Customers

Customers are the core entities in Chisel Tide. Each customer record holds contact information, preferences, properties, service plans, work orders, and billing details. Use the Customers section to manage your customer base, track their properties and pools, and coordinate service delivery.

Customers list page

The customers list at Customers in the navigation shows all customers across your organization. From here you can search, filter by status, add new customers, and navigate to individual customer records.

Search and filter

• Search — Type a name, company name, email, phone, address, or tag. Search is debounced by 300ms and filters results automatically, including customers whose tags match.

• Status filter — Click the status chips to filter by Active, Inactive, Prospect, Suspend, or Cancelled. Select All to remove the filter.

List actions

• Add customer — Opens the customer creation slide-over.

• Import customers — Create customers from external sources. Choose from:

  • PDF import — Upload a signed agreement or intake form and Chisel Tide extracts customer details automatically. See Import a customer from a PDF file.

  • Bulk import — Import multiple customers at once from a spreadsheet file (.xlsx or .csv). See Bulk import customers from a CSV file.

Empty states

• If you have no customers yet, the page shows No customers yet with a prompt to add your first customer.

• If a search returns no results, the page shows No customers found.

Add a new customer

To create a customer:

1. Click Add customer from the customers list page.

2. Fill in the customer details:

   • Name — The primary contact name.

   • Company name — Business name (optional for residential customers).

   • Email — Used for customer portal access and notifications.

   • Phone and Alternate phone — Contact numbers.

   • Type — Residential or Commercial.

   • Status — Active by default; you can also create prospects with status Prospect.

   • Preferred contact method — Email, Phone, or Postal. Postal means the customer has opted out of electronic delivery entirely and should receive communications by mail only.

   • Language — English or Spanish.

   • Portal access — Enabled by default. When enabled, the customer can log into the customer portal to view service history, photos, invoices, and pay bills.

   • Autopay — Enable automatic payments for invoices.

   • Notifications — Configure which notifications the customer receives.

   • Tags — Add tags for organization and filtering.

   • Notes — Internal notes visible to your team.

   • Billing address — The address where the customer receives invoices and billing correspondence.

   • Service address — Where the technician shows up for service. This can differ from the billing address, for example when a customer receives bills at a corporate office but service happens at their home. Check Same as billing address to use the billing address for service, or leave it unchecked to enter a separate service location.

3. Click Save to create the customer.

If Chisel Tide detects a potential duplicate (matching email or name), a Duplicate Customer dialog appears. You can choose to merge with an existing customer or create a new record.

Merge duplicate customers

Use Merge customers from a customer's actions menu to consolidate two accounts into one. The dialog asks you to pick the account to be deleted and the account that survives, then Preview merge shows what will move before you commit. Confirm with Merge and delete — this cannot be undone. Everything on the deleted account moves to the surviving account, and the first account is removed. If the merge can't run yet, the dialog lists the blockers and their remedies.

Customer detail page

Click any customer from the list to open their detail page. The detail page shows a header with customer name, company, status badge, and key actions, plus a persistent right rail with contact information and preferences.

Header information

• Customer name and company — Displayed prominently at the top.

• Status badge — Shows current status with a color-coded indicator.

• Commercial badge — Appears if the customer is marked as commercial.

• Lead stage chip — Visible for prospects showing their pipeline stage.

• Customer since — Shows when the customer was created.

Header actions menu

The actions menu in the header changes based on customer status:

• Active customers — Suspend, Mark inactive, Cancel customer.

• Suspended or Inactive customers — Reactivate.

• Prospect customers — Convert to active.

• All non-cancelled customers — Cancel customer.

Additional actions are available from the customer header actions menu:

• New opportunity — Add the customer to the sales pipeline without creating a duplicate contact. See Pipeline.

• Record payment — Log money already received with no invoice attached, such as a cheque, cash, or bank transfer. Choose a property, payment method, date, and optional reference and note. If the customer has open invoices, choose Pay open invoices (applied oldest first, remainder becomes credit) or Hold as credit.

• Merge customers — Consolidate duplicate accounts.

• Pause reminders — Stop automated overdue payment reminders and automatic non-payment suspension for this customer. When reminders are paused, the menu shows Resume reminders instead.

Billing-related actions may also appear on the customer header when Stripe is connected:

• Account statement — Download a statement of the customer’s account activity.

• Take payment → credit — Charge a card and apply the payment as account credit (not tied to a single invoice).

• Apply credit — Manually apply credit to the account (owners and admins only).

Pause payment reminders

Pause a customer's automated overdue payment reminders when you're working through a dispute or payment arrangement and want to stop the dunning emails and texts. The pause applies to all of the customer's invoices.

1. Open the customer's detail page and choose More actions → Pause reminders.

2. Set Resume reminders on to a future date. It defaults to 30 days from today and can be no earlier than tomorrow.

3. Choose Pause reminders to confirm.

While reminders are paused, the customer stops receiving automated overdue reminders, pre-suspension warnings, and automatic non-payment suspension. Invoice aging, overdue status, internal owner escalation, invoice sends and resends, receipts, autopay charges, and payment-plan installment emails continue as usual.

Reminders resume automatically on the selected date. To resume them early, choose More actions → Resume reminders and confirm.

The customer header shows a Reminders paused badge with the resume date, and Preferences & access shows Payment reminders — Paused with the date. Pause and resume changes are recorded in the customer's Activity tab.

Right rail

The right rail persists across all tabs and contains:

• Contact card — Email, phone numbers, and billing address.

• Preferences & access card — Contact method, Portal access (Enabled/Off), Autopay status, Payment reminders (Enabled or Paused with a resume date), Notifications, and Language. The card also includes a View Portal as Customer button that opens a read-only preview of the customer's portal in a new tab.

• Tags & notes card — Any tags and internal notes.

• Messages card — Quick access to recent conversations.

Customer tabs

Overview

The Overview tab provides a summary of the customer's account, including recent activity, key metrics, and quick actions. Use this tab to get a snapshot of the customer relationship at a glance.

Properties

Properties are the physical locations where you perform service. Each property can have one or more pools, equipment, and service plans.

Add a property

1. From the Properties tab, click Add property.

2. Enter property details:

   • Property name — A label for the property.

   • Address — Street address for the service location.

   • General service notes — Standing instructions technicians should see on every visit to this property.

   • Gate code — Access code if needed.

   • Access instructions — How to enter the property.

   • Parking instructions — Where to park.

3. Click Save.

Property cards

Each property card shows:

• Address and property details.

• Pool count, plan count, and contact count.

• Recurring monthly revenue from attached service plans.

• Expandable sections for pools and contacts.

From a property card, you can Edit property or Delete. If no properties exist, the tab shows No properties yet.

Activity

The Activity tab shows a timeline of interactions and events related to the customer, including service visits, communications, and status changes. You can edit notes, phone calls, emails, SMS, and site visit entries after they are logged, and attach files when creating or editing an activity (up to 5 files per entry; common image types, PDF, Word, Excel, text, and CSV).

Plans

Service plans define recurring service schedules and pricing. From the Plans tab:

• View all service plans assigned to the customer's properties.

• Click Assign service plan to attach a new plan.

• Cancel or modify existing plans.

If no plans are assigned, the tab shows No service plans yet with a prompt: "Assign a recurring service plan to start billing this customer on a schedule."

Work orders

Work orders are one-off jobs separate from recurring service plans — repairs, installations, or special service calls.

Work order filters

• All — Shows all work orders.

• Open — Active work orders pending completion.

• Closed — Completed work orders.

Create a work order

1. Click New work order from the Work orders tab.

2. The form opens with the customer pre-selected.

3. Fill in work order details and save.

Empty states:

• No work orders yet — The customer has no work orders.

• No work orders match the selected filter — Work orders exist but don't match the current filter.

Customer statuses

Each customer has one of the following statuses:

Status transitions

• Active → Inactive — Mark inactive when a customer takes a break from service.

• Active → Suspend — Suspend to pause service and billing temporarily. You set a last service date when suspending so routing and billing wind down cleanly.

• Active → Cancelled — Cancel customer when the relationship ends. You set a last service date when cancelling.

• Inactive or Suspend → Active — Reactivate to resume service.

• Prospect → Active — Convert to active when a prospect signs on for service.

Customer portal access

When Portal access is enabled for a customer, they can log into the Chisel Tide customer portal to:

• View service history and visit details.

• See before/after photos from service visits.

• View and pay invoices online via Stripe.

• Accept proposals.

• Manage notification preferences.

Portal access is enabled by default for new customers. To disable it, edit the customer and toggle Portal access off.

SMS consent

When a customer or property contact should receive text messages, SMS consent must be on file. If consent is still pending after you save a mobile number, resend the confirmation from the customer or contact form while editing the record. Until consent is confirmed, transactional SMS for that person stays blocked.

Customer records include billing configuration:

• Autopay — When enabled, invoices are automatically charged to the customer's default payment method.

• Autopay on hold — Temporarily pause autopay without disabling it entirely.

• Billing address — Separate from service property addresses.

• Stripe customer ID — Linked to the customer's payment profile in Stripe.

• Default payment method — The card or bank account used for autopay.

Recurring revenue from service plans appears on each property card and rolls up to customer-level totals. To start billing a customer, assign a service plan to one of their properties.

Properties link customers to your routing system:

• Properties appear on routes based on recurring route templates and assigned service plans. Properties no longer have a fixed service day field.

• Gate codes, access instructions, parking instructions, and general service notes help technicians execute service efficiently.

• For one-time instructions on a single stop, add a visit-specific note when scheduling or adjusting that visit.

Customers and work orders

Beyond recurring service, customers can have one-off work orders:

• Work orders appear in the customer's Work orders tab.

• Each work order links back to the customer and specific property.

• Work orders can be created from the customer detail page or from the Work orders section.

Troubleshooting