Do Damage Appraisers Need an Office?

It is not really a trick question, does your damage appraiser need an office is a legitimate query. Look around and see how often your damage appraisers are actually in their office.  Most of the time when I visit a shop it is easy to look around, check the offices out, and not really disturb anybody because the damage appraisers are out in the shop.....where they belong!  The offices looked great, but I would be scared to think how much was spent on them, especially when the appraisers have to run back and forth from the shop to use them.  I usually just wait for them return, attempt to write an appraisal from scratchings on a pad, watch them try to read their hasty notations, and when they can't remember something make a small exclamation and bolt out the door to take another look at the vehicle they are writing.  I imagine it is especially fun when the customer is waiting by the car, in a hurry and thinks you are bringing their appraisal to them only to find out you were just checking your notes.

As shops grow into Lean processes they will move to a more effective repair planning/blueprinting operation which is going to take more scratchings and notations, along with probably a few more trips back and forth to their "office" to complete the appraisal.  Here is where the questions comes in again, Do damage appraisers need an office?  I believe people are more effective when they are working where their work is and a damage appraisers work is not in their office, it is on the shop floor.  So the answer to the question is no and now you ask how you can fix it.

One of the best ways to do this is by using a mobile workstation such as a Goliath Cart but you can also create a fixed workstation on the shop floor using the appraisers current equipment or use a remote desktop function from a laptop or I-Pad, the goal would be to keep them close to their work, let them be more accurate and eliminate the wasted time going between the shop and office.  I believe if you ask an appraiser if they are behind, 9 out of 10 would say yes, so here is an opportunity to give them some of their time back.

You could then take that wasted appraiser office space and convert it to a nice customer lounge, clean storage for vehicle interior trim, or make it a training room.