WindowBossPro Blog — Routes & Scheduling

The Window Cleaning Dispatcher's Morning Checklist

Whoever builds the routes, whether that is a full-time office manager or the owner with a coffee before the van leaves, has the same job every morning: make sure every crew knows where to go, in what order, with what they need, and that every customer knows they are coming. A short checklist turns that from a scramble into a fifteen-minute habit.

Why a Checklist

The last article, Filling Gaps in the Window Cleaning Schedule Before They Cost You a Day, ended with the idea that gaps are cheapest to fill early. The morning routine is where that happens, along with everything else that keeps a day on track.

The steps below assume WindowBossPro, where jobs come due on the Waiting List, each van's day lives on the Scheduled List and dispatch board, and techs see their day in route order on their phones. Some dispatchers do most of this the evening before and just check it in the morning. Either way works.

1. Check the Weather

Start with the forecast for the hours the crews will be out. Rain coming at noon? Wind picking up in the afternoon? The decision about whether conditions are safe for ladders and outside work is yours to make. If the day needs to change, it is far easier to change it now, before techs leave the shop. See Rain Days: Rescheduling Window Cleaning Jobs Without Losing the Week for what to do when it does.

2. Scan the Waiting List

Open the Waiting List map. Look for overdue pins, the ones more than seven days past due, and anything new that came due overnight. Overdue customers should be on a route this week if at all possible. Note any due jobs that sit close to today's routes; they are your gap fillers if something cancels.

3. Check Each Van's Day

Filter the dispatch board by van and look at each one. Does the residential van's day fit, based on the window count, stories and sides under each address? Does the storefront van start with the shops that open earliest? Is anyone out sick, meaning their stops need another van or another day?

If a day is light, pull in a due job from the Waiting List. If it is heavy, move a flexible job to tomorrow and text the customer.

4. Set Route Order

Auto-route each van Closest First or Furthest First from the shop if you have not already, then set route order by hand for stops with time windows: early storefronts, inside cleanings where the customer said mornings, a job that has to be done before a party. The order you save is what the tech sees and what drives customers' “when I'm next” texts and their place in line on the live map.

5. Read the Notes on New and Unusual Stops

Glance at the access notes for any first-time customer and any one-time job. Is there a gate code? A dog? A note about where to set the ladder or a skylight that needs care? If something is missing, text the customer now, not when the tech is standing at a locked gate. Clear notes on the stop card save phone calls all day.

6. Let the Texts Go Out

Customers who chose the night-before alert already got their reminder. On-the-way and arrived texts will go out automatically from techs' phones as the route runs. Your job is to check the two-way texting inbox for any replies from last night: “Can you come after 11?” or “Gate code changed to 2290.” Update the route or the address before the crew leaves.

7. Once the Vans Roll

After the crews log in with the company login and their PINs and head out, keep the office map open. Crew GPS shows where each van is. Watch for skips coming back with a note, check that the first stops started on time, and keep an eye out for a day running ahead or behind. Fill gaps from the Waiting List and move late stops before customers are left waiting.

At the end of the day, a quick look at tomorrow closes the loop. Completed jobs are already invoiced, recurring plans have started counting toward their next due date, and tomorrow's routes are ready for the morning.

If you do the checklist the night before, the morning version shrinks to steps one, six and seven: a final look at the weather, any overnight replies, and watching the vans roll. Either way, keep the order the same every day. A routine that never changes is a routine nobody skips.

A Routine That Runs Itself

Weather, Waiting List, vans, route order, notes, replies, then watch the day. Fifteen minutes in the morning saves hours of phone calls. For the tools behind each step, see the WindowBossPro window cleaning route software page.