WindowBossPro Blog — Routes & Scheduling

The Window Cleaner's Day in Route Order on the Tech's Phone

All the work of building a route ends up in one place: the phone in the tech's pocket. A great route on the office screen is only as good as how it shows up on a ladder at 8 a.m. If the tech has to scroll, call or guess, the route falls apart. If the next stop is right there with everything they need, the day runs itself.

From the Board to the Phone

The previous article, Skipped Stops: What Happens When a Window Cleaning Job Can't Be Done Today, looked at one button on the tech's phone. This article walks through the whole day from the tech's side.

The WindowBossPro tech app runs in the browser on iPhone and Android and can be installed to the home screen. There is no app store download. Techs sign in with the company login and their own personal PIN, so every job, photo and clock-in belongs to the right person.

The Day in Order

After login, the tech sees the day's jobs in route order: the same order the office set on the dispatch board, whether by auto-routing Closest First or Furthest First from the shop or by hand. Stop one is at the top. When it is done, stop two is next.

If the office changes the order during the day, for example to fit in a same-day add-on, the phone follows. The tech does not need a new printout or a phone call. For how the order gets set, see Closest First or Furthest First: Setting Window Cleaning Route Order From the Shop.

Everything on the Card

Each job card has what the tech needs at the curb:

• The address with a navigation button. One tap opens navigation. Nobody types an address with wet hands.
• Window details. A line like “28 windows · 2-story · Inside & Outside · Screens,” so the tech knows what gear to pull off the van before walking up.
• Access notes. Gate code, dog, where to set the ladder, skylights.
• Notes. Anything else the office or a previous tech left for this address.

The tech reads the card once, in the driveway, and gets to work.

Start, Skip, Complete

Three buttons run the stop. Start tells the office the job is underway. Skip, with a note, tells the office why a stop could not be done. Complete finishes the job.

Before-and-after photos can be taken in the app and stay with the job, useful for hard-water work, post-construction cleans and the occasional customer who says a window was missed. When the tech taps Complete, the invoice is created and the card on file can be charged, so payment happens before the van leaves the driveway.

Texts Without Typing

As the tech works the list, the app sends customers automatic on-the-way and arrived texts, based on the alerts each customer chose. The tech never types a message. Customers who reply reach the office through two-way texting, not the tech's personal phone.

Because these texts follow the route order on the phone, a well-ordered route means customers get accurate heads-ups. See ETA and Arrived Texts: Telling Window Cleaning Customers When the Van Is Coming.

Clock and GPS

The time clock is on the same phone. Techs clock in at the start of the day and out at the end, so hours are recorded as they happen. While techs are working, crew GPS from their phones shows on the office map, which lets the office answer customer calls and place add-ons without calling anyone on a ladder.

Learning It in a Morning

Window cleaners did not get into the trade to fill out forms on a phone. The app asks for a few taps per stop and gives back the address, the job size, the way in and fewer phone calls. Most techs are comfortable after one morning: log in, look at the first card, tap navigate, read the details, tap Start, take the photos, tap Complete, next card.

Because you are never billed per user, every tech, part-timer and the owner can have the app.

When the Tech Knows Something the Office Doesn't

Techs see things the office never will: the back of the house has twice the glass the front does, the gate code was changed, a new skylight went in over the kitchen. Notes on the job let the tech pass that along in a few words. The office updates the address, and the next tech who gets that stop sees the corrected window details and access notes on the card. Over a few cycles, every address on the route gets more accurate.

The Route, in Their Hand

Building the route is the office's job. Running it is the tech's, and the phone is where the two meet. For the rest of the routing and scheduling tools, visit the WindowBossPro window cleaning route software page.