WindowBossPro Blog — Tech App

Two Vans, Two Routes: Splitting Residential and Storefront Work in the Window Cleaning App

Adding a second van is a big step for a window cleaning company. It doubles what you can do in a day, and it doubles the ways the day can go wrong. One of the most common and practical setups is to split the work by type: one van on residential jobs, one van on a storefront route. Each tech gets a day that suits the work, and the office keeps both straight.

Why Split by Type

First visits to new houses, covered in The First Cleaning at a New House: What the Window Cleaning Tech Checks in the App, are a good example of why the split works. Residential work involves long jobs, ladders, inside work and customer conversations. Storefront work is many short stops on a tight cycle, mostly ground-level glass.

Those are different days with different equipment. A residential van carries extension ladders, screen gear and drop cloths for inside work. A storefront van is set up for quick in-and-out with poles and buckets. Different techs suit each too: some love the steady rhythm of storefronts, others prefer a few big houses and talking with homeowners.

Setting It Up

In WindowBossPro, the setup has three parts:

• Vans and techs. Each employee has a personal PIN and a van assignment. Van 1 gets the residential tech, Van 2 gets the storefront tech.
• Tags. Tag clients as Residential or Storefront (and Commercial or Quarterly if useful). Tags make it easy to see at a glance which jobs belong on which van.
• Recurring plans. Storefronts on 14- or 30-day cycles, homes on 90- or 180-day cycles. Each comes due on the Waiting List on its own.

Building Each Van's Day

The office works from the Waiting List, the live map of everything that has come due. Storefronts due this week go to Van 2. Houses due this week go to Van 1. Then on the dispatch board, the office filters by van and sets each van's route order: by hand, or auto-routed Closest First or Furthest First from the shop.

The two vans often want different strategies. A storefront route might run Furthest First, starting at the far commercial strip before shops open and working back toward the shop. A residential route might be set by hand around customers who need to be home for the inside. Each tech's phone shows exactly their own van's order and nothing else.

On the Tech's Phone

Each tech logs in with the company login and their own PIN and sees their own list. The storefront tech sees twenty or thirty short stops with timing and parking notes. The residential tech sees six or eight houses with window counts, stories, sides, extras and ladder notes. Neither one has to scroll past the other's work.

If one van finishes early, the office can move a job from the other van's list, and it appears on the first tech's phone in its spot. Crew GPS on the office map shows which van is actually closest before the move. Storefront routes are covered in more detail in Storefront Stops on the Phone: Running a Route of Shops and Offices in the Window Cleaning App.

Shared Records, Separate Days

Splitting the vans does not split the company. Both vans work from the same client records, the same service list and the same billing. A property manager who has both an office building (on the storefront route) and a few rental houses (on the residential route) is still one client with many addresses. If that client is on Monthly billing, every location from both vans lands on one statement at the end of the month, each line labeled with the address.

Because the records are shared, either tech can cover for the other. If the storefront tech is out, the residential tech can run part of the storefront route with every access note and timing note right on the card.

When the Lines Blur

Not every job fits neatly. A large house might be better on the storefront van on a slow day. A small office with a second story might need the residential van's ladders. That is fine. The split is a default, not a rule, and the dispatch board lets the office assign any job to any van on any day.

The rainy-day plan also changes with two vans. Storefront glass under awnings can sometimes keep going in light rain while the residential van moves its outside jobs to the next dry day. Each tech skips with a note, and the office reshuffles from there.

Two Vans, One System

Splitting residential and storefront work between two vans gives each tech a day that fits and gives the office a clearer board. The tech app keeps each list separate on the phone while the records, billing and Waiting List stay shared. For the rest of the tech's tools, see the WindowBossPro window cleaning app page.