Owner-operator, residential + light-commercial HVAC · Tampa, FL · 3 techs on payroll
Before SproutDock — and what changes after.
Walk through how Dave's whole workflow runs through SproutDock. Each stage shows whether the feature is live today, coming soon, or on the roadmap.
A homeowner calls about replacing their aging AC system. Dave creates the Client record in SproutDock — name, address, contact info — and opens a Job under that client for the install.
He sends the service agreement directly from the job. The homeowner gets a branded email with a link to a signing page (Dave's company logo, his business name). They review the scope and pricing, digitally sign, and the executed agreement is locked, timestamped, IP-logged, and archived under the job — before Dave's even finished his morning coffee.
A full system install isn't one task — it's several days of distinct work. Dave has a saved process flow template for "Full System Install" that creates the phases in a few clicks: Rough-In (ductwork, line sets), Equipment Set (condenser + air handler), and Commissioning (startup, refrigerant charge, testing). The template is reusable — every install of the same type starts from the same playbook.
Each phase holds its own tasks and files. The template also pairs a service agreement and an invoice template with all the standard line items already filled in — equipment, labor, permits, disposal. Dave reviews, adjusts quantities or pricing for the specific job, and sends. No rebuilding invoices from scratch every time.
Dave schedules each install day on the job and creates tasks with due dates for the permit inspection, equipment delivery, and startup appointment. Everything surfaces on the unified calendar alongside every other active job — color-coded by type (blue for jobs, teal for tasks, red for invoice due dates).
If the equipment delivery slips a day, Dave drags the install to a new date on the calendar. The reschedule is logged in the audit trail with who moved it and when. His techs see their assigned tasks and dates without calling Dave for the schedule.
Dave emails the homeowner directly from inside the job — schedule updates, completion photos, final walkthrough details. When the homeowner replies, the reply automatically threads back under that job. No digging through a personal inbox for "what did Mrs. Nguyen say about the thermostat location?"
With a custom sending domain configured (one-time DNS setup), emails come from Dave's own business address. Without it, emails send from the shared platform address with Dave's company name as the display name — either way, replies thread back automatically.
Dave's techs upload photos directly into the job — before shots of the old system, progress shots during the install, and final completion photos. Each upload is attributed to the user who uploaded it and timestamped on the server. The photos live under the job permanently, organized and searchable.
Files are marked with visibility controls: admin-only (internal notes, rough progress shots), client-visible (completion photos the homeowner should see), or public. For sharing completion photos with the homeowner, Dave generates a gallery link — they open it in a browser, view the photos, no login required.
Dave builds invoices directly on the job with line items — equipment costs, labor, permits, disposal fees. He can start from a saved invoice template for his common line items (system installs, service calls, maintenance agreements) and adjust quantities and pricing per job. SproutDock supports deposit invoices (collect upfront before the install starts), standard invoices, and final invoices.
He sends the invoice by email and gets open tracking — he sees when the homeowner opened the email, how many times, and when they last viewed it. When payment arrives (check, card over the phone, financing company payment), Dave records it against the invoice with the method, reference number, and date.
Coming soon: a client portal will give homeowners their own login to check job status, view their invoices, and access their documents — replacing the "is my install still on for Thursday?" phone call with a thirty-second self-serve check.
Today, Dave already keeps homeowners in the loop without phone tag: service agreements are signed by link, invoices reach them by email (with open tracking so Dave knows they've seen it), and completion photos are shared via gallery links — no login required for any of it.
On the roadmap: AI integrations that put Dave's job data to work — spotting patterns like which jobs are going stale, flagging approaching deadlines, identifying clients with outstanding balances, and surfacing insights across the entire job list that would take hours to piece together manually.
The data is already in the system — job activity, email threads, invoice history, task completion rates. The AI layer will connect the dots and surface what matters, so Dave spends less time reviewing spreadsheets and more time in the field running installs.
Same day. Same crew. Different reality.
Dave's evenings go back to his family because the admin work happens in small bites throughout the day. Homeowners get faster responses because the information is at hand. The crew stays coordinated because the schedule and tasks are shared. And every install is documented from day one — so warranty claims and disputes have a paper trail that holds up.