What you can do with Messages
Use Messages to:
-
Run internal chats with your team or subcontractors
-
Run external group chats with your clients
-
Keep chats tied to the project for easy access
-
Keep clients updated as work starts and finishes
-
Discuss tasks, change orders, and approvals in the same thread
-
Send payment requests when tasks complete
Messages is designed to unify project communication and project activity updates in one experience. Project chats are started automatically when you send an estimate to a customer.
How Messages is organized
Messages uses project-based channels.
What this means for you:
-
Each new project automatically generates a dedicated channel for internal and client communication
-
You can keep communication flowing using internal and external group chats, grouped how you want
-
Your project chats stay in Bolster, separate from email and personal numbers
Ask yourself:
-
Where does your team currently store decisions from client conversations?
-
If a change request comes in today, can you find it in 30 seconds?
How to start messaging on a new project in Bolster
1) Create the client and project channel
-
Go to Pipeline
-
Click Create New
-
Select New Estimate
-
Choose New Client
-
Enter the client’s email or mobile number
2) Send the estimate
-
Send the estimate to your client
-
Bolster creates the chat when estimates are sent
- You can then toggle between the 'Internal' chat and the chat 'with client'.
3) Use Messages for day-to-day communication
Use the project channel with your team to:
-
Coordinate crews
-
Confirm tasks
-
Approve quality of work
Use the project channel with your clients to:
-
Answer questions
-
Confirm scope details
-
Keep a written trail of decisions
Clients can also use the same message thread to:
-
Ask questions
-
Review or request change orders
- Keep updated on tasks
Anyone who is in a channel also automatically gets an email when a message in sent. You can also attach files to messages. To find out more about this, read our knowledge base article about Attaching files to messages.
4) Notifications of key actions are automatically sent via Messages
Bolster sends your team live updates as estimates, tasks or change orders are updated.
A notification is sent to the internal project channel when:
-
A client views a sent estimate
-
A client chooses an optional item, upgrade or selection
- An estimate or change order is sent
-
A client approves a quote or change order
- A task is approved or completed
- An invoice or payment is created
Other channels
Bolster Product Updates
Admin Messages let the team at Bolster broadcast announcements to everyone inside the Messages experience.
You'll receive messages in the "Bolster Product Updates" channel when a new update is released.
General channel
The 'General' channel contains all the members of your company within Bolster, and can be used to send company-wide updates to your team.
Bolster Support
The 'Bolster Support' channel can be used at any time to connect 1:1 to our team. The Bolster support crew is on-site Mountain Time business hours, 8 am to 5 pm, and ready to answer any of your questions, guide you through the app, or help you with specific problems.
Activities channel
The activities channel is a running log book of every change made within projects or estimates within Bolster. From here, you can see all changes made by any team members to projects.