A spreadsheet, a camera roll or a job app
The three ways a small trade business tracks jobs, what each one loses, and when a spreadsheet is still enough. A category comparison.
A small trade business tracks its jobs in one of three ways: a spreadsheet in the office, the camera roll and group chats on everybody's phone, or a job app that holds the whole job in one record. Each works up to a point. This page says what each one loses, and when a spreadsheet is honestly enough.
The spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is the first system most trade businesses build: one row per job, a column for the customer, the address, the date, the price and "paid?". It is flexible, it is already on the computer, and it costs nothing more.
What it does well. Lists. Sorting by date or by amount. A total at the bottom. A person who knows the sheet can answer "what is open?" in a minute.
What it loses.
- The photos. A cell cannot hold forty photos of an install. They live somewhere else, so the record of the work is in two places.
- The phone. A sheet on a phone in a basement with no signal is not a tool. The technician writes it down and somebody types it later.
- The quote. The price in the sheet is not the quote the customer accepted. When they dispute the scope, the sheet says what you typed, not what they signed.
- Two people. Two people editing the same row at the same time is how a job gets booked twice.
The camera roll and the group chat
The second system is not chosen; it grows. Technicians take photos on their own phones, send the important ones to a group chat, and the office scrolls up to find them.
What it does well. Speed. The camera is always in the pocket and the group chat is always open. Nobody needs training.
What it loses.
- The filing. A photo in a camera roll is filed by date, not by customer or job. Finding the panel photo from a gate two winters ago means scrolling through every job since.
- The proof. A forwarded photo loses its time and place. A photo that proves the damage was already there has to show when and where.
- The person who leaves. When a technician leaves, their camera roll leaves with them.
- The rest of the job. The chat holds photos and messages, not the quote, the invoice or the payment.
The job app
The third system is one record per job that everybody reads and writes: the contact, the Location, the sessions on the calendar, the photos, the quote, the invoice and the payments.
What it adds, in Combdex specifically:
- Photos shot in the app, stamped with the time and the place, and filed to the session and the project by themselves. See Job photo documentation.
- A phone app that works offline. It reads and writes locally and sends when the signal comes back. See Offline field app.
- The quote and the invoice from the same lines. The customer accepts and signs the quote on a link; one tap converts it to the invoice. See Quoting software and Invoicing for contractors.
- One history per contact: calls, texts, emails, quotes, payments. See Contact management.
What it costs. A monthly price on the pricing page, and the time to move your contacts and open jobs in. A job app also asks people to change a habit, which is the real cost in most businesses.
Side by side
| A spreadsheet | The camera roll and group chats | A job app such as Combdex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the job's record is | One row | Spread across phones | One record, every part |
| Photos | Somewhere else | On each phone, by date | On the job, stamped with time and place |
| Works on site with no signal | No | The camera does; nothing else | Yes, offline by design |
| The accepted quote | Whatever the cell says | A screenshot, maybe | The signed version, archived |
| Two people at once | Conflicts | Each has their own copy | One record, live |
| Finding the job two years later | Search the sheet | Scroll | Search by contact, Location or words in a caption |
| Cost | Already paid | Already paid | A subscription |
When is a spreadsheet enough?
When you work alone, quote few jobs and never need to prove what a photo shows. A one-person business with five jobs a week and a good memory can run on a spreadsheet and the phone's camera for years. Move when the second person joins, when a dispute costs you a job's margin, or when you notice you type the same customer's details into three places. If you move, Moving your jobs into Combdex says what comes across and what does not.
Related
- Job management software for contractors: the job app, end to end.
- Photos: how photos reach the job.
- Site photo report template: what a photo record looks like on paper.
Questions people ask
Is a spreadsheet enough to run a small trade business?
For one person with a few jobs a week, often yes. A spreadsheet stops being enough when two people need the same job at once, when photos have to prove what was done, or when a quote has to be accepted and turned into an invoice without retyping it.
What is wrong with keeping job photos in the camera roll?
Nothing, until somebody else needs them. Photos on one technician's phone are not filed to a job, are not searchable by customer, and leave with the phone. Two years later, the photo that proves the wiring was already damaged is very hard to find.
What does a job app add?
One record per job that everyone reads: the contact, the Location, the sessions, the photos, the quote, the invoice and the payments. The phone writes to it offline. The quote converts to the invoice without retyping, and the customer accepts and pays on a link.
What does a job app cost me that a spreadsheet does not?
A monthly price, and the time to move your contacts and open jobs. A spreadsheet is already paid for and already set up. The question is whether the hours lost to retyping, searching and chasing are worth more than the subscription.