PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Construction Site Accounts

Two-Way Texting With Site Supers: Fewer Missed Calls on Construction Porta Potty Accounts

Supers Text, They Do Not Call Back

A superintendent on an active site is walking, climbing, talking to inspectors and fielding calls from the owner, the architect and every trade on the job. A call from an unknown number goes to voicemail. A text gets read between tasks and answered in a few words. If you want answers from supers, text them.

Photos, covered in Job Site Photos: Proof of Service on Every Construction Porta Potty Stop, show what happened on site. Texting is how you talk about it with the person who runs the site. Done from the office, with the conversation tied to the account, it becomes part of the record instead of a thread lost on someone's personal phone.

Texting From the Office

PortaPottyBossPro includes two-way texting with customers from the office. You send a text to the site contact, and the reply comes back to the office, tied to the client. Anyone in the office can read the history and pick up the conversation, so the super does not have to repeat themselves when a different person answers.

That matters on construction accounts, where one contractor may have several sites, several supers, a project manager and a bookkeeper. Keeping the messages with the client means the context stays with the account, not with one dispatcher.

What to Text About

Texting works best for short, practical messages. Common examples on construction accounts:

• Confirming a delivery window: "We are delivering two standards and a hand wash to the Elm Street site tomorrow between 7 and 9. Is the gate open?"
• Asking about placement: "Where would you like the new ADA unit?"
• Fixing an access problem: "Our driver is at Gate 2 and it is locked. Is there a new code?"
• Checking on a project end: "Are you still on schedule to finish in two weeks? Want us to plan the pickup?"
• Reporting a problem: "One unit was tipped over this morning. We stood it up and serviced it. Photo is on file."

Keep each message to one question when you can. A super is more likely to answer "Is the gate open?" than a long message with three questions in it.

Automatic Texts Do Some of the Work

Not every message needs a person. Automatic on-the-way and arrived texts tell the site contact when the driver is coming and when the units were serviced. Service reminders and alerts go out by text and email. Contacts choose their own alert preferences: the night before, when the crew is next, and when the tech arrives.

Those automatic messages cut down on "did you come today?" texts, because the super already got an arrived text when the driver was there. The office can save its own texts for the things that actually need a person: a question, a change, or a problem that needs an answer.

Text Allowance and Segments

Every plan includes a monthly text allowance: 500, 1,000 or 2,000 segments sent and received on Start, Pro and Crew. Extra texts are available. A segment is a chunk of a text message, so a long message can count as more than one, and replies count too.

Short, plain messages stretch the allowance further. Avoid fancy characters and long paragraphs, and you will get more conversations out of the same allowance. For most construction-heavy companies, a few quick texts per site per month is plenty.

Rules for the Office

A few habits keep texting useful:

• Answer every reply the same day, even if only to say you will check.
• When a super gives you new information, update the site right away, whether that is a gate code, placement or a new contact.
• Keep the tone professional. Texts are part of the account record.
• Do not text supers late at night unless it is urgent and you know they want it.

When the super's answer changes the job, the office edits the job, not just the conversation. A new placement goes into the placement notes; a new code goes into the access notes. Job Site Access Notes: Gates, Lockboxes and Where the Porta Potties Go covers access notes in more detail.

Texting also helps when a super is new to your company. A short introduction text when a new site starts, with your company name and a line about how to request service, gives the super your number in their phone. The next time they need something, they know who to text.

Why It Builds Loyalty

Contractors deal with many vendors, and most are hard to reach. A porta potty company that answers texts quickly and fixes problems the same day stands out. Supers start texting you first when they need something, which is exactly where you want to be when the next project starts.

To see two-way texting alongside job sites, contacts and the customer app, visit PortaPottyBossPro construction porta potty rental software.