Workflow messages and timing

Workflow messages are the automated, booking-tied messages your renter gets as their rental gets closer — reminders, access codes, inspection links, and a review request. You set the wording once and Patriot Hauls sends each one at the right moment for every booking. You'll find them under Settings → Workflow (Booking Workflow Settings).

Set up messages in three easy steps

Choose the right category on your listing. A dumpster uses Dumpster Delivery. A dump trailer with U-Fill, We-Haul turned on uses U-Fill, We-Haul. Storage containers use Storage Containers. Trailers and equipment use Standard Pickup. For Other / Specialty, enter a Category Label on the listing, such as Totes, Party Rentals, Boats, or Jet Skis.
Open Settings → Workflow and pick a rental type. Read the ready-to-use messages, make any changes, and use Preview to see an example. For Other / Specialty, select the matching Category Label too. Set the automatic-message and SMS switches for that type or specialty category.
Tap Save Settings. Each booking uses the message set for its booked unit automatically. You do not need to choose a path on every booking.

The rental-type buttons choose which messages you are editing. They do not change the category of your units. Reset to Default restores only the current message in the current type.

Standard Pickup keeps your current wording. U-Fill and Dumpster Delivery talk about drop-off and collection, use the customer's delivery address, and do not send yard directions or lockbox codes. The delivery inspection asks customers to check the unit after drop-off, before they start filling it. The collection inspection asks them to leave the unit in place and keep truck access clear.

Confirmation, reminders, instructions, inspections, and their SMS switches are separate for each type. Timing, reviews, Contract Text, Payment Text, and booking rules are shared; the editor marks these clearly. At rollout, your existing automatic-message and SMS choices are copied into the new paths and existing specialty categories; later changes stay separate. Newly created specialty categories start with SMS off until you enable it.

Storage and specialty rentals

Storage messages explain delivery, placement, and container condition. Collection Preparation starts off because a monthly billing date is not a collection appointment. Arrange collection with the customer when they finish, then send the preparation message manually.

Under Other / Specialty, choose a suggested subcategory or enter a custom Category Label when setting up a listing. Suggestions include Totes, Moving Bins, Party Rentals, Tables & Chairs, Tents & Canopies, Bounce Houses, Photo Booths, Boats, Jet Skis, Kayaks & Canoes, Paddleboards, Bikes, Golf Carts, and Camping Gear. These choices are also visible in Workflow Settings before you add any units, so you can prepare messages first. Each listing Category Label gets a separate message set. All listings labeled Totes share the Totes messages; Party Rentals has its own. Capitalization and extra spaces do not create duplicate groups. Listings without a label use Uncategorized Other. New groups start with neutral wording that works for pickup or delivery; add the instructions for that rental type. These messages do not automatically send trailer lockbox codes.

Renaming a listing category moves its future sends to that category's messages. Saved message groups remain available, so review the new category before taking bookings.

The messages and when they fire

Each booking schedules these automatically once it's confirmed:

Confirmation — sent right away when the booking is confirmed. Always sends. Includes the pickup location (or delivery address) and, only while the contract is unsigned, the link to sign the rental agreement. Once signed, confirmations omit the agreement link and the automatic signing text for every category.
24-Hour reminder — 24 hours before pickup. (Timing is fixed.)
1-Hour reminder — 60 minutes before pickup. (Timing is fixed.)
Access codes — by default about 35 minutes before pickup. For contactless pickups it carries the lockbox/gate codes; for in-person pickups it carries a "your operator will meet you" note instead. You can adjust this from 15 to 40 minutes before pickup.
Pre-Trip inspection — the pickup-day link to record the unit's condition before it moves.
Return inspection — sent on the return day for the renter to document condition at return.
Review request — sent when the return inspection is submitted, or when the booking completes if there is no inspection. The timing is fixed. If the booking is never completed, it is not sent.

For U-Fill and dumpster rentals, “pickup” timing means drop-off and “return” timing means collection. Storage reminders use the delivery date; a billing-period end does not schedule collection. Other / Specialty uses rental start and end times. These are scheduled reminders, not live driver arrival updates.

Adjust the editable timings under Message Timing in Workflow Settings. The 24-hour and 1-hour reminders are fixed.

How they reach the renter

Every workflow message lands in the renter's Patriot Hauls inbox automatically and as an email — no carrier fees and no setup in any outside platform. Replies sync back into that same inbox, so your whole conversation lives in one place.

If you've connected GoHighLevel, Quo, or Twilio under Settings → Integrations, you can also send any of these events as SMS through your own number using the Also Send As SMS toggles for the selected rental type or specialty category. All categories use the same connected integration routing; you do not need a new phone connection for each category. The provider must be enabled and its sending settings must allow the message.

Heads up: Don't rebuild these same automations inside GoHighLevel, Quo, or Twilio too — your renter would get messaged twice.

Customizing the wording

Under Message Content you can rewrite any message and preview exactly what the renter sees. Use the merge variables (like {{renter_first_name}}, {{unit_title}}, {{unit_number}}, {{pickup_date}}) to personalize each one — tap a variable to drop it in. Reset to Default restores the platform wording.

Good to know: Patriot Hauls automatically attaches the personalized parts — pickup location, contract link, access codes, and inspection/review links — to each message at send time. Tap Preview to see the complete message your renter receives, including those added blocks.

Pictures

A picture is an image sent with a workflow message, such as a brake controller or hitch diagram.

Message pictures. On each of the seven workflow messages in Workflow Settings, click Add a picture to attach one. It goes out with that message on every booking. Pictures are set per rental type, like the wording.
Review request picture. This picture is shared by all rental types.
Follow-up pictures. On a follow-up, choose No picture, Yard photo, or My own picture. The yard photo comes from the booking's pickup yard. Add it under Business Info → Logistics & Hours → Pickup Yards. Each yard can have its own photo. If that yard has no photo, the follow-up goes without one.

How pictures reach the renter:

GoHighLevel and Twilio send the actual picture.
Quo can't send pictures, so the renter gets a link to the picture instead. That link counts toward the text-part counter.
Email shows the picture.

Removing or replacing a picture takes effect on the next message sent. Editing pictures is on the website (desktop) only. The mobile app doesn't edit message wording.

Follow-up messages

A follow-up is an extra message that goes out a set time after one of your regular messages. Use it for details that don't fit in the main text, like a map link or a photo of your yard.

You can add follow-ups under these messages: Confirmation, 24-Hour reminder, 1-Hour reminder, Access codes, Pre-Trip inspection, Return inspection, and Review request.

Go to Settings → Workflow and find the message you want to follow up on.
Click Follow-ups under that message, then Add a follow-up.
Set Send ___ minutes after this message. You can pick anything from 1 minute to 24 hours.
Write the wording. It can be up to 640 characters and uses the same merge fields as your other messages.
Choose No picture, Yard photo, or My own picture. See Pictures above.
Switch it on. Changes save automatically.

You can add up to 3 follow-ups per message, for each rental type. New follow-ups start switched off, so nothing goes out until you turn it on. If a follow-up would land during your quiet hours, it waits until they end, the next morning. The exceptions are follow-ups on the 1-Hour reminder, Access codes, and Pre-Trip inspection. Renters are waiting on those, so they go out on time, even during quiet hours.

Follow-ups go out the same ways the message above them does. They always land in the renter's inbox, and they go by email and text if those are on for that message. A follow-up only sends after its main message actually sends. It stops if the booking is cancelled. If the pickup or return date changes, the follow-ups waiting on the reminders, access codes, and inspections are dropped, and they are queued again when those messages send for the new time. Confirmation follow-ups are the exception: the confirmation is not sent again, so they still go out after a date change. Follow-ups on the pickup messages (confirmation, reminders, access codes, pre-trip) also stop once the rental has ended.

Good to know: Follow-ups are edited on the website (desktop). The mobile app does not edit message wording.

Yard photo and map link

Add your yard photo on the yard itself. On the website, go to Business Info → Logistics & Hours → Pickup Yards, edit the yard, then click Add yard photo (it reads Replace yard photo once one is there). In the mobile app, use the yard card. A new yard must be saved before you can add its photo. See Pickup locations and yards. These merge fields pull in your yard details:

{{pickup_yard}} is the yard name.
{{pickup_address}} is the yard address.
{{pickup_instructions}} is your pickup instructions for that yard.
{{yard_map_link}} is a Google Maps link built from the yard location.

How the photo reaches the renter depends on your texting service, as described under Pictures above. In the inbox, the photo shows as a link.

Split long texts

Under the message box, a counter shows Sends as N texts. The longer the message, the more texts it takes, and carriers sometimes block very long ones. If your counter is climbing, keep the main message short and move the extra details (parking notes, gate tips, a map link) into a follow-up. A couple of short texts get through more reliably than one long one.

Still need help? Tap the Support button inside your dashboard.