How do you handle jobs that need multiple visits?

We've got a growing number of jobs that span 2–4 visits over a week or two — think system installations with staging, rough-in, then final commissioning. Right now we're creating separate work orders for each phase, but I'm wondering if there's a cleaner way.

The pain points I'm seeing:

  • Customers getting multiple appointment confirmations for "the same job"
  • Techs showing up without context from previous visits (photos, notes buried in older WOs)
  • Dispatched as separate jobs, so we're not seeing the true capacity load
  • Billing gets fragmented — sometimes we invoice per visit, sometimes at completion

I've experimented with using a single work order and just scheduling multiple appointments, but that gets messy when phases get delayed or rescheduled. What's actually working for your teams?

Would love to hear how you're structuring these — whether it's parent/child work orders, custom statuses, or just better handoff protocols. We're on FieldPulse 3.2 if that matters.

Parents
  • Quick setup that worked for us:

    • Custom field: "Project Phase" (Rough-In, Trim, Commission, Final)
    • Custom field: "Total Phases" so techs know if they're 2 of 4
    • Photo requirement at each phase close — forces documentation
    • Dispatch view filtered by "Multi-Visit = Yes" so these don't get buried

    We're billing per phase so we do need separate WOs. The key was standardizing the naming convention: "[Project ID] - [Phase] - [Address]." Makes search actually functional.

Reply
  • Quick setup that worked for us:

    • Custom field: "Project Phase" (Rough-In, Trim, Commission, Final)
    • Custom field: "Total Phases" so techs know if they're 2 of 4
    • Photo requirement at each phase close — forces documentation
    • Dispatch view filtered by "Multi-Visit = Yes" so these don't get buried

    We're billing per phase so we do need separate WOs. The key was standardizing the naming convention: "[Project ID] - [Phase] - [Address]." Makes search actually functional.

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