JunkBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Choosing Commercial Junk Removal Software: What to Check Before You Take On Property Accounts

You can run a few homeowner jobs a week from spreadsheets and paper. You can even run one property manager that way for a while. By the third manager, the fifth realtor and a contractor with four job sites, the paper starts to slip: a lockbox code nobody can find, a statement that does not match the manager's units, a photo that is on someone's personal phone. That is usually when owners start looking at software.

Before You Pick

Every habit in this series, from fast replies to clean statements, is summed up in Keeping a Commercial Junk Removal Account: The Habits That Get You Called Again. Software does not replace those habits. It makes them easy to keep. Here is what to check before you commit to a system.

Can One Client Hold Many Addresses?

This is the first test. A management company is one customer with dozens of units. A realtor is one customer with a new listing every month. If the software makes each address its own customer, you will end up with duplicate records, split histories and a billing email you have to change in forty places.

Look for one client with as many addresses as needed, each with its own notes and job history. In JunkBossPro that is how every client works, and tags and custom fields help sort the list. The structure is covered in One Client, Many Addresses: How Commercial Junk Removal Accounts Are Organized.

Can It Send One Monthly Statement by Address?

Generic field-service software usually sends one invoice per job. That is fine for homeowners. For a property manager, it means twenty invoices a month and a frustrated accounts payable clerk.

Check that a client can be set to monthly billing, that the statement covers every address, and that each line is labeled with its address. Check it handles line items and sales tax, card on file, online payment and past-due follow-up. In JunkBossPro a client set to Monthly gets exactly that.

Do Access Notes Reach the Crew?

Notes in the office do not help a crew standing at a locked door. Check that access notes live on the address and show on the crew's phone every time that address is on the schedule, along with past notes from earlier visits. Check that the crew app is behind a login so codes are not floating around in text threads. JunkBossPro's crew app uses a company login plus a personal PIN.

Does It Know What a Junk Job Is?

A generic job has an address and a notes box. A junk job has a truck load, a number of items, a description of what is going and a place it is going. Check that the software records the load size, from small fractions of a truck up to multiple loads, and the haul-to destination with directions for the crew. Check how it handles weight: JunkBossPro adds a dump fee overage automatically from the ticket's tons, the tons included and your per-ton rate. If you drop dumpsters for contractors, check for days included and a daily rate.

Photos, Import and the Map

A short list of other things that matter for commercial work:

• Crew photos saved with the job. Before-and-after proof for managers, agents and executors.
• CSV import. So a manager's property list goes in at once, with imported addresses placed on the map automatically.
• One map of waiting work. JunkBossPro's Waiting List shows every unbooked job, commercial or residential, so you can fill trucks by area.
• Dispatch by truck. Jobs by day and truck, auto-routing from the yard, saved views and printed route sheets.
• Estimates with online approval. So a head office can approve a quote and it becomes the scheduled job.

Will the Client Side Help?

Managers like being able to help themselves. Check whether clients can request service, see invoices, pay, update their card and set their alerts without calling you. JunkBossPro's customer app does all of that, plus a live route map showing where the crew is.

Check texting too. Two-way texting from the office keeps every client conversation in one place, and automatic on-the-way and arrived alerts save you typing. Find out what texting allowance comes with the plan.

Can You Afford to Grow Into It?

The big franchise systems are built for big franchise budgets. A small company taking on its first property managers needs something priced for one to a few trucks. JunkBossPro plans are Start at $59, Pro at $89 and Crew at $199 per month, with commercial accounts and monthly statements on every plan. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, no credit card.

The best test is to try it. Click around the fully stocked sample company in the live demo, set up one of your real property managers in a trial, and run a week of trash-outs through it. For the full feature list, visit the JunkBossPro commercial junk removal software page.