PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Driver & Tech App

Start, Skip, Complete: The Three Buttons That Run a Porta Potty Route

The heart of the driver app is three buttons. Start, Skip and Complete. Everything else on the card is information the tech reads. These three are how the tech tells the office what happened. Used every stop, they turn a route from a black box into something the office can see in real time.

Start: I Am Working This Job

Once the tech is through the gate, using the codes and notes covered in Gate Codes and Site Notes in the Porta Potty Driver App, they tap Start. That tells the office this job is underway. On the office side, the job shows as started, and the dispatcher knows exactly where the truck is in the route.

The customer side keeps pace too. Customers who chose arrival alerts get a text that the tech has arrived, without the tech typing anything.

A good habit is to tap Start right when the truck stops at the site, before getting out. It takes a second and it keeps the record honest.

Complete: The Job Is Done

When the units are pumped, cleaned and restocked, the photos are taken, and anything unusual is noted, the tech taps Complete. That is the button that does the most work behind the scenes:

• The job comes off the day's open list in the office
• The invoice is created, and a card on file can be charged
• For a weekly service, the site's next visit comes due on the Waiting List based on that service's minimum days between visits
• For a delivery or pickup, the rental dates are tracked so extra days bill correctly

All from one tap. The tech does not have to think about any of that. They just need to tap Complete when the job is actually complete, not at the end of the day from memory.

Skip: This Stop Cannot Happen Today

Skip is the button nobody likes, and the one that saves the most trouble. A unit is blocked by a forklift. The gate is locked. The site is flooded. The event has not ended and the organizer does not want a pump truck in the crowd.

When the tech skips, they note why. That note goes to the office with the job. Instead of a mystery missed stop, the office has a clear reason and can call the customer, reschedule, or send the tech back later. Skipping a Blocked Porta Potty and Writing Down Why covers what makes a good skip note.

Why Every Stop Needs a Button

The value of these buttons comes from using them on every stop. If a tech completes half their jobs in the app and forgets the rest, the office cannot tell a missed stop from a forgotten tap. Invoices do not go out. Weekly sites do not come due. Customers get texts that do not match reality.

Make it the routine: tap Start when you pull up, tap Complete before you pull away, or tap Skip with a reason. No stop leaves without a button.

What the Office Sees

On the office side, the dispatcher watches the day move. Started jobs show as underway, completed jobs drop off, skipped jobs show up with their reason. Combined with crew GPS on the office map, the dispatcher can answer almost any customer call without picking up the radio.

When a customer calls at 11 asking if their units were serviced, the office can say "yes, completed at 9:42, and here are the photos," instead of "let me call the driver and get back to you." What the Office Sees When a Porta Potty Tech Completes a Job goes deeper.

Out-of-Order Stops

Sometimes the tech has to work a stop out of order: a customer asks for an earlier service, or a site is closed until noon. The buttons still work the same way. The tech starts and completes whichever job they are actually doing. It helps to give dispatch a heads-up when the order changes, so the route order on the board and the customer's live map stay accurate.

Mistakes Happen

If a tech taps Complete on the wrong job, the office can sort it out. The fix is a quick call or text to dispatch the moment the tech notices. What matters is that the record gets corrected while everyone still remembers the day, not three weeks later when an invoice is disputed.

The Short Version

Start when you arrive, Complete when it is done, Skip with a reason when it cannot be. For everything else on the tech's screen, visit the PortaPottyBossPro driver and tech app page.