GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Technician App

Start, Skip, Complete: The Three Buttons That Run a Garage Door Service Day

A tech app can have a hundred features, but the day really runs on three buttons. Start, Skip and Complete are how the tech tells the office where things stand without picking up the phone. Get techs pressing them at the right moments and the office always knows the state of the day.

Three Buttons, Three Messages

Photos happen between these buttons, as covered in Before-and-After Photos From the Garage Door Tech's Phone. Here is what each button says:

• Start says “I'm here and working on this call.”
• Skip says “This call is not happening today, and here is why.”
• Complete says “This call is done.”

That is the whole vocabulary. It is small on purpose. A tech with greasy hands, standing under a door, can tap one big button without thinking about it.

Start

The tech taps Start when they begin the call. In the office, the call shows as underway. That simple status answers the most common office question of the day, “Is anyone at the Garcias' yet?”, without a phone call.

The best habit is to tap Start in the driveway, before walking up. The phone has signal there, the tech has the card open anyway to read the door details and access notes, and the status is accurate from the first minute.

Skip

Not every call happens. The homeowner isn't home and the garage is locked. The keypad code doesn't work. A car is parked in the bay that needs work. The tech taps Skip and adds a short note saying why.

The note is what makes Skip useful. “Skipped” alone leaves the office guessing. “No one home, side door locked, left a door hanger” tells the office exactly what to say when they text the customer to reschedule. The call does not vanish; it goes back for the office to deal with. More in Skipping a Garage Door Call for No Access or No One Home, and Noting Why.

Complete

Complete is the button that does the most. When the tech taps it:

• The call is marked done on the dispatch board.
• The checklist, readings, condition, recommendations, notes and photos are saved with the job.
• The invoice is created.
• If the customer has a card on file and your settings call for it, the card can be charged.
• If the visit is part of a recurring plan, like a yearly tune-up, the next one will come due on the Waiting List after the plan's minimum days between visits.

Because Complete can charge a card, it is worth making sure the invoice is right before tapping it. If the tech added rollers at the customer's request, the office needs to know so the line item is there. Payment at completion is covered in Charging the Card on File When the Garage Door Tech Taps Complete.

What the Office Sees

Put the three buttons together across a whole crew and the office has a live picture of the day:

• Which calls are done, with their paperwork attached.
• Which calls are underway right now.
• Which calls were skipped, with a reason, waiting to be rescheduled.
• Which calls are still ahead on each van's list.

Add crew GPS on the office map and the office can answer almost any customer question without calling a tech. That is what lets one person in the office support several vans.

The Buttons and the Customer

The buttons also drive what customers hear. As techs work the route, customers who have signed up for alerts get an on-the-way text when the tech heads to them and an arrived text when the tech gets there. The live map in the customer app updates as calls are done. When the buttons are tapped on time, those messages are on time.

A tech who forgets to tap anything until the end of the day, then taps Complete on six calls at once from the shop, breaks all of that. The office loses its live picture, customers get late or confusing texts, and nobody knows how long each call really took.

Owners who run their own van benefit just as much. When the owner is also the tech, tapping the buttons is what keeps the books current without a night at the kitchen table. The calls are marked done, the invoices exist, and the cards are charged by the time the van is back at the shop. The buttons work the same for a crew of one as for a crew of five.

Building the Habit

The fix is simple and worth repeating in every ride-along: Start in the driveway, Complete before backing out. Skip with a note, every time. It takes a week or two before it is automatic, and after that techs stop thinking about it.

For the rest of the tech app, visit the GarageDoorBossPro garage door technician app page.