SolarCleaningBossPro Blog — Tech App

Choosing a Solar Cleaning Tech App: What to Check Before You Switch

Switching the app your crew uses every day is a real decision. It touches every tech, every customer and every invoice. Before you switch, it is worth checking whether the app actually fits how a solar cleaning company works, not just how a generic field-service company works. Here is a practical checklist, written from the tech's side of the job.

Coming Off Paper or Another App

If you are moving off printed sheets and group texts, the switch itself is covered in Moving Solar Cleaning Techs Off Paper Job Sheets and the Group Text. If you are moving off generic field-service software, the same steps apply. Either way, start by checking the app against the list below.

1. Does the Job Card Know It Is a Solar Job?

The most important test. Open a job on the tech's phone and see what it shows besides the address. A solar job card should show:

• Panel count.
• Mount: roof, ground mount or carport.
• Roof stories and pitch.
• Extras like bird proofing, critter guards and inspection.

If all of that has to be typed into a free-text notes box on every job, techs will stop reading it and the office will stop writing it. It should be entered once on the job and shown on every visit after.

2. Are Access Notes Saved on the Job?

Spigot location, roof access side, gate code and dog. Check that these show on the card and carry over from visit to visit, so a twice-a-year customer shows the same notes in the fall that were entered in the spring.

3. Is the Tech Side Simple?

Count the taps for a normal stop. Navigation, Start, photos, Complete. If the tech has to fill out forms, pick from long menus or type a summary, it will not get done on a roof in the sun. Also check that Skip asks for a reason, because skips are common in solar cleaning and the reason is what the office needs.

4. Does It Run on the Phones Your Crew Already Has?

Check iPhone and Android. Check whether it needs an app store download or runs in the browser. Check how a tech signs in, and whether each tech gets a personal PIN so jobs, photos and hours belong to the right person. See iPhone or Android, No App Store: Putting the Solar Cleaning App on Phones Your Techs Already Have.

5. Do Photos Stay With the Job?

Before-and-after photos are proof of service in a trade where customers cannot see the result. They should be taken in the app and saved on the job, not texted or left in a camera roll.

6. Do Customer Texts Go Out on Their Own?

Look for automatic on-the-way and arrived texts, customer-chosen alerts like night before and when they are next, and replies that go to the office rather than the tech's personal phone. Check what text allowance comes with the plan.

7. Does Complete Start Billing?

The invoice should be created when the tech taps Complete, with the option to charge a card on file. Check whether property owners with many buildings can get one monthly statement with each line labeled by address.

8. Does the Route Come From the Office?

The tech should see the day in the order the office set, by hand or by auto-route, and the list should follow when dispatch makes changes. Recurring cleanings should come due on their own, not from someone's calendar.

9. What Does It Cost, and What Is Included?

Check whether the tech app is included or an add-on, and whether pricing climbs with every tech. SolarCleaningBossPro plans are Start at $59 a month, Pro at $89 a month and Crew at $199 a month, with the tech app on every plan and a 14-day free trial with no credit card.

10. Try It on a Real Day

The best test is a real route. Use the free trial to set up a handful of real customers with real panel details and access notes, then have one tech run a real day with it. You will learn more from that day than from any feature list.

Pick the App Your Crew Will Actually Use

A tech app is only as good as the taps it gets on the roof. Choose the one that shows the solar details your techs need, asks the least of them, and does the most for the office when they tap Complete. To see how SolarCleaningBossPro handles each item on this list, visit the SolarCleaningBossPro solar cleaning app page.