PlumbingBossPro Blog — Dispatch & Scheduling

On-the-Way and Arrived Texts: Plumbing Dispatch the Customer Can See

Dispatch is mostly invisible to customers. They do not see the board, the route order or the van filter. What they see is whether the plumber showed up when they expected and whether anyone told them what was happening. Automatic texts are the part of dispatch the customer actually experiences.

The Texts Behind the Window

Setting realistic windows is covered in Arrival Windows and Call-Ahead: Setting Plumbing Customer Expectations. The texts are what make those windows feel tight on the day, because the customer gets told when things move.

What Gets Sent and When

PlumbingBossPro sends customer alerts automatically, based on what the customer chose:

• Night before: a reminder that the plumber is scheduled tomorrow.
• When they're next: a text when they are next on the tech's route, the on-the-way moment.
• Tech arrived: a text when the tech gets there.

The on-the-way and arrived texts go out from the tech's phone as they work the list. The tech does not have to type anything or remember to call. Working the route in order is what triggers them.

Customers pick which alerts they want and can change their preferences in the customer app. Some want all three, some only want the night-before reminder.

Why Route Order Matters for Texts

The “you're next” text is only accurate if the tech works the route in the order on the board. If the tech skips around, the customer who got “you're next” may wait longer than expected while another customer gets a surprise visit.

That is a good reason for the office to own the route order and for techs to follow it, or at least tell the office when they change it. When the board, the phone and the texts all agree, customers trust them.

What the Texts Replace

Before automatic texts, plumbing offices handled the same needs with phone calls:

• The office calling customers the day before to confirm.
• The tech calling from the van to say they are on the way, while driving.
• Customers calling the office to ask where the plumber is, and the office calling the tech to find out.

Every one of those calls takes time from someone who has other work. Automatic texts cover most of them without anyone picking up a phone.

Arrived Texts and Access

The arrived text is useful in plumbing in a specific way. A lot of plumbing work needs the customer to do something when the tech gets there: open the garage, open the crawlspace hatch, put the dog away, tell the tenant. A text that says the tech has arrived gets the door opened faster.

For rentals, make sure the alert goes to whoever will be at the property, and put the tenant's contact and access instructions in the notes on the house.

Two-Way Texting for Everything Else

Automatic texts cover the routine moments. Two-way texting from the office covers the rest: a delay, a question about access, a request to move to another day, a photo of a leaking shut-off. Customer replies come back to the office, not to the tech's personal phone.

For longer delays, a personal text from the office is worth more than any automatic message. “The job before you is taking longer than planned, we're about an hour behind” keeps a customer on your side.

Texts, Segments and Your Plan

Plans include a monthly text allowance counted in segments sent and received: 500 on Start, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Crew. A short alert is usually one segment. Keep your own messages short and plain and the allowance goes further.

The Live Map Adds Context

Texts tell customers when something happens. The customer app shows the whole picture, with the day's route on a live map and their position in it. Customers who like to watch can watch, and customers who just want the text get the text. The map side is covered in Route Position in the Customer App: Showing Plumbing Customers Where They Are in Line.

Dispatch Customers Can Feel

Most customers will never know how carefully you routed their van. They will know whether they got a text when the plumber was on the way and another when he arrived. That is the part of dispatch that shows up in reviews and repeat calls. To see how the texts connect to the board and the tech app, visit the PlumbingBossPro plumbing dispatch software page.