Moving From Squeegee to Jobber: A Migration Guide for Window Cleaning Companies
Squeegee is built for window cleaners and many UK rounds run on it happily. Companies usually leave when they want automation it cannot offer. If that is you, here is how to move the customers, rounds and history across without losing a clean.
Part of the window cleaning automation series. For a large migration done end to end, see the ACT! to Jobber case study: 11,000+ clients, zero failures.
Why do window cleaners move from Squeegee to Jobber?
Usually for the API. The 8-van company I worked with ran on Squeegee and chose Jobber specifically because Jobber has a GraphQL API they could build on, while their Squeegee setup gave them no API to automate against. Everything in the case study, from van territories to the 17:30 roll-over, depends on that API.
If you do not need custom automation, staying on a tool built for window cleaners is a perfectly good choice. Switch because you need something specific, not because a different logo looks better. Jobber's own calendar is general-purpose, so plan to add a planning layer if you run several vans.
What should you export from Squeegee?
Everything you would be upset to lose, as CSV reports. In the migration I worked on, the useful exports were:
- All jobs: customer reference, name, address, phone and alternative phone, email, balance, job state, services, frequency, round, price, duration, last done and next due.
- Active customers: the current customer list.
- Inactive customers: including the deactivation reason and date, and their marketing email and SMS consent.
- Quote history: quote status over time, useful for chasing old quotes once you are on Jobber.
Keep the raw exports untouched and work from copies. When a number looks wrong three weeks later, you will want the original.
How does Squeegee data map into Jobber?
| Squeegee | Jobber | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | Client, with a property | Customers with several addresses need one client and several properties, not several clients. |
| Job, services and price | Recurring job with line items | Front-only versus all-around should be explicit, because capacity planning depends on it. |
| Frequency | Recurrence (4-weekly, 8-weekly) | Check unusual frequencies by hand rather than forcing them into the nearest option. |
| Next due | First upcoming visit | This sets the whole future schedule. Verify it more carefully than anything else. |
| Round | Van territory in your planning layer | Jobber has no round concept; keep the round so territories can be built from it. |
| Balance | Carried onto the customer's next invoice | Old money should show on the invoice but not count as work done that day. |
| Consent and deactivation | Client communication settings, archived clients | Never enable texting for someone who had not consented. |
When should you switch?
In your quietest period, with a clean baseline ready. The company I worked with planned the move for a low-activity period and laid out eight weeks of set work per van before go-live, so Jobber started from a deliberate plan rather than whatever history happened to say. See planning the 8-week cycle.
- Test on the Jobber sandbox with a realistic day's volume before touching the live account.
- Migrate customers and properties, matching on mobile number first and address second.
- Create the recurring jobs from frequency and next due, then check a sample of customers by hand against Squeegee.
- Run both side by side for a short window, then cancel Squeegee once the counts reconcile.
What goes wrong in window cleaning migrations?
- Duplicate clients from the same customer typed twice with different phone formats. Normalise numbers before matching.
- Dates shifted by timezones in exports. In the ACT! migration this put about 14% of dates on the wrong day until it was corrected.
- Consent lost or invented. A mis-mapped consent column can silently stop thousands of customers receiving texts, or start texting people who never agreed.
- Settings reset by edits. Bulk-editing clients can reset communication preferences. Check them after any bulk change.
Planning a move to Jobber?
I handle Jobber migrations end to end, from the exports to the verified go-live, and can build the scheduling layer on top once you are in. Tell me what you are moving from.
Book a Free 30-Min CallFrequently asked questions
Can you move from Squeegee to Jobber?
Yes. Export customers, jobs and inactive customers from Squeegee as CSV reports, then create clients, properties and recurring jobs in Jobber, ideally through its API so the move can be checked and repeated. Rounds, next-due dates and balances need deliberate mapping.
Why would a window cleaner switch from Squeegee to Jobber?
Most often for Jobber's API, which allows custom scheduling, routing and automation to be built on top. If you do not need custom automation, a tool built specifically for window cleaners may suit you just as well.
How long does a Squeegee to Jobber migration take?
The data move itself can be done in days once mapping is agreed. Most of the time goes into checking: matching customers, verifying next-due dates and reconciling counts, which is worth doing slowly.
More on window cleaning operations
- ACT! to Jobber migration case study. 11,000+ clients migrated with zero failures.
- Planning the 8-week cycle. The baseline to build before go-live.
- Window cleaning automation on Jobber. What gets built once you are on Jobber.