JunkBossPro Blog — Crew App

Choosing a Junk Removal Crew App: What to Check Before You Switch

Switching software is a hassle, and switching the app your crews use every day is the biggest part of that hassle. If you pick the wrong one, you will find out on a busy Saturday with two trucks out and a crew calling the office for every address. A little checking before you switch saves a lot of trouble after.

Start With the Day You Have Now

Getting crews off paper and the group text is covered in Moving Junk Crews Off Paper Work Orders and the Group Text. Before you move them onto something, make sure it fits how a junk day actually runs.

Write down a real day from last week: the jobs, the load sizes, the dump runs, the customer who added a grill, the gate code that did not work. Then try running that day in any app you are considering. Generic field-service software and spreadsheets both look fine until you try to fit a junk day into them.

Does the Card Know It Is a Junk Job?

The biggest difference between a junk app and a generic field app is the job card. Check that the crew sees:

• Load size in the steps you price on, from a minimum load to multiple loads.
• Item count and a plain description of what's going and what stays.
• Where the load is hauled to, with directions there, not just to the customer.
• Access notes and past notes on the address.

If the card is an address and a notes box, the crew will still be calling the office. How JunkBossPro handles the card is covered in Load Size, Item Count and What's Going: Reading the Junk Removal Job Card.

Can It Bill the Dump Ticket?

If your prices include a set weight, check how the app handles the overage. You want to enter the ticket's tons, the tons included and your per-ton rate, and see the overage added to the invoice as its own line, without a calculator. If the answer is “type it in as a custom line item,” expect a lot of overages to go unbilled.

If you also drop dumpsters, check whether the app can handle included days and a daily rate after that.

Does It Work on Your Crew's Phones?

Check the boring stuff:

• Does it run on both iPhone and Android?
• Do crews need an app store download, or can they open it in the browser and install it to the home screen?
• Does each person get their own sign-in, so hours, photos and jobs belong to the right person?
• Can you turn off a helper's access in one step when they leave?
• Is there a time clock, or is that another app?

Does the Customer Hear From You Automatically?

On-the-way and arrived texts should go out on their own, without the crew typing anything. Customers should be able to choose which alerts they get. Replies should come back to the office, not to a crew member's personal phone. A customer app with a live route map, invoices and online payment is a big step up from “we'll call you when we're close.”

Does Complete Get You Paid?

When the crew finishes, does the app create the invoice? Can it charge a card on file at completion or on a schedule? Can property managers and realtors get one monthly statement covering every address? Every extra step between the last item on the truck and the money in the bank is a step that gets skipped on a busy day. Ask to see a completed job from start to finish, invoice included.

What It Costs and How You Try It

Check whether the crew app is included or an add-on, whether you pay per user, and what happens to the price when you add a truck. JunkBossPro plans are $59, $89 and $199 a month (Start, Pro and Crew), with the crew app on every plan and a 14-day free trial with no credit card. There is also a live demo of a fully stocked sample junk removal company you can click around with no signup.

However you decide, try it on a real day with a real crew before you commit. To see everything the JunkBossPro crew app does, visit the JunkBossPro junk removal app page.