Thirty sold fences, started in the right order.
Every signed fence is waiting on something different: one on the deposit, one on the locate ticket, one on the town permit, one on a pallet of white vinyl. Redline keeps the whole queue where you can see it and books the start the day the last piece clears.
From signed quote to a start date you can keep
Signed jobs go to Accepted
When the customer says yes, move the job to Accepted. Until it has a date on the calendar, Home lists it under Sold not scheduled, so a signed fence can't sit forgotten in a quote folder.
Write down what's holding it
"Locate called in Oct 2, permit submitted Oct 5, vinyl due the 14th." Type it into the job's notes, or say it to the chat and it's logged as a note on the customer's file. Set a date reminder for anything you have to check on.
Ask what's ready
"Which sold fences have nothing on the calendar?" Redline lists them with their notes, so you can see which ones have every piece in and which are still waiting on the town.
Book post day and panel day
One message books both visits on the job: posts set in concrete on one day, panels and gates on another. Start them early and keep the rest of the day clear for that crew.
Put a crew on it
On Team and up, assign the crew by name or drag the job on the dispatch board. The crew lead sees the job notes: gate swing, which side faces the neighbor, where the pins are.
Rain, frost or a late truck
"Push the Reyes posts to Monday and the panels to Wednesday." Redline moves both. Then call the customer, or have Redline draft the email from your Gmail.
Monday morning with a full backlog
Four in Accepted with nothing booked:
Reyes, Grafton: deposit paid, locate good from Oct 8, no permit needed per your note.
Kowalski, Westborough: permit submitted Oct 5, not back yet.
Lindqvist, Shrewsbury: vinyl due Oct 14.
Abbott, Grafton: no notes on locate or permit.
Booked the Reyes posts Thursday, Oct 8 at 7:00 and the panels and gates Monday, Oct 12 at 7:00. Mike's crew is on both, it's on their phones. Reminder set for Wednesday: call Abbott about the locate.
Scheduling and reminders work on every plan. Assigning crews is on Team ($129 a month) and up. Reminders land in the morning push on the iPhone app.
What holds a fence start, and where it lives in Redline
| The hold | Where you keep it | What tells you it cleared |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit for material | A deposit invoice in Money (Solo and up) | Money shows it paid, and the iPhone app pushes when it lands |
| Utility locate ticket | Ticket number and the date it's good from, in the job notes | A date reminder for the morning it's good, and one before it runs out |
| Town fence permit | Permit number and submit date, in the job notes | A reminder to call the building department if it isn't back |
| HOA approval | A photo of the approval letter, filed to the job from Quick-Sort | You, when the letter shows up |
| Material on order | Supplier and the delivery date, in the job notes | A reminder the day before the truck is due |
| Property pins or survey | The plot plan or survey photo on the job | The customer confirms the line before post day |
Redline doesn't contact the utility, the town or your supplier. It keeps each answer on the job so you aren't hunting for it when the customer calls.
A date you can actually keep
The fastest way to lose a fence customer isn't the price. It's giving them a start date, then calling the night before because the locate wasn't marked or the posts for their style are still on a truck in another state. The fix is boring: don't book the start until everything it waits on is in, and know at a glance which jobs those are.
That's what the queue in Redline is for. Sold not scheduled shows how many signed fences you're carrying. The notes on each job say what's still out. When the last hold clears, one message books post day and panel day, puts a crew on it and gives you the date to tell the customer.
Redline doesn't know how many feet your crew sets in a day, and it doesn't plan the route between yards on a map. You decide how long a job takes. When you ask for times or run Optimize, it groups jobs by the town in each address, so the two Grafton fences land in the same week instead of on opposite ends of it.
Straight answers on fence scheduling
Redline does
- List every signed fence that has no date yet
- Keep locate, permit, HOA and material status on each job
- Book post day and panel day as separate visits in one message
- Move both visits in one message when it rains
- Put a crew on the job from chat or the board (Team and up)
Redline doesn't
- Call in locate tickets or check their status with the utility
- Know your crew's footage per day or plan a route by drive time
- Shift panel day automatically when post day moves
- Give customers a portal to see their place in line
- Text a start date (calling is one tap)
Questions contractors ask
Can a fence install run several days?
Yes. Book each day as its own visit on the job. A long run might be two post days and a panel day. Each visit moves on its own, so a rainout only touches the days that are actually lost.
What happens to signed fences when the ground freezes?
They stay in Accepted with their notes, and Home keeps them under Sold not scheduled. Set a reminder for early spring to start booking, and the deposits you already collected are still on each customer's file in Money.
How do I tell a customer where they are in line?
Call them, or have Redline draft an email from your Gmail with the start window you give it. There's no customer portal or automatic update, so nothing goes out without you.
Do I need Team for one crew?
No. If you run the crew yourself, Free covers the calendar, notes and reminders, and Solo at $29 a month adds deposit invoices. Team at $129 a month (3 seats) adds the board and the crew app when someone else leads the crew. See pricing.
More for fence contractors
Keep reading
- Fencing softwareQuote by the linear foot, take a material deposit and keep the backlog straight.
- Fence estimate appFootage, gates, posts and tear-out into material options with a deposit.
- Scheduling and calendarAsk for a time, get the 3 best open slots. Optimize tightens the week.
- Redline RPMsWhere the money is sitting on Home, and the next move from the chat.
- Deck builder scheduling softwareEvery step of a deck build on the calendar, moved together when an inspection slips.
Run your business by chat.
Redline is free to start. Tell it about the job and it handles the quote, the schedule, the invoice and the follow-up.