PlumbingBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Two-Way Texting With Property Managers and Kitchen Managers

Property managers do not want to talk on the phone. Neither do kitchen managers in the middle of prep. Both will answer a text in thirty seconds. For a plumbing company carrying commercial accounts, texting is not a nice extra. It is how the work actually gets coordinated.

Why Texting Beats Calling

The report in Plumbing Inspection Reports for Landlords and Property Managers is the formal record. Texting is the day-to-day conversation around it. It has some clear advantages over the phone:

• It fits their day. A manager in a showing can read and answer a text. They cannot take a call.
• It is written down. “Yes, go ahead with the flapper” is on record. A phone call is a memory.
• It is fast. A quick question gets a quick answer, and the tech is not standing in a unit waiting.

Texting From the Office, Not a Tech's Phone

Many plumbing companies text managers from whatever phone is handy: the owner's cell, a tech's personal phone, the office manager's phone. That works until someone leaves, goes on vacation or the manager texts the wrong person.

PlumbingBossPro has two-way texting with customers from the office. Messages go out from your business number and replies come back to the office, where anyone on the team can see them. The thread stays with the client record, so next month's question about the Birch Avenue water heater sits right after last month's.

What to Text Managers About

The texts that matter most to property managers and landlords:

• Confirming a visit. “Mike is scheduled for 412 Oak St Unit B tomorrow 10–12. Lockbox code on file.”
• Asking a quick question. “Tenant says the leak is in the upstairs bath. Is that unit 2 or 3?”
• Reporting what was found. “Drain cleared. Water heater leaking at the base, sending a quote today.”
• Following up on a quote. “Just checking on the water heater quote for Maple St. Happy to answer questions.”

Keep texts short and specific. Always include the address. Managers juggle dozens of properties.

Ask each manager early on how they like to be contacted. Some want a text for everything. Some want a text only for problems and a monthly statement for the rest. Save the answer in a custom field on the client so every person in your office follows it. A manager who gets exactly as many messages as they want will keep answering them.

Texting Kitchen Managers

Restaurants add another person to the conversation. The owner pays, but the kitchen manager runs the space your tech needs to work in. Save the kitchen manager's contact on the restaurant's record and text them directly for the day-to-day:

• “We're jetting your line tomorrow at 6:30am. Please have someone at the back door and the floor drain clear.”
• “On our way, about 15 minutes.”
• “All done. Line was heavy with grease at 40 feet, jetted clear.”

Kitchen managers change jobs often. When a new name shows up at the back door, update the contact on the restaurant's record so tomorrow's text reaches the right phone.

Keep money conversations with the owner. Keep scheduling and access with the kitchen manager. Everyone gets the messages that matter to them. Restaurant timing is covered in Scheduling Commercial Plumbing Work Around Business Hours.

Automatic Texts Too

Not every text needs a person. PlumbingBossPro sends automated reminders and alerts by text and email: a reminder the night before, an on-the-way text when the tech heads over, and an arrived text when the tech gets there. Customers choose which alerts they want.

For a manager with forty properties, getting an alert for every visit may be too much. For a kitchen manager waiting at the back door at 6am, the on-the-way text is exactly right. Set alerts to fit the person.

The Text Allowance

Texting is billed by segment, and plans include a monthly text allowance: 500 segments on Start, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Crew, counting both sent and received. Short texts use fewer segments, which is one more reason to keep messages to the point. Texting is available in the US and Canada.

Good Texting Habits

A few habits keep texting professional:

• Answer within business hours, and say so when you cannot.
• Never text a lockbox code back to a tenant. Keep codes on the address.
• When a text approves work, make sure it lands on the job notes too.
• For anything big, send a formal quote instead of agreeing by text.

For more on working with property managers and commercial accounts, visit the commercial plumbing software page.