By hand
“They should be there soon.”
The customer calls the office. The office calls the tech. The tech is driving. Nobody writes down what was promised, so the next call starts from scratch.
Job status updates
Where is the tech? Answered.
Job status updates are the texts a customer gets while the work is in motion: on the way, delayed, or done. The lines are ones you approved. If a delay needs a make-good, a discount, or a new promise, that text waits for a yes. The system is built. It is not yet running for a customer.
Two ways
A call the office forgot, or a text from the board.
With the system
A status the board already has.
When the job moves on the board you use, the customer can get the line you approved for that status. The office sees what was sent. The tech is not asked to compose a paragraph at a red light.
Status
Built, not yet running for a customer.
The job is built. We have not turned it on for a paying customer yet. If you want it first, the plan is where we say whether your board can feed it.
How it runs
A status change, then a line you signed.
What comes in.
A job on the board, a customer number, and a status the dispatcher already uses. On the way, delayed, and finished are the usual three. You can rename them to match your words.
What it sends.
The template for that status. It can name the window you already gave. It does not invent a clock time the board does not have.
What you see.
The thread, next to the job. If the customer replies with a question the template does not cover, a person gets the thread.
The yes
A make-good for a delay needs a yes.
The plain delay.
“We are running late, here is the new window” can be a template, if you approved the wording and the board has the new window. That is a fact you already decided.
The make-good.
A discount, a free visit, or a promise to waive a fee does not send itself because a job slipped. The owner, or whoever may give that, reads the draft first.
A time you cannot keep.
The text does not say the tech will arrive at a minute you did not schedule. If the board has no time, the text does not invent one.
Beside the board
It reads the tool you already dispatch in.
Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan.
Those are the field-service tools we plan around. The job stays there. The text is the customer-facing layer. If you dispatch in something else, bring it to the plan and we will say if we can read status from it.
After a missed call.
Missed-call rescue is the text when nobody picked up. This system is the text when a job already exists and the customer wants to know where it stands.
After the quote.
Estimate follow-up chases a number that went out. Status updates start once the work is on the board, not while they are still deciding.
Who it fits
Home services, where a truck is the product.
The trades.
Plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and roofing are the fit. The customer is at the house. The question is where the tech is, or whether the window moved.
Not a delivery menu.
We are not describing cannabis delivery, a courier route, or a menu status. If that is the job, it is a different conversation. The fit is the home-service board.
Someone owns the exception.
Templates cover the ordinary move. A stuck truck, an angry customer, or a fee you might waive goes to a person. Name that person before the first text.
Questions
Before a status text sends itself.
Is this running for a customer today?
It is built, and it is not yet running for a customer. That is the plain status. We will set it up against the board you already dispatch from, with the lines you approve, when a shop wants it. Until then it is not a switch you can flip on a product site.
Can a late job offer a discount by itself?
No. A make-good, a discount, or a waived fee needs a yes from the person who is allowed to give it. A template can tell the customer the window moved, if you approved that wording and the board has the new window. Money off is a separate draft.
Which dispatch tools does it sit beside?
Jobber, Housecall Pro, and ServiceTitan are the ones we plan around for home services. The job stays in that tool. The text reads the status. If your board is a different product, say so on the plan. We will tell you whether we can read it, and we will not pretend we already have.
Will the text promise an arrival minute?
Only if that minute is already on the board and you approved a template that may repeat it. The system does not invent a clock time to calm a customer down. If the board says a window, the text says the window. A tighter promise waits for a person.
What if the customer replies?
A reply that fits the template, such as a confirm, can stay on the thread. A question about price, a complaint, or a request to change the job goes to the person you named. The tech is not expected to negotiate from the driver’s seat.
The board
Tell us how customers ask where the tech is.
If the answer is “they call the office,” that is the job. We will say whether status texts are the first build.
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