WindowBossPro Blog — Window Cleaning Software

Access Notes in Window Cleaning Software: Gate Codes, Dogs and Where the Ladder Goes

The front windows are easy. The back of the house is where window cleaning jobs go sideways: a locked gate, a dog nobody mentioned, a flower bed the customer would rather you not stand a ladder in, a skylight over the sunroom. Access notes are the part of the job record that gets the tech to the glass without a phone call.

Access Is Part of the Job

Window Details on Every Job: Counts, Stories, Sides and Extras covered the window count, stories, sides and extras. Access notes are the fifth piece. In WindowBossPro they live with the job and show under the address on the tech's phone, right next to the window details, every time that address is on someone's route.

What Belongs in an Access Note

Window cleaners deal with a few kinds of access over and over:

• Gates. Side gate keypads, lockboxes and community gates. Write the code and which gate it opens.
• Pets. “Dog in back yard, friendly, keep gate shut.” Or “Do not enter back yard if dog is out, text office.”
• Ladder placement. Where the ground is level, where the soft beds are, which side has the AC unit in the way. “Ladder on the patio side, not in the flower bed.”
• Skylights and hard-to-reach glass. “Skylight over sunroom, reach from the flat roof by the garage.”
• Inside access. For inside cleanings: who will be home, where to take shoes off, which rooms are off limits.
• Storefront timing. “Clean before 9am opening” or “Back door key with the manager.”

How to Write Notes That Work

A good access note lets a tech who has never been to the address get to every window without help. A few rules make that happen:

Write in the order the tech needs it. Which way to walk, which gate, the code, what to watch for inside.

Be specific. “Gate code in file” is useless. “Left side gate, code 4412, close it behind you” is useful.

Say what to do if it fails. “If the code doesn't work, skip the back and text the office.” That one line saves the tech from standing at a gate deciding whether to wait, call or leave.

Keep it current. Delete old codes when new ones come in. One current code beats three possibly-current ones.

When Access Fails on the Day

Codes change and customers forget to mention it. When a tech cannot get to the glass, the right move is usually to tap Skip on the job with a note: “Back gate code didn't work, fronts done.” A photo of the locked gate helps. The office sees the skip and the note, texts the customer through two-way texting, gets the new code, updates the access note and puts the job back on a route.

That beats the alternatives. A tech who climbs a fence creates a liability. A tech who waits twenty minutes for a callback costs the rest of the route. A tech who leaves without a note leaves the office guessing.

Keeping Codes Out of the Group Text

Many small window companies keep gate codes in a group text or on a printed sheet in the van. Texts scroll, old codes linger, and anyone who ever worked for you still has every code they were sent. A sheet on the dash can be read by anyone walking past.

Access notes stored on the job and shown in the tech app behind a personal PIN are better on every count. Only the current code shows. Only logged-in techs see it. When someone leaves the company, the office turns off their PIN.

Collect Access at the Start

The easiest time to get access information is at the quote or sign-up. Add a question to your website request or sign-up form: “Is there a gate code, a pet, or anything we should know about reaching the back windows?” Answers flow into Form Responses with the rest of the request. When the sign-up becomes a client, the office copies the answer into the access notes.

The first cleaning is the second chance. If the tech finds a dog, a skylight or a tricky ladder spot nobody mentioned, a note on the job gets it recorded before the next visit. For how the tech sees those notes during the day, see The Tech App: What Your Window Cleaners See on Their Phones.

Every Window, First Try

Access notes turn the hardest jobs on the route into ordinary ones. The tech reads the note in the driveway, walks to the right gate, enters the code, sets the ladder where the customer wants it and gets to work. Learn more on the window cleaning software page.