How to Use Projects to Manage Permits and Multi-Stage Jobs

If your service company manages multi-stage jobs via spreadsheets, the process is likely taking longer than it needs to, while important steps slip through the cracks. 

In a recent episode of the Mastering ServiceTitan podcast, Liz Haynes, Chief Experience Officer at Streamline Services, shares how her team leverages ServiceTitan Projects to manage residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical jobs that require permits, inspections, and multiple stages. 

The podcast covers how to set up sub-statuses for better transparency and use custom fields for permit tracking. If you want to increase departmental visibility and ensure no permit or rebate detail is missed, the episode offers a blueprint for an efficient, spreadsheet-free office. 

Here are the highlights. 

From Spreadsheets to Projects

When Haynes served as the plumbing service manager at Streamline Services, she filled in for a coworker going on maternity leave who had been handling projects, permits, and inspections via spreadsheets. The Google Sheet included:

• Customer name

• Salesperson

• Type of job

• Permit status

• Inspection status

• Project phase

“I had to learn my workflow and the best way to go about managing these projects. I knew what we were doing as far as spreadsheets were concerned and trying to manage that and the visibility within the organization,” Haynes says. “So I thought, ‘I'm gonna play around with Projects. I really think I can get this to work for what we need here.’”

Haynes used a multi-stage job as an example and set it up in Projects with statuses and custom fields. 

“I presented it to the team like, ‘You guys need to see this. I think this is going to eliminate all of the spreadsheets and increase visibility within all the departments here,’” Haynes says. “That’s literally all it took [to get them on board].” 

The HVAC, plumbing, and electrical jobs Streamline Services completes often require permits and rebates. With tight deadlines for each, the Projects tab helps ensure nothing slips through the cracks. 

Benefits of ServiceTitan Projects

Haynes says some of the biggest benefits of Projects are the transparency it brings to the organization and the task management features.

“Anyone can see the status or phase of any project that we have in ServiceTitan,” Haynes says.  “Task management has been huge with Projects also. The way we have it set up is if you open up a project, you will know what's going on just by clicking around. You can see what status it's on and what’s required to finish. There's no more scrolling trying to find which spreadsheet it's on. You click the Projects tab, and you can see exactly what's going on.”

Projects also provides access to project financials and job costing. You can set the main dashboard to show all the data you want for quick reporting. 

Getting Started with Projects

Haynes notes you can customize Projects to fit your business needs. 

“When I first was playing around with it, my understanding was that it was meant for commercial-type or multi-trade jobs. It's going to work excellent for that,” Haynes says. “But what people might not realize is that it works wonderfully for residential, too. All you have to do is customize it.”

Streamline Services uses Projects for any job that requires a permit, multiple days, multiple visits, or multiple trades. 

Custom fields can be added to jobs, locations, and projects. For example, Haynes added custom fields for permit information and cost. Under each status, Streamline Services uses substatuses. The In Progress status includes substatuses like Requested Installation and Waiting on Customer. 

It’s business-specific who you designate to change a project status. At Streamline Services, that responsibility falls to their project coordinator. 

“Anyone can go into projects and click on it and look around,” Haynes says. “But no one changes the statuses, except whoever's working in that seat at that time. Otherwise, there are too many hands in the pot and there's too much room for error.”

If you’re interested in trying out Projects, Haynes says to just jump in. 

“If you're using spreadsheets and thinking to yourself, ‘There has to be a better way,’ there is,” Haynes says. “This doesn’t cost extra. It’s a no-brainer for me.” 

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Mastering ServiceTitan on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here. 

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