Tidewater Plumbing and Heating: a job app for the crew

The problem

In a plumbing and heating company, the job sheet is paper and it gets lost in the van. Photos stay on the plumbers' own phones. The invoice waits until someone back at the office has time to type it up, so the money arrives late and the customer has half forgotten the visit.

What we built

For Tidewater Plumbing and Heating, a made up plumbing company, we would build a job app for the crew's phones. Each plumber sees today's jobs in order, checks off the work, takes photos, gets the customer's signature and sends the invoice before leaving the driveway.

Problem and answer

• The notes from the office are on a sheet that did not make it into the van.

  Each job opens with the office's notes, the parts to bring and the arrival window, such as the gate key being with a neighbor.

• Nobody can prove what the sink looked like before the work.

  The app asks for a before photo and an after photo. They are saved to the job, not to the plumber's own phone.

• Steps get missed on a busy day.

  A short checklist for each kind of job, such as water off, new part fitted, ran for 2 minutes with no drips.

• A customer says later that they never agreed to the work.

  The customer signs on the phone, with a line saying they are happy with the work done.

• Invoices wait until Friday.

  The invoice is built from the job and sent by email and text as soon as the customer has signed. The office can see it too.

How it works

1. 01The office puts the day's jobs in. Each plumber sees their own list in order.
2. 02The plumber opens a job, reads the notes and checks the parts on the van.
3. 03They work through the checklist and take the before and after photos.
4. 04The customer signs on the screen. The app will not send the invoice until they have.
5. 05The invoice goes out and the job closes. The office sees all of it as it happens.

Works with

• Google Calendar, so the office schedule and the crew's lists match
• QuickBooks, so the invoice becomes a normal entry in the books
• Stripe or Square, so a customer can pay by card from the invoice
• Google Drive, where each job's photos are filed in a folder
• A text message service, for the invoice and the arrival message

The plan we would follow

1. Week 1We ride along on a few jobs, read the paper sheets, and agree what a finished job means.
2. Weeks 2 and 3We build the job list, the checklists, the photo step and the signature screen.
3. Week 4The crew run mock jobs in the yard and tell us what is clumsy with wet hands.
4. Week 5We connect the calendar, the books and the card payments, and test with the office.
5. Week 6Launch, with a short session for the crew and the office.

What the owner keeps

• The app's code and designs
• Every photo, signature and job record
• The accounts for books, payments, texts and storage, in the owner's name
• The checklists, which the owner can edit