WindowBossPro Blog — Routes & Scheduling

Routing Property Manager Accounts: Many Addresses, One Window Cleaning Client

A property manager can be the best account a window cleaning company has. One relationship, a dozen buildings, steady monthly work. They can also be the most confusing to schedule. Which buildings are monthly and which are quarterly? Which ones have a lockbox? Who gets the invoice? Handled well, a property manager fits into your routes as neatly as any homeowner.

Overdue Work and Big Accounts

The last article, Overdue Window Cleaning Jobs: Catching Up Without Wrecking Next Week, put monthly accounts and property managers near the top of the catch-up list. That is because a missed visit to a multi-location client is noticed at every location. This article covers how to keep them on schedule in the first place.

One Client, Many Addresses

In WindowBossPro, one client can have many addresses. A property manager is a single client, with each building or storefront as its own address. Each address has its own window details, access notes and recurring plan.

That matters for scheduling. The retail strip they manage might be every 30 days, outside only. The office building lobby might be every 14 days. The apartment common areas might be quarterly. Each address comes due on its own on the Waiting List, based on its own plan, even though they all belong to the same client.

Tags like Commercial or Storefront on the client, and custom fields, help you find them at a glance.

Routing the Locations

A property manager's addresses are often spread across town. Do not feel bound to clean all of them on the same day just because they share a client. Each address is a stop on the map like any other. Route each one with the work around it: the strip center with the other storefronts on that road, the lobby with the downtown morning route.

The exception is a cluster. If the manager has three buildings in one office park, group them onto the same day and the same van. Auto-route the day from the shop and set order by hand where the locations have opening times or access windows. See Early-Morning Storefront Routes: Cleaning the Glass Before the Stores Open for timing storefront stops.

Access Notes for Commercial Addresses

Commercial addresses come with their own access questions. Who lets the crew in for inside glass? Is there a lockbox or a key at the front desk? Can the van park in the fire lane for twenty minutes? Are there tenant hours to avoid? Is roof access required for upper glass, and who has the key?

Put all of it in the access notes on each address. It shows on the tech's phone under the window details, so any tech can run any location. A property manager does not want a call from your crew asking how to get in.

One Statement a Month

Billing is where property managers can get messy, and where WindowBossPro keeps it simple. A client set to Monthly billing gets one statement each month covering every location, with each line labeled by address. The manager sees exactly which buildings were cleaned and when, on one document, instead of a stack of separate invoices.

That also keeps scheduling honest. If a building is missing from the statement, it was missed on the route, and the manager will tell you. Better to catch it on the Waiting List first.

Proof of Work

Property managers usually are not on site when you clean. Before-and-after photos taken in the tech app stay with each job, and completion is recorded when the tech taps Complete. If a tenant complains that the lobby glass was not done, the office can check the job and its photos in a minute.

Automatic texts can go to on-site contacts too, depending on the alerts set for each contact, so the building's front desk knows the crew has arrived.

Keep the Contact Straight

Property managers often have several people involved: the manager who signs off on the work, a maintenance lead at each building, a front desk that lets the crew in. Record who to call for what in the access notes on each address, so the tech knows whom to ask on site and the office knows whom to text about schedule changes. When a building changes managers, update it once and every future route has it.

It is also worth a short monthly check-in with the manager. Ask whether any building needs a tighter interval, whether any tenants have complained, and whether new locations are coming. Those conversations are how one building becomes ten.

Big Accounts, Normal Routes

Property managers and multi-location businesses fit into routes the same way any customer does: one stop at a time, each with its own plan and notes, billed together at the end of the month. For more on routing and scheduling, visit the WindowBossPro window cleaning route software page.