GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Commercial Doors

What the Tech Sees on a Commercial Door Job: Building, Bay and Door on the Card

A commercial job is only as good as what the tech knows when they pull into the lot. If the card says “door repair, back of building,” they are going to walk the building, find someone to ask, and maybe call the office. If the card says which door, where it is, who to see and what was done last time, they go straight to work.

The Tech App in Brief

Getting a manager's property list into the system is covered in Importing a Property List by CSV: Getting a Manager's Addresses Into Your System. Once those properties have jobs, this is what techs see.

The GarageDoorBossPro tech app runs in the browser on iPhone and Android and installs to the home screen — no app store. Techs log in with the company login and a personal PIN. They see the day's calls in route order, with navigation on every card. Commercial and residential jobs sit in the same list, in the order the office set on the dispatch board.

The Building

At the top of the card is the address, with a navigation button that opens directions. For a client with several buildings, the address is what tells the tech which one: the warehouse on Industrial Drive, not the one on Commerce Street. If the client uses property names, they help here too.

Below the address are the access notes saved on that building: where to check in, who to ask for, where the key is, what hours to come and any site rules. Those notes show every visit, so the tech who has never been to the building knows the routine. More on writing them in Access Notes for Commercial Doors: Keys, Dock Offices, Contacts and Hours.

The Door

The job card shows the door the job is about, with the details from the building's record. A line might read:

• “Commercial Rolling Door · 10x12 · Steel · installed 2015”
• Serial number on the next line
• “Commercial Dock 5 · second from the east end, door won't close all the way”

If the door has an opener, the opener's brand, model, HP and drive type show too. On a maintenance visit covering several doors, each door can be on the job so the tech can work through them in turn.

Past Notes

Notes from earlier visits at that address show on the card. The tech heading to Dock 5 can see that the last visit replaced rollers on Dock 5 and flagged the bottom seal. That history makes the next visit faster and shows the client that the door company remembers.

Techs should write notes with the next tech in mind: which door, what was done, what to watch for. “Dock 5: rollers replaced, bottom seal worn, recommend replacing at next visit” is a note that pays off in 90 days.

On the Job

The tech taps Start when they begin. The office sees the job is underway, and an automatic “arrived” text can go to the site contact. During the job, the tech has:

• The door safety inspection checklist. Springs, cables & drums, rollers, hinges & brackets, tracks, balance, the auto-reverse safety test, photo-eye sensors, opener force & limits, lubrication, the bottom seal & weatherstripping, the emergency release, and keypads & remotes, plus readings, a condition and recommendations.
• Before-and-after photos. Saved with the job.
• Equipment updates. If the tech corrects a serial number or installs a new opener, the change flows back to the building's record.

If the tech can't get in — the dock office is closed, the contact isn't there — they tap Skip and note why, and the office sees it right away.

Complete

When the work is done, the tech taps Complete. The invoice is created, and a card on file can be charged. For an account on monthly billing, the job lands on that month's statement under the building's address. The office sees the completed job with its photos, notes and checklist results, and can print a Garage Door Safety Inspection report for the facility manager.

Then the tech looks at the next card. If the next stop is a house with a broken spring, it shows the same way: address, door details, access notes, past notes.

The Time Clock and GPS

Techs clock in and out on the same phone, and crew GPS shows on the office map. On long commercial days, that helps the office see where each tech is and pick the right van for any emergency that comes in.

For how the tech app fits with commercial accounts, maintenance and billing, go back to the commercial garage door software overview.