WindowBossPro Blog — Tech App

Gate Codes and Dogs: Access Notes in the Window Cleaning Tech App

The front windows of a house are easy. The back windows are behind a fence, and the fence has a gate, and the gate has a code or a latch or a dog behind it. Half the windows on most houses are on the far side of that gate, so access is not a side detail for a window cleaner. It is the difference between a full job and half a job.

Access Lives on the Address

The window count, stories, sides and extras are covered in Window Count, Stories, Sides and Extras: Reading Every Job Card in the Window Cleaning App. The access notes sit right below them on the same card.

In WindowBossPro, access notes are stored on the address and shown under it on the tech's phone every time that address is on someone's list. A quarterly house cleaned four times a year shows the same gate code each visit without anyone resending it. If the code changes, the office updates the address once, and every future visit shows the new code.

Gate Codes

The most common access note. A good one says which gate, what code, and anything odd about it:

• “Right side gate, keypad code 3170, pull hard after it beeps.”
• “Back gate latch is on the inside, reach over at the top.”
• “Community gate: vendor code 2041 at the Oak St entrance.”

Add what to do if the code fails. “If code fails, do the front and skip the back with a note” saves the tech from standing at the gate wondering whether to call the customer, call the office or climb. Climbing a fence with a ladder is never the answer.

Dogs

Dogs are access information too, and they matter for the tech, the dog and the customer:

• Is there a dog? “Large dog in back yard” tells the tech to look before opening the gate.
• Is it friendly? “Friendly lab, will follow you around” is very different from “Do not enter if dog is out.”
• Can it get out? “Escape artist. Keep gate shut at all times.” A dog lost through an open gate is the worst callback a window company can get.
• What if it is out? “If dog is in the yard, text office, customer will bring it in.”

The night-before and on-the-way texts help here. A customer who knows the van is coming can bring the dog inside before the tech arrives, which turns a tricky stop into an ordinary one.

If a customer has a new dog, or the old one has passed, the access note needs updating too. A tech who sees a change should write it in the job notes so the office can fix the address before the next visit.

Other Things That Belong in Access Notes

Window cleaners run into more than gates and dogs. Anything the next tech needs to know before walking around the house belongs in the note:

• Skylights. “Two skylights on the south roof, reach from the garage roof.” Easy to miss from the ground.
• Sprinklers. “Sprinklers run Tue/Thu mornings on the back lawn.”
• Pools and hot tubs. “Pool cover is not walkable. Ladder on the deck only.”
• Inside access. “Use the side door, shoes off, alarm is off on cleaning day.”

Ladder placement gets its own guide next, because it is the access note that most often decides whether a job is safe.

When Access Fails

Codes change and dogs get let out. When the tech cannot get into the back yard, the right move is to do what can be done, then tap Skip or note the missed side and say why: “Back gate code 3170 did not work, front and sides done.” A photo of the closed gate helps.

The office sees the note, texts the customer for the new code, updates the address and puts a return visit on the schedule. The skipping side of this is covered in Skipping a Window Cleaning Job for Rain or No Access, and Noting Why.

Off the Group Text, Onto the Card

Plenty of window companies keep gate codes in a group text or on a printed sheet in the van. Group texts get long and old codes never go away. Printed sheets sit on dashboards where anybody walking past can read them. Former employees keep every code they were ever sent.

A code stored on the address and shown only to techs signed in with a personal PIN is better on every count. The current code is the only one shown, and when someone leaves the company, turning off their PIN turns off their access. To see how access notes fit with everything else on the tech's phone, visit the WindowBossPro window cleaning app page.