A pressure washing job depends on the customer more than a mowing visit does. Someone has to turn on the spigot, move the cars, close the windows, put the dog inside and open the gate. When they forget, your crew loses an hour or the job does not happen. Texting is the most reliable way to get those things done, because people read texts. This post covers which messages to send, what to say in each, how to handle replies, and how to keep your messages short enough that they do not cost more than they should.
The Night-Before Text Does the Most Work
The night-before text is the single most useful message you send, because it turns customer prep into a checklist they read in writing. Keep it short and specific:
"Hi Linda, this is Riverside Lawn and Wash. We are washing your house and driveway tomorrow between 8 and 11. Please move cars out of the driveway, close all windows, bring pets inside and make sure the outside spigot works. Reply here with any questions."
Every line in that message prevents a specific problem. Cars in the driveway mean the driveway cannot be cleaned. Open windows mean wet bedrooms. A dog in the yard means the crew cannot get to the back of the house. A spigot that does not work means a trip back.
Set the night-before alert up once with your standard wording and it goes out automatically for scheduled jobs. Adjust the wording for different services; a driveway-only job does not need the window line, and a roof job might mention the landscaping you will be wetting.
On the Way and Arrived
Many wash customers want to be home when you start, or at least know when you are coming so they can leave the gate open. A "you're next" or on-the-way text gives them a heads-up: "Our crew is heading to your house now, about 15 minutes out."
That text also saves the crew time. A customer who knows you are coming moves the car before you arrive instead of while you wait.
A tech-arrived text is useful for customers who are not home. It tells them the crew is on site and working, which matters for homeowners who are nervous about strangers in the backyard. If the customer has a question ("Can you also do the back steps?"), they can answer while the crew is still there.
If the owner turns on the live route map for customers on their service day, they can watch the truck approach, which cuts down on "when will you be here" calls.
The Completed Text With Photos
When the crew marks the job done, the completed alert goes out with the notes and photos. For washing, this message is part of the product. The customer may not be home, and even if they are, before and after photos show the difference more clearly than looking at a clean driveway.
Train crews to take the before photo from a set spot and the after from the same spot. A good set for a house wash is each side of the house before and after, plus anything unusual: the stain that did not come out, the cracked panel that was already cracked. The note can be one line: "All four sides, soffits and gutter faces washed, plants rinsed before and after, rust stain by the garage treated but still faintly visible."
That note protects you as much as it informs the customer. If they call later about the rust, the message already told them.
Skipped, Rescheduled and Canceled Messages
Weather moves wash jobs. So do locked gates, broken spigots and cars that were not moved. When that happens, the customer should hear about it right away, with a reason.
A skipped alert covers the job the crew could not do on site: "We could not wash today because the backyard gate was locked. We will contact you to reschedule." A reschedule text covers jobs moved before the day: when you reschedule a day because of wind or rain, each customer on that day gets a reschedule text with the new date. A canceled alert covers jobs that are not happening at all.
These are the messages most companies skip, and they are the ones that decide whether the customer books again. A customer told about a rain delay is usually fine. A customer who waited all morning for a crew that never came is not.
Review Requests and Upsells
Ask for a review after the job, while the house still looks new. The review request alert can go out after service with a link to where you want reviews left. Wash results are visual and dramatic, which makes satisfied customers good reviewers; give them the easiest possible way to do it.
Upsell alerts are the other after-job message worth sending. A few weeks after a house wash, a message about the driveway or the fence. In late summer, a note to driveway customers about a fall cleaning before the holidays. For lawn customers who have never bought a wash, a spring message offering a driveway cleaning in their neighborhood. Keep them occasional; one or two a season is plenty.
Our post on repeat wash work covers how to turn those messages into yearly bookings.
Two-Way Texting and Keeping Messages Short
Customers reply to texts. "Can you also do the patio?" "The spigot is behind the AC unit." "I need to move it to Friday." Two-way texting lets those replies land in the office where someone can answer, instead of on a tech's personal phone. In IndustryBossPro, two-way texting is on the Pro plan ($89 a month) and the Crew plan.
Texts are counted in segments, and both sent and received messages count. A standard segment is about 160 plain characters. Longer messages split into several segments, and certain characters, like curly quotes, emoji and some dashes, switch the message to a format that holds far fewer characters per segment. A night-before text that runs to 300 characters with an emoji in it can cost three or four segments instead of two.
So keep messages tight. Use plain punctuation. Cut the greetings and sign-offs down. Put the important instruction first. A message that fits in one or two segments gets read faster and costs less. The mobile app features page shows how the crew side of these alerts works.
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