Daybook
Septic services
Daybook runs a septic company end to end: a request becomes a booked service call, the pumper quotes at the tank from your own price list, and the pump-out report, the inspection report and the install close-out are filled in on the phone — the levels, the gallons, the manifest number, the permit. Then the invoice, with GST/HST by province.
The rules the trade lives under
A new system or a drain-field job does not close without the permit number, the tank and the field that went in, whether the authority’s inspection passed before backfill, the as-built photographs and the customer’s sign-off. On Crew and up.
The pump-out report has a place for the gallons pumped and the disposal site or manifest number, beside the tank’s condition and the date the next pump-out is due.
A quote signed at an Ontario client’s home shows them their right to cancel for 10 days, and their copy is emailed with the last day to cancel.
FLHA forms in the crew app, on Crew and up: the hazards, the controls, the conditions and the techs on site, filled in on the phone at the start of the day and filed on the job the moment they land.
Daybook names these so you can see where it helps. It is not a compliance product: it does not apply for a permit, design a system, file an as-built or a manifest, or certify an inspection. The sheets record what you did, the hazard assessment is yours to fill in, and the authority and your province have the last word.
Three things that go wrong
The customer does not know where the tank is, the driver who did it last has retired, and the first half hour of the call is spent with a probe bar.
In Daybook The tank stays on file at the address — its size, where the lids are and when the next pump-out is due — and the pump-out report keeps the access, the levels found and the tank’s condition from the last call.
A house sale is waiting on the septic inspection, and the report is a page of handwriting and six photographs on somebody’s phone.
In Daybook The inspection report is one sheet per system: who it is for, the system type, the tank, the liquid level and baffles, the field walked, the dye or load test, the verdict, the photographs and the inspector’s sign-off.
The system is in the ground, the excavator has been paid, and the as-built photographs and the inspection are nowhere anyone can find them.
In Daybook The install and permit close-out wants the permit number, what went in, whether the authority’s inspection passed before backfill, the as-built photographs and the customer’s sign-off — and the job is not complete until it is filled in.
The brief
A job is a week of emails, texts, notes and updates from the crew. Daybook files each one on the job it belongs to and writes the brief: the gate code, the deadline, what the customer asked for, what you owe them and what they owe you — rewritten whenever something new arrives.
The brief and the AssistantTexting comes with the top plan of every rate card (Company, for a trade), from a verified toll-free number of your own.
A real capture of a contractor’s job. Daybook wrote every line of this brief from the messages on the job; only the five teal labels are added. A camp gets the same brief on a booking, a property manager on a work order.
The gate code, pinned. Said once in an email, and now at the top of the job for the crew.
The deadline. What is time-sensitive, and by when.
What the customer asked for. Each request, with the message it came from.
What we owe, and the next step. One next step, and a button that starts it.
What the customer owes. So nobody chases the wrong person.
Real captures of a contractor’s job. Daybook wrote every line of this brief from the messages on the job. A camp gets the same brief on a booking, a property manager on a work order.
On top of everything Daybook does for every one of its 44 trades — the full list is here — septic gets its own shape. A visit is a service call, not a site visit; the button says Book a service call; and the drafts, the replies and the job summaries say pump-out, riser and lid, baffle, effluent filter, drain field and lateral, d-box, float and alarm, perc test, as-built and manifest the way a septic contractor does.
The service call
Every request lands on one board with its service type — a pump-out, an inspection for a sale, a riser, a soggy field — and one button: Book a service call. The pumper quotes at the tank; when the call is done, the next step is Mark won.
The price list
A septic contractor quotes from a price list, not an estimator — so yours starts labelled: pump-outs by the tank size with extra volume by the gallon, holding tanks and grease traps, effluent filter cleaning, the tank locate and lid dig, real-estate inspections with dye and load tests, risers, baffles, pumps and floats, new systems with the design, the permit, the excavation and the electrician beside them, field pipe by the foot and stone by the ton, the tipping fee by the gallon. Your own prices go on it, and every quote and invoice reads from it.
The paperwork
A pump-out and service report with the access, the tank, the levels found, the gallons pumped and the tank’s condition. An inspection report with what a buyer, a lender and a lawyer will read. An install and permit close-out with the permit number, the as-built photographs and the inspection before backfill. They attach themselves to the right jobs, and the last one will not let an install close unfinished.
Equipment and plans
Every client has an equipment list: the septic tank, the pump chamber, the effluent pump and the field at each address, with the tank’s size, where the lids are, its serial or permit number and when the next pump-out is due. Sell a care plan on top — a yearly inspection of the tank, the pump and the field, say — and the visits go on your schedule and keep coming, and the plan bills itself.
Safety on site
Pick the job and the address and the techs come with it; the day’s conditions, each task with its hazard and its control — submitted from the phone at the start of the day and on the job’s record the moment it lands. Then clock-in, the sheets and the photos, with no signal if it comes to that.
Getting paid
The invoice is raised off what was agreed at the tank — the pump-out, the extra gallons, the filter — or by stage on a new system. With a Stripe card reader, the pumper takes a card or Interac debit before the truck leaves. For the rest, a reminder you set once does the following-up, with a Pay Now link; e-transfers are matched to their invoices for you to confirm.
The techs
Field seats are free and unlimited on Crew and Company, so every pumper and helper has the app: the day’s calls, clock-in, the FLHA, the sheets, the photos — and the office sees it the moment it lands.
The economics
Most field-service software charges by the head, in another currency. Daybook charges the office seats, in Canadian dollars, and leaves the people on the truck alone.
| Workflow | Field-service platforms priced per user | Daybook |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | Often billed in US dollars — the exchange rate and your card’s foreign fee ride along. | Canadian dollars. Every plan, every add-on, printed on the pricing page. |
| The techs | Typically an extra monthly fee for every field user past the plan’s cap. | Field seats free and unlimited on Crew and Company — every pumper and helper gets the app. |
| Septic tools | A generic job form; the tank’s size and where the lid is live in the driver’s head. | The service-call shape, a labelled septic price list, three septic sheets, and the tank on file at the address. |
| Canadian tax and mileage | Usually an accounting add-on, or by hand. | GST/HST by province on every invoice, the Sales Tax report, a mileage log at your own rate, receipts read for you. |
| Your website | Usually a separate builder, or a designer. | A septic site template on every plan, with a pumping-schedule page and a book-a-pump-out form that mints a real request. |
Nothing here is a discount, and there is no setup fee.
Septic runs on the trades rate card — every plan the same app, the office seats counted and the techs free from Crew up. Solo $99 / Crew $249 / Company $449 a month CAD. Office seats included on every plan. Field seats are free and unlimited on Crew and Company. Crew and Company include selling online, and Company also includes your own domain and texting — a plan without them can add them.
Switching
There is no importer for another product’s export, and the page does not pretend there is. What there is gets a septic company running in an afternoon.
Upload a CSV or paste it in — names, phones, emails, addresses — and the clients are there. A QuickBooks client list imports straight across.
The septic price list is already labelled, from the pump-out to the tipping fee. Type your own prices in — or, on Crew and up, scan a supplier invoice and the price book fills with your real costs.
The septic template is already written for the work, with a pumping-schedule page — your photographs and your words go in, and the book-a-pump-out form drops requests straight into Daybook.
No. The install and permit close-out records the permit number, what went in, whether the authority’s inspection passed before backfill and the as-built photographs, and an install will not close without it. The design, the permit application and filing the as-built stay with you.
Each tank on file at a client’s address carries the date its next pump-out is due, and the pump-out report has the same date on it. The Plans page lists the equipment due for service.
No — a septic contractor quotes from a price list, so that is what Daybook gives you: the pump-out by the tank, the gallon over, the inspection, the riser and the install with its excavation beside it, labelled on day one, with your own prices on it.
Yes. With a Stripe card reader, anyone in the field you have allowed to take payment can charge an invoice for a job they are on — tap, insert or Interac debit — and the payment lands on the invoice by itself. Cash and cheques are recorded on the spot.
Nothing on Crew and Company — field seats are free and unlimited. The office seats are what is counted, and the pricing page prints exactly how many each plan includes.
Clock-in, checklists and photos work with no signal and file themselves when the signal returns. The office sees them the moment they land.
Your own tanks beat any feature list — start the trial, book one, fill in the report and see what the job page already knows.
14-day free trial · No credit card · Bring your client list