Work orders signed on site, without carbon copies

In short

• Paper work orders get lost, signed badly or not at all, and hold up the invoice.
• BonTrava puts the work order on the phone, with customer and site details pre-filled.
• Photos, fitted parts and added gas go into the order during the job, even without a signal.
• The customer signs with a finger, the time is recorded and the PDF goes out by mail at once.
• Free up to 10 orders a month, then €19 (solo), €39 (3 technicians) or €99 (15).

What a paper work order really costs

The carbon-copy order book has one thing going for it: everyone knows how to use it. Beyond that, it makes every job slightly more expensive than it should be.

The carbon copy that vanishes

The blue copy stays with the customer, the original rides around in the van somewhere between the seat and the toolbox. One downpour, one spilled coffee or one book left behind on a site, and the job only exists in the technician's memory. A job that left no trace is often a job that never gets invoiced.

The order nobody signed

The store manager is in a meeting, the owner has gone home, the customer says "I'll sign next time". The technician still has two callouts that afternoon and drives off. Weeks later, when the invoice is disputed, there is nothing to show.

The invoice that waits

The paper order still has to get back to the office, be read, sometimes deciphered, then typed up. Until then nothing is invoiced. For a small service company that delay weighs directly on cash flow, and the evening spent on paperwork comes on top of an already long day.

The history nobody can find

When a colleague is back at the same machine six months later, they want to know what was done: which part was replaced, how much gas was added, what was found. If that sits in a binder at the office, they start the diagnosis from scratch.

A work order is more than a record of the job: it is what turns a callout into an invoice. Getting it signed on site and sending it straight away shortens everything that comes after.

How it works with BonTrava

Take the example from the product page: a refrigeration technician working alone swaps a compressor in a cold room, in the back room of a supermarket.

1. Open the order

He starts the work order on his phone. The customer and site are already filled in, so there is no address or store name to type. And because a supermarket back room does not always have a signal, BonTrava works offline.

2. Note the job as it happens

During the job, photos, the part he fitted and the gas he added go straight into the order. Nothing is rebuilt from memory at the end of the day: what is written down is what was done.

3. Sign on the screen

At the end, the manager signs with a finger on the phone. The time of the signature is recorded, and the signed PDF is mailed to her before he has left the car park.

The outcome: no carbon copy, no paperwork in the evening, and the next technician sees the machine's history.

What BonTrava does

The features are deliberately few and all about the work order:

• orders with customer and site details pre-filled;
• photos and materials logged on the job;
• a timestamped signature on the screen, then the PDF by mail;
• each machine's history, and it works offline.

BonTrava is made for HVAC and refrigeration technicians. It is available in English, French and Dutch, and it is live: you can start using it today. Its job is the work order itself, from opening it on site to the signed PDF in the customer's inbox.

What it costs

The price is set out in advance, and a technician with few jobs can use it for free.

A few habits, with or without software

Whatever tool you use, a few habits prevent most disputes and forgotten orders:

• Get the signature before you pack up. Once the van door is shut, it is too tempting to leave without one.
• Take a photo before and after. A picture of the installation on arrival and on departure answers many questions before anyone asks them.
• Write down parts and gas the moment you use them. What comes from memory in the evening is never complete.
• Send the order the same day. The sooner the customer has it, the easier it is to invoice without an argument.
• Keep the history per machine, not just per customer. The machine is what the next technician will open.

Where to start

Count how many work orders you fill in each month. If you stay under 10, BonTrava costs you nothing: try it on your next few jobs, alongside the order book if you like, and compare in the evening. If you work as a team, the plans for 3 or 15 technicians cover everyone.

And if you want the wider picture of what simple tools change in running a small business, read why a good IT system matters for running a business.