Service Plans

Service plans define recurring service schedules for your customers. They specify how often you visit a property, what services you perform, and how the customer is billed. Service plans power your recurring routing and ensure customers receive consistent service on a predictable cadence.

Chisel Tide uses a two-level structure for service plans:

• Service plan templates define the structure of a service offering — the service frequency, billing frequency, billing basis, default price, and checklist of service items. Templates are reusable across multiple customers.

• Customer service plans are active subscriptions created from a template, assigned to a specific customer and property. These drive your route schedule and billing.

Create a service plan template

Templates let you standardize your service offerings. Create templates for each type of service you provide, such as weekly pool maintenance, biweekly chemical checks, or monthly equipment inspections.

1. Navigate to Service Plans from the main navigation.

2. Click Create template.

3. Complete the template form:

   • Template name — A descriptive name like "Weekly Pool Service" or "Monthly Equipment Check".

   • Description — Optional details about what this plan includes.

   • Service frequency — How often you visit: Weekly, Biweekly (every other week), Monthly, or One-time.

   • Billing frequency — How often the customer is billed: Monthly.

   • Billing basis — How the plan amount is calculated each billing period:

     • Per visit — The price is multiplied by the number of scheduled visits in the billing period. For example, a weekly plan at $50/visit with monthly billing generates a $200 invoice in a 4-week month.

     • Flat monthly — The customer pays the same amount each billing period regardless of how many visits occur. A weekly plan at $200/month bills $200 whether there are 4 or 5 visits.

   • Price — The default price for the plan. For per-visit plans, this is the price per service visit. For flat monthly plans, this is the fixed amount billed each period.

4. Click Create template to save.

Add service items to a template

Service items define what tasks technicians complete during each visit. Add a checklist of items to ensure consistent service delivery.

1. From the template detail page, click Edit Checklist.

2. Add service items with:

   • Name — The task description, such as "Test water chemistry" or "Clean pump basket".

   • Category — Chemistry, Cleaning, Equipment, or Other.

   • Estimated minutes — Expected time to complete the task.

3. Click Save Changes to update the checklist.

Visit checklists now come from each body of water's checklist. The template's service items are used only when an organization has not created any checklists yet. Set up those checklists under Checklists.

Export or import a checklist

Copy a checklist to another plan or season with CSV export and import. An exported checklist is a CSV file with five columns: Name, Category, Estimated Minutes, Required, and Instructions. Importing a file replaces the checklist you import into; it does not merge items.

Export and import are available in three places:

• The plan's detail page: choose Export Checklist or Import Checklist from the actions menu.

• The plan's Checklist Editor: choose Export CSV or Import CSV from the menu.

• The Seasonal Checklist editor: the same Export CSV and Import CSV menu options.

Imported files follow these rules:

• The Name and Category columns are required; the other three columns are optional.

• Category must be one of Chemistry, Cleaning, Equipment, or Other.

• Required accepts Yes or No, along with Y/N, True/False, and 1/0. A blank Required cell marks the item as required.

• Leave Estimated Minutes blank to use the default of 5 minutes, or enter a whole number.

• Column headers are matched loosely, so aliases like Task for Name or Minutes for Estimated Minutes also import.

Chisel Tide validates the whole file before anything changes. If any row has a problem, such as a blank name or an unknown category, the import lists every error by row number and applies nothing. Fix the file and import it again.

When the file passes validation, confirm the import:

• If the checklist already has items, the confirmation asks whether to replace the current items with the imported ones.

• If the checklist is empty, the confirmation asks whether to add the imported items.

• Importing from the plan's detail page replaces the saved checklist as soon as you confirm.

• Importing in the Checklist Editor or the Seasonal Checklist editor leaves the imported list unsaved until you click Save Changes.

Chemical billing and zero-dollar invoices

Two optional settings on the template control how extras and complimentary periods invoice. Plans assigned from the template inherit these settings:

• Bill chemicals used on visits — Adds line items for chemicals the technician records on each visit, on top of the recurring price. Those chemical charges bill in arrears for the prior month.

• Don’t send $0 invoices — Skips the recurring invoice when a billing period totals $0 (for courtesy or complimentary service). Periods that include any chemical or usage charges still invoice normally.

Included chemicals

Workspace admins can create named chemical lists and choose one on a plan template, so the products on that list are included in the plan price.

1. Open Plans and use the options menu to go to Chemicals.

2. Create a named list, then add the catalog products that are included in the plan price.

3. In a plan template, choose the list under Included chemicals.

For plans that include chemicals, products on the selected list are included in the plan price, while other chemical usage is still billed. A plan whose template has no list selected bills every applicable chemical. From the same screen you can edit, archive, and restore lists.

Assign a service plan to a customer

Once you have templates, assign them to customers to create active service subscriptions. Each customer can have multiple service plans for different properties or service types.

1. Navigate to the customer's profile from Customers.

2. Open the Service tab.

3. Click Assign plan.

4. Select a template from your available service plan templates.

5. If the property has pools, choose a Body of water for the plan: select All pools to apply the plan to every pool on the property, or pick a specific pool or spa such as Main Pool or Built-in Spa. This field only appears when the selected property has pools.

6. Confirm the assignment.

The plan is created active, but visits and billing begin on its Start date, which defaults to today. The customer's billing schedule starts based on the plan's billing frequency. When a plan is linked to a specific pool, the pool-qualified name appears only in the staff customer-plan view, not in the customer portal or recurring invoice descriptions.

Choose the service weeks

When you assign or change a plan, you pick the service week from a picker instead of entering a first service date.

• Choices include this week, next week, the first through fourth week of the month, and the last week of the month.

• Monthly, quarterly, twice-yearly, and yearly plans can use a true last-week schedule, so service lands in the final seven days of the month even in months with five occurrences of the weekday, for example the last Thursday of every month.

• For plans less frequent than monthly, you also choose the months in which service happens.

Manage customer service plans

After assigning a service plan, you can manage its lifecycle from the customer's Plans tab. Each active subscription shows the plan name, status, service frequency, billing frequency, pricing model, and price. The pricing model indicates whether the plan uses per-visit or flat monthly billing.

Service plan statuses

• Active — The plan is running normally and generating service visits.

• Paused — Service visits are temporarily stopped. Use this when a customer requests a temporary hold outside of any scheduled seasonal override. For predictable seasonal breaks that apply across multiple customers, consider seasonal overrides instead.

• Cancelled — The plan has ended and will no longer generate visits.

• Pending — The plan is set up but not yet active.

Change service plan status

From the customer's Plans tab, click the action button on any service plan:

• Pause — Stops service visits. Leave Pause starts blank to pause now, or pick a future date to schedule the pause. Optionally set Resume on so the plan resumes automatically; leave it blank to pause indefinitely until someone clicks Resume.

• Resume — Reactivates a paused plan.

• Cancel — Ends the plan permanently. You'll be prompted to provide a cancellation reason for your records.

• Reactivate — Restores a cancelled plan to active status.

Each status change is recorded in the plan's history, which you can view by clicking History on the subscription card.

Scheduled pauses

Schedule a pause ahead of time when a customer tells you in advance that service should stop for a while. The plan stays Active and keeps its visits and billing through the day before the pause starts, and the plan card shows a Pauses badge with the start date, plus the resume date when one is set.

• On the start date the plan changes to Paused on its own, and it becomes Active again on the resume date if you set one. With no resume date it stays paused until someone clicks Resume.

• Use Edit pause to change a pending schedule or Undo pause to remove it. Undoing restores the future route stops the pending pause had removed.

• Scheduled pauses apply to Active plans only. The start date must be in the future, the resume date must come after the first paused day, and a scheduled pause cannot coexist with a scheduled cancellation.

• Plan history records Pause scheduled and Scheduled pause removed alongside the pause and resume events.

How a pause affects routes and billing

• Route generation omits service during the pause window. Pending stops already placed inside the window may be removed; completed, in-progress, and work-order visits are not removed.

• Removed stops come back when the pause is edited or undone, or when the plan resumes.

• A billing period that falls entirely inside the pause window is not billed. A period that overlaps active service is billed in full; Tide does not prorate it.

How service plans connect to routes

Service plans are the foundation of your recurring routing. When you build routes, Chisel Tide uses active service plans to determine which properties need visits.

Recurring route templates

The Recurring Route Templates tab in Routes shows properties with active service plans that haven't been assigned to a route template yet. This helps you see which customers still need a weekly slot on your technician's schedule.

To assign these properties to routes:

1. Go to Routes and open the Recurring Route Templates tab.

2. Review properties with unassigned active service plans.

3. Add each property to the appropriate route template based on the service plan's frequency and day preferences.

Daily route generation

When you create a route for a specific day, Chisel Tide derives stops from an existing route template that matches the day. Active plans that aren't on a route template are not scheduled onto daily routes, so add the property to a recurring route template before daily scheduling.

Seasonal overrides for templates

Seasonal overrides let you change a service plan's pricing, visit frequency, or checklist for specific times of the year. This is useful for businesses with seasonal fluctuations — for example, reducing visit frequency during winter months, charging a different rate during peak season, or suspending service entirely during the off-season.

You configure seasonal overrides on the template, and they automatically apply to all customer plans created from that template. You can also customize pricing for individual customers within a season.

How seasonal overrides work

Each season override defines a date range — by start and end month — and specifies what happens during that period:

• Service frequency — Match the plan's default frequency, change it (weekly to biweekly, for example), or suspend service to pause visits entirely during the season.

• Pricing — Use the default price, or set a custom price for the season. When service is suspended, this becomes a standby fee you can charge to hold the customer's spot.

• Checklist — Use the plan's default checklist, or assign a different checklist for work performed during the season.

When a season is active, the override settings take precedence over the template defaults. Outside the season dates, the plan uses its standard frequency, price, and checklist.

Seasonal pricing can be set as a fixed amount for every customer or as a percentage of each customer's own plan price. Choose A set price for every customer or A percentage of each customer's price, then enter a whole-number percentage from 0 to 200. The percentage applies to each customer's individual plan price, not necessarily the template's default, and a season list shows it as something like 80% of plan price. A percentage season and a fixed-price season are mutually exclusive — switching to one clears the other.

Seasonal overrides and billing

Seasonal price overrides affect how customers are billed during the defined season:

• When you set a custom price for a season, that price is used for billing periods that fall within the season dates.

• When service is suspended, the season produces no recurring service charge.

• Outside the season, billing reverts to the template's default price.

Seasonal overrides and routes

Seasonal overrides directly affect route planning:

• During a season with reduced frequency (for example, biweekly instead of weekly), the system schedules fewer visits automatically.

• When a season has suspended service, the property does not appear in route generation for that period — no stops are created.

• When the season ends, the plan automatically resumes its default frequency and the property reappears in route planning.

This means you don't need to manually pause and resume customer plans each year for predictable seasonal breaks — the seasonal override handles it automatically.

Add a seasonal override

1. Navigate to Service Plans and open the template you want to edit.

2. Scroll to the Seasonal pricing & service section.

3. Click Add season.

4. Configure the season:

   • Season name — A descriptive name like "Winter" or "Peak Season".

   • Start month and End month — The months when this override applies.

   • Service frequency — Choose Same as plan to keep the default, select a different frequency, or choose Suspend service (no visits) to pause visits during this season.

   • Use a different price this season — Enable this to set a custom price for the season. If service is suspended, this option becomes Charge a standby fee.

   • Use a different checklist this season — Enable this to assign a different checklist, then click Edit Seasonal Checklist to configure the tasks.

5. Click Add season or Save season to save.

Edit or delete a seasonal override

From the template's Seasonal pricing & service section, each saved season shows its name, date range, frequency, price, and status chips such as No service or Custom checklist.

• To modify a season, click Edit season, update the settings, and click Save season.

• To remove a season, click Delete season. This removes the override and reverts to the template's default settings for that date range.

Customer-level seasonal pricing

While seasonal override frequency and checklist settings are defined at the template level and apply to all customers on that plan, you can customize pricing for individual customers within a season. This is useful when a customer negotiates a different rate for a specific season.

Customer-level seasonal pricing is managed from each customer's service plan details. When you change a customer's plan to a different template, any custom seasonal prices are cleared and replaced with the new template's seasonal pricing structure.

Edit or archive templates

Service plan templates can be updated as your service offerings evolve.

Edit a template

1. Go to Service Plans.

2. Click the template card or select Edit template from the card menu.

3. Update the name, description, frequencies, billing basis, price, or service items.

4. Click Save.

Changes to a template apply to new subscriptions created after the edit. Some edits propagate automatically to existing plans: template renames update assigned plan names, and chemical-billing and zero-dollar-invoice settings propagate to assigned plans. Frequency or pricing-model changes use the existing-plan update flow described below. Seasonal overrides you add to a template automatically apply to all customer plans using that template.

When you change a template's service frequency or billing basis, Tide checks how that affects the customer plans already created from it. A modal titled Update existing customer plans? groups the affected plans:

• Charge-preserving plans — Customers keep the same billed amount; these can be updated together.

• Charge-changing plans — The customer's billed amount would change. These are excluded by default; check Also update these N plans, changing what this customer is billed to include them.

• Seasonal plans — Left unchanged for manual review, shown as N plans need manual review — left unchanged.

Choose Save template only to change the template and leave existing plans unchanged, or Update N & save to update the eligible customer plans and save the template. Charge-preserving plans keep the same charge, while opted-in charge-changing plans may change the customer's billed amount.

Archive a template

Archiving removes a template from the active list but preserves historical data. You can restore archived templates later if needed.

1. Go to Service Plans.

2. Open the card menu on the template you want to archive.

3. Select Archive.

To view archived templates, enable Show archived templates at the top of the list. Use the card menu to Restore a template to active status.

Tips for setting up service plans