The customer record a window cleaner actually needs

Part 5 of 39 of Building TradeYoke, the story of how the platform was built, from January 2024 to today. Previous: What is a round? Designing it in software. Next: Designing a job that repeats: every four weeks, for years. See every part on the build timeline.

Quick answer

Quick answer: A window cleaner's customer record needs six things: the right address on a map, the price, the frequency, how to get in, who to talk to, and what they owe. TradeYoke's customer record holds those, plus window-cleaning fields such as frequency, preferred day, round and typed alerts, and attaches the customer's jobs, notes and documents.

Key takeaways

Address, price, frequency, access notes, contacts and balance are the heart of a window cleaner's customer record.
Window cleaning adds its own fields: frequency, preferred day, round, price and typed alerts.
One record per customer, with jobs, notes and documents attached, beats three apps and a notebook.

Start with how it is used

In April 2024 we worked on the customer record. We started by asking when it is used, not what it could hold. The answer is at a doorstep and on the phone, often in a hurry. The record has to give you what you need to do the visit, and nothing in the way.

What went on it

The address, on a map. Text alone sends you to the wrong end of a road. The record has an address and a location that feeds the map.
The price and the frequency. The two numbers a window cleaner needs most, held where the round can use them.
How to get in. Gate codes, side doors, dogs. Notes are the part people forget until the day they need them.
Who to talk to. The person who pays is not always the person at home.
What they owe. A balance you can see before you knock.

One contact, many roles

Early on we made a decision that has paid back many times. A person is one contact, whatever their role. A customer, a team member and a supplier are all contacts, so someone who is both a customer and a supplier is one person, not two records that drift apart. That is also why duplicate detection and merging matter: when two records turn out to be the same person, you can merge them and keep the better details.

Trade-specific fields

Window cleaning adds its own information on top of the shared record: how often, which day suits, which round, the price, and typed alerts such as a locked gate. Other trades add theirs (a gardener's service and frequency, a plumber's boiler details). The shared part stays the same and each trade adds a panel, so the record never turns into a long form full of fields that do not apply to you.

What we learned

The record is only as good as the data in it, so getting customers in matters as much as the design. That is why a good import came early, and why the next article is about how a job should repeat.

Questions people ask

What should a window cleaner keep on a customer record?

The address on a map, the price, the frequency, access notes such as gate codes, who to contact, and what the customer owes. TradeYoke holds all of these on one record, with jobs, notes and documents attached.

Can TradeYoke find and merge duplicate customers?

Yes. It groups likely duplicates and lets you merge two customers, showing you the record it will keep before you confirm.