PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Event Rentals & Booking

Choosing Event Porta Potty Rental Software: What to Check Before Peak Season

If you run event rentals on spreadsheets, paper calendars and a group text, you have probably felt the strain on a busy weekend. Software can take most of that strain away, but not all software is built for porta potty work, let alone event work. Before you switch, make a list of what you need and test it against your own jobs.

Before You Switch

The sign-up form in The Online Sign-Up Form for Event Porta Potty Rentals: Card Captured, Client Created is one example of what event software should do: take a booking with everything you need, without retyping. This guide pulls together the whole series into a checklist you can use when you look at any software, including PortaPottyBossPro.

Generic field-service software is built around one technician visiting one address. Event porta potty rentals have units, quantities, placement, delivery and pickup on different days, rental periods and weekend crunches. Check that the software understands your work, not just a generic job.

Quotes and Approval

• Can you build an estimate from your own service list?
• Can the customer approve it online?
• Does the approved estimate become scheduled work without retyping?
• Do website requests land somewhere the office will see them?

Event customers shop around. Software that gets a clear quote to them fast, and turns a yes into a booking automatically, wins you more events.

Ask to see how a quote looks to the customer, not just to the office. A quote that is clear on a phone screen gets approved. A quote that needs zooming and scrolling waits until the customer is at a computer, if it gets approved at all.

Payment at Booking

• Can you keep a card on file?
• Can the customer add or update their card themselves?
• Can a sign-up form capture the card with the booking?
• Can the card be charged when the job is done, or on a schedule?

Event customers are often one-time customers. Chasing payment after the event is slow and costly.

Units and Placement

• Does each job carry the unit type, quantity and unit numbers?
• Does it support ADA units, hand wash stations, deluxe units and restroom trailers as separate types?
• Do placement notes show on the driver's phone?
• Can a client have many sites, each with contacts and access notes?

Placement is the difference between a happy host and a unit in the wedding photos. Make sure the notes reach the driver.

Scheduling Delivery, Service and Pickup

• Are delivery, service visits and pickup separate jobs on separate days?
• Can you see the whole week on a dispatch board, with totals?
• Can you filter by truck, drag jobs and auto-route from the yard?
• Does rental tracking bill extra days automatically?

Busy weekends are where scheduling software earns its keep.

The Driver App

• Does it work on the phones your drivers already have?
• Does it show jobs in route order, with navigation, units and notes?
• Can drivers take photos, start, skip and complete jobs?
• Does it send on-the-way and arrived texts automatically?

Test it with a driver, not just the office. If drivers do not like it, they will not use it.

Pay attention to how long it takes a new driver to learn. On a peak-season weekend, you may have a fill-in driver who has never used the app. If they can log in, see their jobs and follow the notes after a short walkthrough, the app will hold up when you need it most.

Customer Communication

• Are there automatic reminders by text and email?
• Is there two-way texting from the office?
• Can customers see the route and choose their alerts?
• Can they pay, rate and refer from an app?

Communication is what keeps event customers from calling the office all day.

Billing

• Are invoices built from the job with clear line items?
• Is sales tax handled per site?
• Is there past-due follow-up?
• Can accounts be billed on one monthly statement?
• Does it bill in your customers' currency if you work outside the US?

Price

Look at the total cost, not just the headline price. Watch for per-user fees that grow with every driver you hire for peak season. PortaPottyBossPro plans are Start at $59 a month, Pro at $89 and Crew at $199, and you are never billed per user. Plans include a monthly text allowance of 500, 1,000 or 2,000 segments.

Try It on Real Jobs

Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Put a few of your real upcoming events in, build the estimates, schedule the deliveries and walk through the driver app. Two weeks with your own jobs will tell you more than any sales page. To see how PortaPottyBossPro handles event rentals, start at the event porta potty rental software page.