PressureWashingBossPro Blog — Crew App

One-Tap Navigation: Getting the Wash Rig From One Driveway to the Next

Typing an address into a map app is a small thing. Doing it twelve times a day with wet hands, a soaked glove on one of them, while the pump is still ticking as it cools, is not so small. Every job card in the PressureWashingBossPro crew app has a navigation button so the washer never has to type a street name.

From the List to the Road

The list itself is covered in The Washing Day in Route Order: Working the Crew App List Top to Bottom. Each job on that list carries its own navigation button.

One tap opens directions to the job's address in the phone's map app. The washer follows the directions, arrives, and comes back to the crew app to read the card and tap Start. There is no copying and pasting, no reading a printed sheet at a red light, and no guessing which of two similar street names the customer lives on.

Why the Address Has to Be Right

Navigation is only as good as the address behind it. Most problems with directions trace back to the client record, not the phone:

• Missing unit or building numbers on commercial properties and HOA common areas.
• New construction where the street is not in the map yet.
• Shopping centers where the address is the main sign but the job is the drive-thru lane around back.

Clients can have many addresses, so a restaurant group or HOA can have each location on its own address with its own notes. Addresses imported by CSV are placed on the map automatically, and it is worth spot-checking the pins on the property map after an import. A pin in the wrong spot is a rig in the wrong spot.

When directions do send a crew to the wrong place, the washer should note it on the job before moving on: “Map sends you to the front office, the job is the drive-thru on Elm.” The office fixes the address once, and nobody makes the same wrong turn on the next monthly visit.

Use the Access Notes for the Last Fifty Feet

Directions get the rig to the street. The access notes get it to the right spot on the property. For a washing crew that might be:

• “Park on the street, driveway is being cleaned.”
• “Enter from the alley, spigot is on the back of the garage.”
• “Dumpster pad is behind the building, use the service drive on the east side.”
• “Parking garage clearance is low. Leave the trailer on level 1.”

That last kind of note matters for washers more than most trades. A rig with a trailer and a tank does not turn around easily. Notes about where to park and where not to pull in save a lot of backing up. The full set of access notes is covered in Spigots, Gates, Dogs, Plants and Cars: Access Notes in the Pressure Washing Crew App.

Navigation and the Customer Texts

When the crew heads to the next job, the customer can get an on-the-way text automatically. Customers who chose to be told when they are next get that alert too. Those texts work best when the crew heads straight from one job to the next in route order. A detour to the gas station is fine. A detour to a different side of town makes the on-the-way text look wrong.

Tips for Pulling a Trailer

Phone navigation is built for cars, not rigs. A few habits help:

• Look at the whole route at the shop. If the map sends the rig through a narrow neighborhood cut-through, the washer has a chance to plan a better way.
• Mount the phone. A dash or vent mount keeps the phone visible and out of hands, and out of the puddle on the floor mat.
• Add parking notes after the first visit. The second visit should be easier than the first. If the crew found a better place to park, write it on the job so the office can add it to the address.
• Keep the phone charged. Navigation, photos and GPS all use battery. A charger in the truck is not optional.

What the Office Sees While the Rig Moves

While the crew drives, crew GPS shows the rig's location on the office map. When a customer calls asking where the crew is, the office can answer without calling the washer. When a new job comes in nearby, the office can see which rig is closest and add it to that rig's list.

Navigation is one button, but it is the one a washer taps most often. For the rest of what the crew sees on each job card, head back to the PressureWashingBossPro crew app page.