PlumbingBossPro Blog — Tech App

Onboarding a New Plumber on the Tech App in One Ride-Along

A new plumber already knows how to sweat a joint, clear a drain and swap a water heater. What they do not know is your customers, your routes and how your company runs a day. The tech app is where that knowledge lives, so teaching the app is really teaching the company. Done right, it takes one ride-along.

Before the Ride-Along: Office Setup

Knowing where every van is on the map is covered in Crew GPS on the Office Map: Knowing Where Every Plumbing Van Is. Before the new plumber shows up on that map, the office does a few minutes of setup:

• Add the new plumber as an employee with their own personal PIN.
• Assign them to a van, even if they are riding with someone else at first.
• Text them the app link and their PIN the day before, so they can install it at home if they like.

That is the whole office side. No device to order, no store account to create.

The First Fifteen Minutes at the Shop

Start the first day at the shop, on Wi-Fi, before the vans leave. Have the new plumber open the link, add the app to their home screen and sign in with the company login and their PIN. Then walk through the permissions: allow the camera, allow location, pick a map app for navigation. Ten minutes now saves a dozen phone calls later.

Then open the day's list together. Show them how the calls are in route order and how the list matches the dispatch board. Show them how to tap the clock-in.

The First Call: Read Before You Drive

On the first call, the lead plumber should read the card out loud with the new hire before tapping navigation. The address. The equipment: “Water heater, tank, gas, 50 gallons, installed 2014.” The location: “Garage, shut-off in the meter box at the curb.” The past notes: “Heavy sediment last year.”

That one habit, reading the card before driving, is the most important thing to teach. A plumber who reads the card arrives prepared. A plumber who skips it asks the homeowner questions the company already answered. The equipment card is covered in depth in The Equipment Card: Water Heater Type, Brand, Model, Serial and Size on Every Plumbing Job.

Calls Two and Three: Let Them Drive the App

By the second call, hand the phone over. The new plumber taps navigation, taps Start on arrival, takes the before photo before touching anything, does the work alongside the lead, takes the after photo, writes a short note and taps Complete. The lead watches and corrects.

If one of the calls is a maintenance visit, walk through the inspection checklist item by item: shut-off, pressure, water heater temperature, flush, anode, T&P valve, leaks, fixtures, drains. Show them where the readings go and how to pick a condition. Show them that recommendations should be written for the homeowner, because they print on the report.

The Rest of the Day: Skips and Surprises

Something will go wrong during the day, and that is good for training. A customer is not home. A job needs a part the van does not have. A drain call turns into a bigger problem. Use each one to show how the app handles it: Skip with a clear note, a note and photos for extra work so the office can add it to the job, a call to the office only when it is truly needed.

By the end of the day, the new plumber has done everything the app asks of them at least once. That is usually enough.

Pick the ride-along day with some care. A day with a mix of calls, say a service call, a drain, a yearly flush and a small repair, teaches more than a day spent on one long water heater replacement. Ask dispatch to build a varied route for the training day, and put the lead plumber who writes the best notes in the driver's seat. New hires copy what they see.

The First Week

After the ride-along, the new plumber runs their own list. The office should look at their completed jobs for the first week with a few questions in mind:

• Are the notes useful to the next plumber, or just “done”?
• Are before and after photos on the jobs that need them?
• Are skips coming in with real reasons?
• Is the checklist filled in on maintenance visits?
• Is the clock-in happening at the start of the day?

A five-minute conversation at the end of the week fixes most habits before they set. Experienced plumbers who are new to apps in general may need a little more patience, and that is covered in A Plumber App for Plumbers Who Hate Paperwork. For the full tech app, see the PlumbingBossPro plumber app page.