What Are Customers?
Customers are the individuals or businesses you provide services to. They serve as the central hub for managing all interactions, financial documents, and project work related to each client.
Key Concept: Customers are the who in your business—the people and companies you do work for. Every job, estimate, invoice, and change order is linked to a customer.
Customer Types
HomeGuild supports two types of customers:
Individual Customers
Customers who are private individuals or homeowners.
Required Information:
- First Name
- Last Name
Optional Information:
- Phone number(s)
- Email address(es)
- Physical address
- Additional contact details
Business Customers
Customers who are companies or organizations.
Required Information:
- Business Name
Optional Information:
- Contact person details
- Phone number(s)
- Email address(es)
- Physical address
- Additional contact details
How Customers Work
In the App Structure
Location: Business section → Customers
Customers are the foundation of your business workflow:
- Jobs are created for customers
- Estimates are prepared for customers (required - estimates cannot be created without a customer)
- Invoices are sent to customers
- Change Orders are associated with customer projects
- Leads can optionally be associated with customers
Every financial document and project in HomeGuild connects back to a customer record.
Customers and Leads
The Relationship:
- Leads are potential customers—they represent opportunities
- Leads can exist without customers (just contact information)
- Existing customers can have new leads (e.g., interested in additional work)
- Important: A customer is required to create an estimate—this is the formal next step in the pipeline
When to Create a Customer:
- When you're ready to provide a formal estimate
- When moving from lead to actual business opportunity
- Before creating any jobs, invoices, or change orders
Customer Detail View
When you open a customer, you can see and manage:
Contact Information:
- Name (individual or business)
- Phone numbers with quick-dial capability
- Email addresses with quick-email functionality
- Physical address with validation
Associated Records:
- Jobs linked to this customer
- Estimates prepared for this customer
- Invoices sent to this customer
- Change Orders for customer projects
Quick Actions:
- Create new jobs directly for this customer
- Prepare estimates without leaving the customer view
- Generate invoices quickly
- Contact the customer via phone, email, or other methods
Creating Customers
From the UI
- Navigate to Business section in the app
- Go to Customers
- Click to create a new customer
- Choose customer type (Individual or Business)
- Provide required information:
- For Individuals: First Name and Last Name
- For Businesses: Business Name
- Add optional details:
- Phone number(s)
- Email address(es)
- Physical address
- Save the customer
From the Agent
Use natural language to create customers quickly:
Individual Customers:
- "Create customer John Smith"
- "Add new client Jane Doe"
- "New customer John Smith phone 555-1234"
Business Customers:
- "Create customer Acme Inc"
- "Add business customer Smith Construction"
- "New customer Acme Inc with contact john@acme.com"
The Agent Handles:
- Extracting customer name from your message
- Determining if it's an individual or business
- Adding contact details if provided
- Creating the customer record immediately
Minimum Requirements:
- Individual: First and last name
- Business: Business name
Managing Customer Information
Contact Details
Phone Numbers:
- Add multiple phone numbers
- Label them (Mobile, Work, Home)
- Click to call directly from the app
- The app opens your phone app with the number pre-filled
Email Addresses:
- Add multiple email addresses
- Label them (Work, Personal)
- Click to email directly from the app
- The app opens your email client with the address pre-filled
Physical Address:
- Enter customer's service location or business address
- Address validation ensures accuracy
- Google Places integration for quick lookup
- Toggle between smart lookup and manual entry
- Geocoding provides location data for scheduling
- Note: Currently, customers support one address (see a future update for multiple address support)
Editing Customer Information
From the UI:
- Open the customer detail view
- Select the section to edit (Name, Contact, Address)
- Make your changes
- Save updates
From the Agent:
- "Update John Smith's phone number to 555-5678"
- "Change Acme Inc address"
- "Add email for Jane Doe: jane@email.com"
Working with Customers
Creating Financial Documents
One of the key benefits of the customer detail view is the ability to create documents without navigating away:
Create Estimates:
- Click the "Create Estimate" button
- Customer is pre-selected
- Add line items and details
- The estimate is automatically linked to the customer
Create Invoices:
- Click the "Create Invoice" button
- Customer is pre-selected
- Add line items and billing details
- The invoice is automatically linked to the customer
- Note: Quick-created invoices have no lead/estimate/job history associated
Create Jobs:
- Click the "Create Job" button
- Customer is pre-selected
- Customer's address is used by default (can be overridden if job is at a different location)
- Define job scope and details
- The job is automatically linked to the customer
Benefits:
- Faster workflow—no need to select customer again
- Context is maintained—you see customer info while creating documents
- All documents automatically appear in the customer's activity timeline
- Customer information (like address) is pre-populated but not duplicated
Pipeline Visibility: Where you create a document affects its pipeline visibility:
- Quick-created invoices from customer view won't have lead/estimate history
- Documents created through the full workflow maintain pipeline relationships
Quick Contact Actions
The customer detail view provides instant communication:
Phone Contact:
- Click the contact button
- Select phone number (if multiple)
- Your device's phone app opens with the number ready to dial
Email Contact:
- Click the contact button
- Select email address (if multiple)
- Your device's email app opens with the address in the "To" field
How It Works:
- The app uses your device's native apps
- No additional setup required
- Works with your preferred phone and email applications
Viewing Customer Activity
The customer detail view shows all related records:
Jobs Section:
- See all jobs for this customer
- View job status and progress
- Click to open job details
Estimates Section:
- View all estimates prepared for this customer
- See estimate status (New, Submitted, Accepted, etc.)
- Click to view or edit estimate details
Invoices Section:
- See all invoices sent to this customer
- View payment status
- Click to view invoice details
Change Orders Section:
- View all change orders for customer projects
- See approval status
- Click to view change order details
Finding Customers
Search from the UI
In the Customers List:
- Navigate to Business → Customers
- Use the search field
- Type customer name or business name
- Results filter in real-time
Search Capabilities:
- Search by first name
- Search by last name
- Search by business name
- Partial matches are supported
Sorting Options:
- Sort by name (default)
- Sort by date added (creation timestamp)
Search from the Agent
Use natural language to find customers:
Simple Search:
- "Find customer John Smith"
- "Search for Acme Inc"
- "Show me customers named Smith"
The Agent Handles:
- Fuzzy matching for names
- Searching across individual and business customers
- Presenting results for selection
- Providing customer details when found
- More granular, logic-based searches beyond simple name/date filtering
Best Practices
When Creating Customers
✅ Do This:
- Create the customer before creating documents
- Include phone and email for communication
- Add physical address for service location tracking
- Use full business names (avoid abbreviations)
❌ Avoid This:
- Creating duplicate customer records
- Using nicknames instead of legal names
- Leaving contact details blank when available
Contact Information
Keep It Current:
- Update phone numbers when they change
- Maintain current email addresses
- Verify address accuracy for service calls
- Add multiple contact methods for reliability
Privacy Considerations:
- Only collect information you need
- Keep customer data secure
- Respect customer communication preferences
Organization Tips
Naming Conventions:
- ✅ Use legal business names: "Acme Construction LLC"
- ✅ Use full individual names: "John Michael Smith"
- ❌ Avoid nicknames: "Johnny" (unless that's their legal name)
- ❌ Avoid abbreviations: "Acme Const" (use full name)
Duplicate Prevention:
- Search before creating a new customer
- Check for variations (John Smith vs J. Smith)
- Merge duplicates if accidentally created
Common Questions
Q: What's the minimum information needed to create a customer? A: For individuals, you need first and last name. For businesses, you need the business name. Everything else is optional.
Q: Can I have both a business name and individual name for the same customer? A: Yes. A business customer can have contact person details including individual names.
Q: What happens if I delete a customer? A: Deletion should be approached carefully. The system will check for associated activity (jobs, estimates, invoices, change orders, leads). Archiving is recommended for customers with activity to maintain data integrity. See a future update for enhanced archiving and safe deletion features.
Q: Can I add multiple phone numbers or email addresses? A: Yes. You can add multiple contact methods and label them (Mobile, Work, Home, etc.).
Q: How does the address lookup work? A: The address editor uses Google Places API to provide autocomplete suggestions, validation, and geocoding for accurate location data.
Q: Can I create an estimate without creating a customer first? A: No. Every estimate, invoice, and job requires a customer. Create the customer first, then create associated documents.
Q: How do I search for customers in the agent? A: Use natural language like "find customer John Smith" or "search for Acme Inc". The agent will search and present matching results.
Q: What's the difference between individual and business customers? A: Individual customers require first and last name (e.g., homeowners). Business customers require a business name (e.g., "Smith Construction LLC"). The data structure is slightly different, but functionality is the same.
Q: If a job is at a different address than the customer's address, how does that work? A: Jobs default to the customer's address, but you can override this with a job-specific address when creating the job. This is useful for customers with multiple properties or when the service location differs from the customer's primary address.
Q: Can I convert an individual customer to a business customer? A: This feature is planned for a future release. Currently, you would need to create a new business customer record.
Q: Can I see a history of all interactions with a customer? A: The customer detail view shows all jobs, estimates, invoices, and change orders. A comprehensive activity timeline is planned for a future release.
Q: Can I mark customers as active/inactive? A: Customer archiving functionality is planned to help manage active vs inactive customers. See a future update for the archiving feature.
Q: How can I avoid creating duplicate customers? A: Currently, you should search for existing customers before creating new ones. Automatic duplicate detection is planned - see a future update.
Q: Can business customers have multiple contact persons? A: Currently, business customers support one set of contact details. Support for multiple contact persons (billing contact, site supervisor, etc.) is planned - see a future update.
Q: Can I track communication history with customers? A: Communication logging is planned for future releases to track contact attempts and outcomes. See a future update.
Q: Can customers have multiple addresses? A: Currently, customers support one address. Support for multiple addresses (billing, service locations, multiple properties) is planned - see a future update.
Q: Can I add notes to customer records? A: Customer notes functionality (preferences, special instructions, etc.) is planned - see a future update.
Summary
Customers are the foundation of your business in HomeGuild:
- Central hub for all client information and interactions
- Required for creating jobs, estimates, invoices, and change orders
- Two types supported: individuals and businesses
- Quick actions enable fast document creation and communication
- Search capabilities in both UI and agent for easy access
- Contact integration with your device's phone and email apps
Create customer records early in your workflow to streamline document creation and maintain organized client relationships.