iMessage for contractors and trades

Trades work has a structure most small businesses do not: a long job, a client side with more than one decision-maker, a crew, and a stream of small decisions that each need a yes. Most disputes on a job trace back to a decision someone remembers differently.

Put the job in a group thread

Name it after the address — '14 Oak St — kitchen' is findable in six months. Both homeowners in it, you in it. Every milestone and every decision posted there, once, where everyone sees the same words at the same time. How to run one well.

export const trade = {
  dayBefore: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.business}: we'll be at ${c.address} tomorrow from ${c.startTime}. ` +
    `${c.accessNote}`,
 
  decision: (c: Ctx) =>
    `Confirming: ${c.decision}. Going in ${c.when}. ` +
    `Shout if that's not right.`,
 
  variation: (c: Ctx) =>
    `Found ${c.issue} behind the ${c.location}. Photo attached. ` +
    `Fixing it properly adds ${c.cost} and ${c.extraTime}. ` +
    `Reply YES to go ahead and I'll crack on.`,
};

Variations are where photos earn their keep

Opening a wall and finding rot is the moment a client decides whether they trust you. A photo, a plain explanation of the consequence, a price, and an added timeframe — in one message, from the person doing the work — converts far better than a phone call and leaves a record neither side can misremember.

Practical notes

• Access notes the day before save more time than anything else you will send. Gate codes, parking, dogs, which door.
• Keep crew coordination in a separate thread. Clients do not need to see the scheduling.
• Close the group thread out when the job ends. A dormant job thread that later receives a promotion is a genuine breach of the implied deal.
• Photograph completion from the same angles as the start. It is your best marketing asset and your best dispute defence.