GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Garage Door Software

Garage Door Software for Two to Five Vans: Splitting Repairs, Installs and Tune-Ups

The jump from one van to two changes everything about how a garage door company runs. The owner is no longer the only one who knows every customer. Somebody has to decide which van takes which call. And a broken spring call across town now has two possible answers instead of one. This is where garage door software starts earning its keep.

Growing Past One Van

The solo setup is described in Garage Door Software for a One-Van Company. Everything there still applies. A few vans just add the question of who goes where.

The Classic Split

Most garage door companies with a few vans divide the work by type:

• Repair van. Broken torsion and extension springs, cables, rollers, off-track doors, openers that quit, sensors and keypads. Keeps room in its day for same-day and emergency calls.
• Install and tune-up van. Opener installs, new doors, panel replacements and the tune-ups that came due on the Waiting List. Booked ahead, planned around longer jobs.

At three to five vans, the split often grows: a second repair van for a busy side of town, a dedicated install crew, or a commercial van for property manager units, HOAs and loading docks.

Dispatch by Van

The dispatch board shows jobs by day, filtered by van. The office can look at one van's day or all of them side by side. Saved views make it quick to switch between “repair vans today” and “installs this week.”

Each van's day can be auto-routed Closest First or Furthest First from the shop, then adjusted by hand. Every tech's phone shows their own day in the same order. When the office moves a job between vans, both phones update.

Crew GPS for Same-Day Calls

With several vans out, the hardest decision is where to put a new urgent call. Crew GPS shows every tech on the office map, so the office can see that the install van is three streets from the new broken-spring call while the repair van is on the other side of town. Look at the map, check that van's remaining jobs, and drop the call into its route.

Customers get the automatic on-the-way and arrived texts no matter which van shows up.

Any Tech Can Take Any House

In a one-van company, the owner remembers every house. With several vans, the tech going to a house today may never have been there. That is why the equipment record matters more as you grow. Every job card shows the door, opener, springs, bay and access notes from the house, plus past notes from earlier visits.

The same goes for the door safety inspection. Every tech uses the same checklist, so a tune-up done by your newest tech covers the same points as one done by your most experienced.

People, PINs and Vans

Each tech gets their own personal PIN for the tech app, and each is assigned to a van. Jobs, photos, inspections and time clock entries all belong to the tech who did them. Office users get their own logins with roles, so the person answering phones does not need the same access as the owner. The details are in Office Users, Tech PINs and Van Assignments in Garage Door Software.

Time clock entries come from the tech app, so hours are recorded as techs work instead of reconstructed at the end of the week.

Printed Route Sheets for the Install Crew

Install crews often run a different rhythm from repair techs. They might have two long jobs in a day and want to see both, with the equipment and notes, before they load the trailer. A printed route sheet from the dispatch board gives them that, matching the order on their phones. Repair techs, whose day changes by the hour, tend to live on the tech app instead.

Which Plan Fits a Few Vans

A company with two or three vans often fits the Pro plan at $89/month, with a monthly allowance of 1,000 texts sent and received. Four or five vans with lots of reminders, on-the-way texts and commercial accounts tend to need the Crew plan at $199/month, which includes 2,000 texts. Compare the plans and start with a 14-day free trial, no credit card.

Keeping the Owner in the Loop

The other change at a few vans is that the owner is not on every job anymore. The office view fills that gap. Completed jobs come back with photos, notes, the inspection and the invoice. Skipped jobs come back with the tech's reason. The owner can check the board from anywhere and see what is done, what is running and what is waiting.

To see every feature that supports a growing garage door company, visit the GarageDoorBossPro garage door software page.