SolarCleaningBossPro Blog — Tech App

Two Trucks, Two Routes: Splitting Homes and Commercial Arrays in the Solar Cleaning App

When a solar cleaning company adds a second truck, the first question is how to split the work. One common answer is to split by type: one truck on homes, one on commercial arrays. Residential and commercial jobs are different enough that each truck runs better when it focuses on one kind. SolarCleaningBossPro makes that split simple on the office side and invisible on the tech's phone.

Growing From the First Visit

Every new customer, residential or commercial, starts with the visit described in The First Cleaning for a New Solar Customer: What the Tech Checks in the App. As those customers pile up, one truck can no longer cover them all. That is when the split comes in.

Why Split Homes and Commercial

Homes and commercial arrays make different demands:

• Stop length. A home is often a short stop. A large commercial roof can take most of a day.
• Schedules. Homes are usually twice a year or yearly. Commercial arrays are often quarterly.
• Access. Homes mean gates and dogs. Commercial means front desks, roof hatches and building contacts.
• Gear. Steep residential roofs need one kind of setup. Flat commercial roofs, carports and long ground mount rows need another.
• Timing. Carport lots are best early before cars arrive. Homes may need the customer to be home to open a gate.

A truck that does a long commercial array in the morning and then tries to fit eight homes into the afternoon usually runs late on all of them. Splitting the work keeps each route predictable.

Setting It Up in the Office

The setup takes a few steps:

1. Tag clients. Use tags like Residential and Commercial so the office can tell them apart at a glance.
2. Assign techs to trucks. Each employee record has a truck assignment. The residential tech is on Truck 1, the commercial tech on Truck 2.
3. Assign jobs by truck. On the dispatch board, filter by truck and put due jobs on the right one.
4. Route each truck. Auto-route Closest First or Furthest First from the shop for each truck, or set the order by hand.

The Waiting List helps with the split too. Because every due cleaning sits on one live map, the office can see at a glance where the due homes cluster and where the due commercial sites are, then fill each truck's day from its own part of the map. Overdue pins past the seven-day grace stand out, so neither truck lets a customer slip.

What Each Tech Sees

The tech app does not change. Each tech signs in with the company login and their own PIN and sees only the jobs for their truck, in route order.

The residential tech sees cards like “24 panels · Roof · 2-story · Low pitch · Bird proofing” with spigot, gate and dog notes. The commercial tech sees cards with larger panel counts, flat roofs, carports and ground mounts, and access notes about front desks, loading docks and roof hatches. Both use the same buttons: Start, Skip, Complete, photos and notes.

Billing Follows the Split

Residential jobs usually charge the card on file when the tech taps Complete. Commercial property owners and businesses set to monthly billing get one statement at the end of the month covering every building, with each line labeled by address. The techs do not need to know the difference. They tap Complete either way, and the office side handles the rest.

When the Split Bends

Real days do not always follow the plan. The commercial truck finishes early and can take three homes nearby. The residential truck has two skips for wind and can help with a carport lot. Because the dispatch board shows every job by truck, the office can move jobs between trucks during the day, and each tech's phone updates. Crew GPS on the office map shows which truck is closest. See Crew GPS on the Office Map: Knowing Where Every Solar Cleaning Truck Is.

Other Ways to Split

Type is not the only way to divide work. Some companies split by area, like north side and south side, and mix homes and commercial within each. Some put the owner on first cleanings and quotes while the crew runs recurring work. The app supports any of these, because it is built on trucks and route order rather than a fixed idea of what a truck should do.

Two Routes, One System

However you split it, both trucks run on the same client records, the same Waiting List and the same tech app. Adding a third truck later is just another truck on the board. For more on the tech side, visit the SolarCleaningBossPro solar cleaning app page.