PlumbingBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Choosing Commercial Plumbing Software: What to Check Before You Take On Bigger Accounts

Most plumbing companies pick their software when they are all residential. It works fine for homeowners. Then the first property manager arrives with forty addresses, the first restaurant wants jetting every two weeks, and the software that was fine starts to creak. If you are planning to grow into commercial accounts, it is worth checking your software against that work before the accounts arrive.

Know What You Are Shopping For

New Construction and High-Rise Plumbing: An Honest Look at Where PlumbingBossPro Fits drew the line between service work and construction projects. This checklist is for the service side: property managers, landlords, restaurants and light commercial buildings. If most of your commercial work is large construction, you are shopping for a different kind of tool.

For service accounts, the questions below are the ones that matter. Ask them of any software you are considering, including the one you already use.

Accounts and Addresses

• Can one client have many addresses? This is the big one. If every property has to be its own customer, commercial accounts will be a mess from day one.
• Does each address keep its own history and notes? The tech at 412 Oak St needs that address's lockbox code, not a list of forty.
• Can you import a list? CSV import, with addresses placed on the map automatically, turns a manager's spreadsheet into a working account in an afternoon.
• Are there tags and custom fields? For account types, approval limits, PO rules and on-site contacts.

The setup is covered in One Account, Many Addresses: Setting Up Commercial Plumbing Clients the Right Way.

Equipment and the Tech's Phone

• Can you save equipment per address? Water heaters, backflow preventers, sump pumps, softeners, shut-offs and cleanouts, with model, serial, size, year and location.
• Does the tech see it on the job? Equipment and access notes on the job card save calls to the office.
• Do changes flow back? When a tech installs a new water heater, the address record should update without retyping.
• Are there photos and an inspection checklist? Managers need proof, and owners need reports.
• Does it run on the phones your techs already have? No special devices, no app store hassle.

Recurring Work and Scheduling

• Can visits recur by days between visits? Grease-line jetting every 14 or 30 days, backflow tests and flushes every 365.
• Do due visits show up on their own? A map or list of what came due, without anyone keeping a calendar.
• Can you build early routes by van? A dispatch board by day and van, with route order by hand or auto-routing from the shop.
• Can you see where the vans are? Crew GPS on the office map for fitting in urgent calls.

Billing and Communication

• Can an account get one monthly statement? Every address on one bill, each line labeled.
• Can other accounts pay by card on file? Charged at completion or on a schedule.
• Is there past-due follow-up? Automatic, polite and with online payment.
• Can managers approve quotes online? And does the approved quote become the job?
• Can the office text managers two ways? From a business number, with threads kept on the client.

Questions to Ask Yourself

The software is only half of it. Before taking on bigger accounts, ask a few questions about your own shop. Who in the office will answer manager texts? Which van will carry the early-morning recurring work? Who will look over statements at month end? Software makes each of these easy, but someone still has to own them.

Price, Trial and Fit

Software for a few vans should not cost like software for a fleet. PlumbingBossPro is $59, $89 or $199 per month for Start, Pro and Crew, and multi-address accounts, recurring visits and monthly statements are on every plan. The plans differ mainly in scale, including the monthly text allowance of 500, 1,000 or 2,000 segments.

Whatever you consider, use the trial on real work. PlumbingBossPro has a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Import one manager's address list, set up a restaurant's jetting plan, save the equipment at a couple of buildings and run a few jobs through the tech app. You will know within a week whether it fits. There is also a live demo you can click through before signing up.

It also works in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, billing customers in their own currency.

Choose Before the Accounts Arrive

Switching software in the middle of onboarding a forty-door property manager is painful. Switching before is easy. If commercial accounts are part of your plan for the next year, check your tools now. For the full overview of how PlumbingBossPro handles property managers, landlords, restaurants and light commercial work, visit the PlumbingBossPro commercial plumbing software page.