WindowBossPro Blog — Tech App

Start, Skip, Complete: The Three Buttons That Run a Window Cleaning Day

A tech app can only be as useful as what the tech tells it. WindowBossPro keeps that down to three buttons on each job: Start, Skip and Complete. Tapped at the right moments, those three taps tell the office everything it needs to know about the day without a single phone call.

Three Buttons, Three Messages

By the time the tech reaches for a button, they have read the card and found the ladder spot, as described in Ladder Placement Notes: Telling the Next Window Cleaning Tech Where the Ladder Goes. Now the work begins.

• Start says “I am at this job and working.”
• Complete says “This job is done.”
• Skip says “This job did not happen today, and here is why.”

That is the whole vocabulary. Every job on the list ends the day as either completed or skipped. A job left untouched is the one state the office cannot read, so the goal is that nothing ends the day untouched.

Start: When the Work Actually Begins

Tap Start when you are at the house and about to begin, not while you are still driving and not after you have finished. A good habit is to read the card, take the before photos, and tap Start as the ladder comes off the van.

Start does two useful things. In the office, the job shows as underway, so anyone answering the phone can tell a customer “the crew is at your house now.” And a started job is the trigger point the rest of the day's information builds on. A job that was started but never completed is a clear flag for the office to check on at the end of the day.

Complete: Only When It Is Really Done

Complete is the most important tap of the job, because a lot happens when it goes in. The office sees the job done with its photos and notes. The invoice is created from the job. If the customer has a card on file and the account is set to charge on completion, the card is charged. If the job is a recurring cleaning, the clock starts toward the next visit, and it will come due on the Waiting List on its own.

Because of all that, tap Complete only when the job is truly finished. Before tapping, run through a quick check:

• Window count matches the card.
• Sides are done: outside, inside, or both, as the card says.
• Extras are done: screens back in, tracks wiped, hard-water spots treated.
• After photos are taken.
• Gate shut, ladder back on the van, nothing left in the yard.

A Complete tapped too early and then discovered to be incomplete is how callbacks start. More on that in No More Missed Windows: Using the Window Count and Sides as the Tech's Checklist.

Skip: Always With a Reason

Skip is for jobs that are not getting done today. Rain moved in. The gate code failed and the back is unreachable. Nobody is home for an inside job. A dog is loose in the yard. The customer came out and asked to reschedule.

The rule for Skip is that it always comes with a note. “Rain started at 1:30, did not start.” “Inside job, knocked twice and called, no answer.” “Customer asked to come back next week, having painters.” A photo of a locked gate or a wet window helps when it fits.

The office sees the skip and the reason and knows what to do next: text the customer, reschedule, or update the address. Without the reason, the office has to call the tech to find out, and the tech is probably on a ladder. Rain and access skips are covered in detail later in this series.

Partial Jobs

Sometimes a job is half done. The front and sides are clean, but the back gate would not open. Rain arrived after the outside was finished but before the inside started. These are the cases where a note matters most.

How your company handles a partial job is your call. Some owners have the tech Complete and note what was missed so the office can adjust the invoice or schedule a return. Others prefer a Skip with a detailed note and handle the billing in the office. Pick one way, tell the crew, and stick to it. What matters is that the note says exactly what was done and what was not.

Three Taps Instead of a Phone Call

A tech who taps Start, Complete and Skip at the right moments has told the office everything without ever stopping work. The office knows what is underway, what is finished and billed, and what needs another day. To see how the three buttons fit into the rest of the tech's phone, go back to the WindowBossPro window cleaning app page.