TreeBossPro Blog — Tree Service Software

Crew Notes for Tree Work: Access, Gate Codes and Drop Zones

Every foreman has a story about pulling up to a job and losing the first hour. The gate was locked and nobody had the code. The chipper couldn't get past the neighbor's car. The homeowner had a new patio right where the old notes said to drop. The dog was out.

Good crew notes prevent most of that. This article covers what to write and how to write it so another crew can use it.

Notes Are the Other Half of the Property Record

In Recording Tree Counts, DBH and Height on Every Property, the focus was on the numbers. Numbers tell you how big the job is. Crew notes tell you how to do it at this particular address. TreeBossPro keeps crew notes on the property, and the crew app shows them with the job, so the crew reads them before they arrive rather than after they are stuck.

Access: Getting the Equipment In

Start with how the equipment gets in. Where does the truck park? Can the chipper go in the driveway, or does it stay on the street? Is there a gate wide enough for a compact loader, or does everything get carried? Is there a soft or low area that will rut if you drive on it after rain?

Write access notes as instructions, not observations. Chipper on street, south side, feed from the driveway is something a new groundie can follow. Tight access is not.

Note distances when they matter. If the brush has to be dragged eighty feet from the back corner to the chipper, that changes how many people the job needs and how long it takes. If the bucket truck can only reach the front trees, say so, so the scheduler doesn't send a crew without a climber.

Access notes also help the estimator. A job with a long drag, a gate too narrow for equipment or no place to park the truck takes longer than one with the chipper ten feet from the tree. When the notes are honest, the next estimate prices that in.

Gate Codes and Entry Instructions

Gate codes are the classic note that lives on a sticky note in one person's truck. Put them on the property in TreeBossPro, where the crew app shows them to whoever has the job. Include entry details too: which gate, whether the homeowner wants a knock first, whether a property manager needs a call.

When a code changes, update it right away. A wrong code is worse than no code, because the crew trusts it.

Drop Zones and Site Layout

The drop zone is where tree work differs from almost every other trade. Note where wood can safely come down, what is in the way — fence, patio, play set, irrigation heads, garden beds — and where pieces must be lowered instead of dropped.

Note where the brush pile and log stacking go, and whether the customer wants wood left in rounds, stacked or hauled. That one sentence prevents a lot of end-of-job arguments.

Safety decisions are always made by the crew leader on site, and rules for things like work near power lines vary by state and utility, so check local requirements. Notes are there to help the crew start from good information, not to replace their judgment.

People, Pets and Neighbors

Some of the most useful notes have nothing to do with trees. The dog that gets out. The elderly homeowner who wants to be told before the saw starts. The neighbor who complains about trucks on the street and needs a heads-up. A shared driveway that must stay open.

Put them in the crew notes. They take seconds to write and save the crew from a bad afternoon.

Pair the notes with the one-tap on-the-way alert in the crew app. A homeowner who gets a text that the crew is headed over has time to put the dog inside, move the car out of the drop zone and unlock the side gate. The note tells the crew what to expect; the alert tells the customer to get ready. Together they turn the first fifteen minutes on site from sorting things out into starting work.

Keeping Notes Useful Over Time

Notes go stale. A new fence, a new patio, a new dog. Ask crews to update notes when something has changed, and ask the estimator to read and refresh them at every site visit. Photos from the crew app help: a picture of the gate, the drop zone or the chipper spot is often clearer than a paragraph.

Short, current notes beat long, old ones. If a note no longer applies, delete it.

Crew notes are a small part of TreeBossPro tree service software, but they are one of the parts crews notice first. The next article moves back to the office and the start of every job: tracking leads so no call goes cold.