GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Running a Garage Door Business

Door History on the House: Knowing the Door, Opener and Springs Before the Van Arrives

A garage door company does not just serve customers. It serves doors. The same door is there when the house is sold, when the tenant changes and when the spring breaks again. A company that keeps a record of what is on each house, and what has been done to it, walks into every call already knowing the job.

The House Has a History Too

Customer History: Why a Garage Door Company Should Remember Every Call covers the person: contact details, jobs, notes, invoices. This article covers the house itself, and the doors and hardware attached to it.

The difference matters. Customers move. Property managers change tenants. Builders hand houses to new owners. The equipment stays. When it is saved on the address, the history survives every change of ownership.

What to Save on Each House

In GarageDoorBossPro every property keeps a list of its doors and hardware. Each item can be one of: garage door, garage door opener, torsion springs, extension springs, cables and drums, keypad, remotes, safety sensors, commercial rolling door, commercial sectional door or gate opener. For each one you can save:

• Brand and model number, for example “LiftMaster 87504-267” on an opener.
• Serial number.
• Year installed.
• Size, like a 16x7 or 9x7 door, or the opener's HP.
• Drive or material: belt, chain, screw or wall-mount jackshaft for openers; steel, insulated steel, wood, aluminum and glass or composite for doors.
• Bay: single, double, bay 1, 2 or 3, detached, shop or commercial dock.
• Access notes for that door.

The Tech Sees It Before Knocking

On the tech app, the equipment shows on the job card: “Garage Door · Amarr Stratford 3000 · 9x7 · Wood · installed 2014,” the serial on the next line, and “Bay 1 · the left door is the problem.” The tech knows which door, what it is made of, and what opener is on it before getting out of the van.

On a three-bay house, that alone saves a conversation. On a commercial account with several rolling doors, it saves a walk around the building looking for the right one.

It Makes the Phone Smarter

When a customer calls with a problem, the office can look at what is on the house. An opener with a known install year, a wood door, a double bay. That helps the office book the right amount of time and send the right van. If the customer says “the remote stopped working,” the office can see which opener it is and whether a keypad is on file too.

The office should not diagnose over the phone, and should never suggest a homeowner adjust springs or cables. That work is for trained techs. But knowing the equipment makes the booking better.

Estimates and Jobs Fill In From the House

When a new job or estimate is created at an address, the equipment can be filled in from the house with the “From House” picker. No retyping the door size and opener model on every quote. Equipment details can also be filled in on an estimate, for a new door or opener, and they carry onto the job when the customer approves.

Changes on a job flow back to the house. When a tech installs a new opener, the house record updates for next time. The history keeps itself current as long as techs record what they change.

Tune-Ups Build on It

The door safety inspection checklist on the tech app records readings alongside the equipment: door size, spring turns, balance, door age, opener age, estimated spring cycles used and issues found, with a condition and recommendations. Each year's tune-up adds to the picture. The office can print a Garage Door Safety Inspection report for the homeowner, and the next tech can see what was recommended last year.

Services can also be priced off measurements saved on the property, like the number of doors and openers, so a three-door tune-up is priced fairly.

It Helps Every Kind of Account

Door history is not just for homeowners. A builder's new homes, a property manager's rentals and an HOA's rows of garages all benefit from the same record on each address. When a manager calls about “the door at unit 12,” the office can see exactly what is installed there. That is a big part of what makes those accounts manageable, as covered in Property Managers and HOAs: Landing Monthly Accounts for a Garage Door Company.

Start With the Houses You Visit

You do not need to fill in every house on day one. Import your customers with CSV import, and imported addresses are placed on the map automatically. Then add equipment as techs visit each house. Within a few months, most active customers will have their doors on file. That record becomes one of the most useful things the company owns. To see how it fits with the rest of the business, visit the GarageDoorBossPro garage door business software page.