, ensuring everyone stays safe on the job site.

ECI: Why did you choose Bolt?

Kristine Reinhardt (KR): Before Bolt, we were using Excel for managing our schedules and I was getting frustrated. We have been looking for a program or app that works with our business for two years. Everything I found on the market was tailored for builders, not contractors. I wanted a system that would keep us organized, contain all our job information in one place, and provide real-time scheduling information to the field. After getting a demo of Bolt, I realized that this was the system I had been looking for.

ECI: Overall, how was your experience implementing Bolt?

KR: Our implementation experience was wonderful! It was seamless and easy. I was pleasantly surprised because I was dreading the implementation process. There are always challenges setting up something new, so I was hesitant and unsure what to expect. But your team was great.

I appreciated how responsive the ECI team was. The response time was excellent when something wasn’t working, needed to be changed, or if we just had questions. They got back to us quickly. If something needed to be changed, that could be, it was done. I love that we get a response when we reach out to the team. We don’t have to chase someone down.

ECI: How has Bolt helped your business?

KR: When I joined, we used Excel to create and manage our jobs' schedules. However, within my first month at the company, I knew this process wouldn’t work. I could only build the schedule a week ahead in Excel, and I had to move information from one sheet to another when the work was done. The process was confusing and inefficient. It also required me to work outside of normal business hours–either late into the night updating information or working the weekend to create a new schedule for the upcoming week. Even on vacation, I always had to take my work with me.

Now that we’re using Bolt, all that has changed. It has made my workday much easier. With Bolt, I can schedule a month in advance and make changes as needed. I don’t need to work nights or weekends! So now it doesn’t feel like I’m always working because I can schedule everything beforehand.

Not only was it easier to manage the schedule, but it also made it easier to manage job site pictures. Before Bolt, the crew would have to email me the picture, and I’d have to put it in a file. Now pictures are automatically associated with the job. No more searching in files—it's all right there.

And searching for any job is much simpler! I can enter the first three characters of the lot number, name, or address and find any job in the system. When working with community managers, Bolt lets me quickly look up the job and see if they have a PO (Purchase Order).

Best of all, I found it easy to use. Even those Installers who were initially hesitant to use a system now see how easy it is.

ECI: What would you say to someone who is considering Bolt?

KR: If you’re looking to improve the efficiency of your business, Bolt is the right software for you. It keeps you organized, provides real-time scheduling, and lets you track everything you need. All the information is in one place and, most importantly, accurate. You trust the system.