Three building blocks for your checklists
Pool Founder has three related tools for standardizing what technicians do at each stop. Task templates (Task Templates in the sidebar) are the individual reusable checklist items — "Empty skimmer baskets", "Test water chemistry". Task groups (Task Groups in the sidebar) bundle task templates by job type so a whole checklist can be applied — and updated — across many jobs at once. Job templates (Job Templates in the sidebar) go one step further: they carry a rate, billing mode, and task checklist so new maintenance jobs can be created in seconds.
Task templates and task types
- 1Open Task Templates and click Add Template.
- 2Choose the task type: checkoff (a simple checkbox), text (the technician types an answer), multiple choice, or water chemistry (records readings).
- 3Set how often it repeats — "Every visit", or every N weeks for less frequent work like cleaning a filter every 4 weeks.
Tasks are attached to jobs when you create them (see Create jobs), through a task group, or through a job template. Technicians see them as the checklist on the mobile completion screen (see Complete a visit).
How "repeat every N weeks" actually works
A task set to repeat every N weeks (say, "clean filter every 4 weeks") does not run on a calendar. The timer runs from the last time the task was actually checked off:
- When the task is due, it appears on the visit checklist as normal.
- If the technician skips it, it is not lost — it stays due and shows again on every following visit until someone completes it.
- Only when it's checked off does the N-week countdown restart, measured from that completion.
- On off-weeks — visits where the task isn't due yet — it still appears on the checklist, greyed out as "Not due this visit", so technicians can see it's coming without being tempted to do it early.
This means an every-4-weeks filter clean that gets missed one week simply reappears the next week, and the next, until it's done. The interval never silently drifts past a skipped task.
Required tasks: what blocks completion and what doesn't
There are two different "required" concepts, and only one of them is enforced:
- Required on a specific job — set in that job's Edit Tasks dialog. This is enforced: the technician cannot finish that stop until the required task is done.
- The Required label on job templates and task groups — this is guidance only. It signals importance but does not block the technician from completing the visit.
If you need a task to hard-block completion, open the job itself and mark the task required in its Edit Tasks dialog.
Task groups: apply one checklist to many jobs
Open Task Groups to bundle task templates by job type — a "Weekly Full Service" group, a "Chem-Only" group, and so on. When you edit and save a group, the change can propagate to all matching existing jobs, and the save screen shows how many jobs would update.
Propagation only reaches jobs whose task list EXACTLY matches the group — same tasks, in the same order. A job where someone added, removed, or reordered a task has drifted out of the group and will not be updated by group edits.
To bring a drifted job back in sync: open that job's Edit Tasks dialog, re-apply the task group, and then re-add any extra tasks that job needs on top. From then on it matches the group again (until it's customized again).
Job templates: rate, billing, and tasks in one package
- Job Templates holds maintenance job templates — each one carries a rate, a billing mode, and a task checklist — so new jobs can be created fast instead of configured from scratch.
- Template edits can propagate to the jobs that were created from them.
- Templates can also carry default recurring charges (edit a template → "Recurring charges" section). They pre-fill on new jobs from that template, and "Apply changes to open jobs" pushes them to linked jobs. A template with no recurring charges leaves each job's own charges alone.
- Templates power bulk scheduling too: "Apply to pools" on a template opens Add Service in Bulk, which applies the template to many service locations at once.
Inside a job template: pricing, chemicals, and fees
Open Job Templates and click New maintenance template (or click an existing card to edit it). Beyond the name and rate, a template carries the full billing setup for jobs created from it:
- Billing mode — Per Visit, Monthly, or Bill Externally. The rate field follows along: "Rate per visit ($)", "Monthly rate ($)", or "Rate for reference ($)" for externally billed work.
- Chemical Billing — three modes: Chemicals billed separately (everything used bills as additional line items), All chemicals included in price (nothing extra is billed — though chemicals marked "Always Charge" in your catalog still bill), and Specific chemicals included (set included amounts per visit; overages and other chemicals bill separately).
- Pass credit card fees to customer — adds a 2.9% + $0.30 surcharge only when the customer pays by credit card. Debit cards and ACH are never surcharged, and state surcharge restrictions are enforced automatically.
- Recurring charges — fixed extra charges billed alongside the base rate on every invoice (a flat chemical fee, equipment rental). They pre-fill on jobs created from the template.
Billing schedule and "Bill ahead"
The Billing schedule section sets when jobs from this template invoice automatically: Manual invoicing, After a set number of visits, Monthly on a set day, or Weekly on a set day. Start dates belong on each job — templates only set the cadence.
For monthly-flat templates there is also a Bill ahead checkbox: it bills the upcoming month's service upfront, with the previous month's chemicals on the same invoice. See maintenance billing modes for how each schedule plays out.
Service Terms
The Service Terms box holds terms shown to the customer on the invoice pay page — they must check "I agree to the Service Terms" before they can pay. Terms are saved onto each invoice when it's created, so editing them later only affects new invoices, never ones already sent.
Duplicate, archive, and usage stats
- Each template card has a menu with Edit, Duplicate (creates a copy and opens it for editing), and Archive. Archived templates move to the Archived view, stay out of the pickers, and come back with Restore.
- Cards show usage stats — "Used by N jobs · last used X ago" — and the editor shows how many open jobs currently use the template.
- The page has a search box and sorting by Name (A–Z) or Recently created.
Pushing job-template edits to existing jobs
By default, editing a template does not change jobs already created from it. When a template is in use, the editor shows an "Apply changes to N open jobs created from this template" checkbox. Check it and a list of settings appears — tick only the ones you want pushed:
- Rate — replaces each job's own price with the template rate. Uncheck it to keep every job's individual pricing.
- Billing mode & schedule — billing mode, billing schedule, and bill-ahead move together (they have to: an externally billed job must not keep a billing date).
- Chemical billing, Recurring charges, Pass credit card fees, and Seasonal schedule (on seasonal templates) — each pushes on its own.
All settings are ticked by default, so leaving the list alone pushes everything as before. The confirmation dialog names exactly what you chose. Anything you unticked — plus tasks, notes, preferred days, and route assignments — is never touched.
This is how you switch a whole book of jobs to Bill Externally (or change their chemical billing) without flattening the different prices you negotiated per pool: check "Apply changes", untick Rate, and save.
Work order templates
The Job Templates page has a Maintenance / Work Order toggle. Work order templates pre-fill line items, tasks, and deposit settings on new one-time jobs (a pump replacement, a filter rebuild). Click New work order template to build one with:
- Line items — description, optional details, and an amount each, with a live subtotal.
- Discounts — flat $ or %, each with its own description.
- Tasks, plus a "Show tasks to the customer on the quote" checkbox.
- Require a deposit before scheduling — a flat dollar amount the customer pays through their portal before the job starts (see work order billing and deposits).
- Pass credit card fees to customer, internal notes, and Service Terms — same behavior as on maintenance templates.
Work order template edits only affect work orders created afterwards. Unlike maintenance templates, there is no option to push changes to existing work orders.
Note templates
A fourth building block: Note Templates (Note Templates in the sidebar) are reusable message templates for technician job notes — a "Shock Treatment" or "Green Pool Cleanup" write-up techs can drop into a visit's notes instead of typing it out every time.
- Click Add Template and fill in the two fields: Label (the short name techs pick from) and Message (the full text added to the notes).
- The search box matches both the label and the message text.
- Each row's menu has Edit and Delete. Delete is permanent — the confirm dialog warns "This action cannot be undone." Note templates are hard-deleted, unlike job templates, which are archived and restorable.
Frequently asked questions
If an every-4-weeks task isn't completed on its visit, is it lost?
No. The interval runs from the last actual completion, not the calendar. A skipped task stays due and reappears on every following visit until someone checks it off — only then does the 4-week countdown restart.
Why didn't my task group edit update one of my jobs?
Group edits only propagate to jobs whose task list exactly matches the group (same tasks, same order). A job with an extra, missing, or reordered task has left the group. Re-apply the group in that job's Edit Tasks dialog, then re-add its extra tasks.
Can I change the billing mode on many jobs without wiping their different prices?
Yes. Edit the job template, check "Apply changes to N open jobs", then untick <strong>Rate</strong> in the list of settings that appears. Every linked job takes the new billing mode, schedule, or chemical billing while keeping the price it already had. There is no bulk price editor on the Jobs page — to change prices themselves you either push the template rate to all linked jobs (same rate for every one) or edit each job individually.
Does marking a task Required stop technicians from finishing the stop?
Only when it's marked required on the specific job, in that job's Edit Tasks dialog. The Required label on job templates and task groups is guidance only and does not block completion.