CarpetBossPro Blog — Tech App

Helpers on the Van: Running a Two-Person Carpet Crew in the Tech App

A lot of carpet work goes faster with two people. One moves furniture and pre-vacuums while the other pre-treats. One runs the wand while the other starts on the sofa. Whole-house jobs, move-out cleanings and big commercial nights often get a helper. The question is how a second person fits into the tech app without creating confusion about who did what.

Two People, One Van

What the office sees after a job is covered in What the Office Sees When a Carpet Tech Completes a Job. With a helper on the van, the goal is the same: an accurate record, with the right person attached to the right work.

In CarpetBossPro, employees are set up with personal PINs and van assignments. The van assignment is what puts that van's jobs on the phone. Assign both the lead tech and the helper to the same van, and each can sign in on their own phone with their own PIN and see the day's route.

Who Runs the Phone

On a two-person van, it usually works best to have one person run the job. The lead tech taps Start, works the checklist, takes the photos, writes the notes and taps Complete. The helper can see the same jobs on their own phone, which is handy for reading access notes or checking the rooms, but the lead owns the record.

That avoids two people tapping through the same checklist, and it keeps a single voice in the notes for the customer. If the helper finds a stain or a damaged spot, they tell the lead, who records it. The office knows who to ask if there is a question.

Some crews flip it on certain jobs. A helper who is training to become a lead might run the phone while the lead watches. That is a good way to build the next tech, covered in Training a New Carpet Tech on the App in One Ride-Along.

The Time Clock for Helpers

Helpers need accurate hours as much as anyone, and often more, since many are part-time or seasonal. Each helper clocks in and out on the time clock with their own PIN. That way their hours are recorded as they happen, not reconstructed from the lead's memory at the end of the week.

If a helper does not have a phone that works well, they can sign in on a shared van phone with their own PIN just to clock in and out. Never have the lead clock in for the helper with the lead's PIN. The hours would land on the wrong person.

Splitting the Work on a Job

The job card makes it easy for two people to split a job without talking it through every time. In the van, both read the card:

• Rooms and add-ons: “Three bedrooms, hallway, stairs, sofa, pet odor in the back bedroom.”
• Access notes: “Cats, keep bedroom doors shut. Hose through the garage.”
• Past notes: “Customer wants furniture back exactly where it was.”

Then they divide it. The helper moves small furniture and pre-vacuums. The lead does the walk-through with the customer and pre-treats. The lead cleans the carpet while the helper sets up for the sofa. Both groom, and the helper handles blocks and tabs while the lead does the final walk-through. The checklist on the lead's phone gets checked as each step is done, no matter who did it.

Helpers and Access

Helpers turn over more than leads. A personal PIN for each helper means that when a helper leaves, the office turns off their PIN, and their access to the job cards, gate codes and customer addresses ends. Their past hours and any work tied to them stay on the record.

That is a big improvement over a helper who was added to the company group text and still has every gate code ever sent. See Logging In to the Carpet Cleaning App: Company Login Plus a Personal PIN.

When the Helper Becomes a Second Van

The day a helper is ready to run their own van, nothing in the app changes except the van assignment. The office creates the second van's route on the dispatch board, assigns the former helper, and they see their own jobs. Everything they learned on the lead's van, from reading the card to filling in the checklist, carries over.

A typical next step for a growing company is one van on residential jobs during the day and another on commercial work after hours. The next guide covers bringing new techs up to speed: Training a New Carpet Tech on the App in One Ride-Along. For the full tech app, visit the CarpetBossPro carpet cleaning app page.