01Write
A contract is a site, a billing mode (seasonal, per visit, hourly or by tonnage), an amount before tax, the number of instalments and the list of included services — one per line: driveway plowing, de-icer spreading, sidewalk clearing. That list is printed on the PDF the customer signs.
02Send
The contract goes to the main contact by email, never by text: a contract is read before it is signed. A contract already sent shows “Send again”, which asks for confirmation, naming the date of the first send. A contract sent to the customer can no longer be edited: what they read must stay what is written. Two reminders go out on their own, three and seven days after sending, by email as well.
03“Not sent”: consent
The contract and the quote go to the customer’s main contact by email; the invoice and the notices, by text or by email — on the channel ticked on their file. When you add a customer, both boxes tick themselves as soon as you enter their phone or email: they are your customer, and the business relationship is enough to send them what concerns their service. Under each box, Poudra writes where the consent comes from and since when (“Business relationship — since Oct 20, 2026”, or “Consent given” when the person said so themselves or ticked it on your request form). Untick if the person asked you not to reach them on that channel. With a box unticked, sending on that channel is refused — the button tells you, nothing is changed. Changing the phone or the email re-dates the consent: it was for the old one. And someone who unsubscribed or replied STOP receives nothing on that channel, ticked or not: the file shows it first.
04Sign or decline
The customer signs by typing their name and ticking a box; it is a simple electronic signature, and the PDF says so. They can also decline, with a reason. On signing, what they read is frozen: the signed contract PDF is rendered from that snapshot, not from today’s records.
05What the signed PDF proves
The PDF of a signed contract carries what actually happened, not what one would like to have: the name the customer typed, the date and time in your company’s time zone — named on the document, so that everyone knows which zone it reads in — the internet address they signed from, and a 64-character fingerprint. The fingerprint is computed on the terms they had on screen: if anyone changed those terms later, it would no longer match, and that is verifiable. The document also states what the signature is NOT: a simple electronic signature, not a notarized one. If the internet address could not be recorded, the line says “IP address not recorded” rather than showing a value that designates nobody.
06Terminate a signed contract
The customer moves, the agreement is broken: on a signed contract, “Terminate” asks for a reason, then the contract becomes “terminated”. Nothing is erased — the signature, the date and the reason stay on the contract — but nothing is invoiced any more: upcoming instalments no longer go out, visits no longer add up. Invoices already issued remain due; if one of them must be reduced, issue a credit note. Only the owner terminates, and only a signed contract can be terminated: a sent contract awaits the customer’s answer, a draft can be edited.
07Renew in bulk
At season’s end, renew every signed contract at once, with a flat increase or one by price bracket. The preview shows each new price before anything is written.