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Skip, Cancel, and Lock Out Jobs

Three separate actions let you record what happened when a job does not go ahead as scheduled. Each records a different situation and has its own fee and notification options.

ActionWhen to Use
SkipCustomer asked to skip one occurrence. Recurring schedule continues as normal.
CancelThe company or customer is ending this job permanently.
Lock OutTechnicians arrived but could not access the property.
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If a technician is still checked in to the job, Pulse refuses Skip, Cancel, and Lock Out and names who is checked in. Have them check out, or enter their clock-out in Office > Time, then try again.

Who Can Access These Actions​

RoleAccess Level
AdministratorFull access
OfficeFull access
SalesFull access
HR AdminFull access
Payroll AdminFull access
TechnicianNot available

How to Open a Job Action​

  1. Go to Office > Schedule.
  2. Click a job card to open the Job Detail drawer.
  3. Click Actions in the footer.
  4. Choose Cancel Job, Skip Job, or Lock Out Job from the dropdown.

The corresponding drawer opens with options for that action.

Skip a Job​

Use Skip Job when a customer calls to say they do not need service this time. The job is marked as skipped and the recurring schedule picks up on the next scheduled date.

Skip Drawer Options​

Skip Fee — If a skip fee applies (based on how soon before the job the customer called), the system shows the fee amount automatically:

  • The fee calculation displays — either a flat amount or a percentage of the bill rate
  • The Charge Skip Fee toggle is turned on by default when a fee applies
  • Turn it off to waive the fee for this occurrence
  • When the fee is charged, it replaces the job's regular price for that visit. Pulse adds a Job Adjustment that cancels the regular price plus a line for the fee, so the invoice for that visit nets to the fee amount
  • Skip fees are not shared with technicians. The Skip drawer has no tech pay table, so charging a skip fee in Pulse doesn't create any technician pay, even if the scope has a skip Technician Split set

The skip window, fee amount, and calculation type are set on the service's scope. See Quoting and Scope Configuration.

Reason (optional) — Type a reason for the skip. This is saved on the job record for reference.

Notify Customer — Toggle on to email the customer about the skip. Notifications for skips go by email only; there is no text message option. The toggle is on by default when the customer has an email address on file, and it is disabled when they don't.

The drawer shows the email address the notification will go to so you can confirm before sending.

Click Skip Job (or Skip Job ($X.XX) if a fee applies) to confirm.

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Skipping a job only affects this one occurrence. The next scheduled date for the recurring service is not changed.

Cancel a Job​

Use Cancel Job when a job should be permanently removed from the schedule, whether by customer request or company decision. This action cannot be undone.

Cancel Drawer Options​

Type of cancellation (required) — Choose one before any other options appear:

TypeBadgeWhat It Records
Customer RequestSkipCustomer asked to skip. Recurring schedule continues.
Company DecisionCancelCompany is permanently cancelling this job.

If you choose Customer Request, the drawer behaves identically to the Skip Job drawer — see above.

If you choose Company Decision:

  • Reason (required) — Select from the dropdown:

    • Customer cancelled
    • Customer moved
    • No longer needs service
    • Payment issues
    • Weather/emergency
    • Other

  • Additional Notes (optional) — Add details beyond the reason code.

  • Notify Customer — Email only, available when the customer has an email address on file. For a Company Decision cancellation, the drawer shows a preview of the cancellation email, and you can edit its subject and body before sending.

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Choosing Company Decision and confirming permanently cancels the job. This cannot be reversed.

Cancel All Future Jobs (End a Recurring Service)​

Use Cancel All Future Jobs when a customer is stopping recurring service completely. It ends every future visit, starting at the visit you opened. To cancel only one visit, use Cancel Job above instead.

  1. Open the job and select Cancel All Future Jobs from its Actions menu. The Cancel Service drawer opens.
  2. Under Who initiated the cancellation?, choose Customer Request or Company Decision.
  3. Choose a Reason. You can't change it after you save, so pick carefully. The list comes from Settings > Company > Schedule Change Reasons, under the Cancel Service status. To add one, see Schedule Change Reasons.
  4. Add Additional Notes if you want.
  5. Turn Notify Customer on to send a cancellation email. It is available only when the customer has an email address on file.
  6. Click Cancel Service.

If the Reason list says "No reasons configured", add Cancel Service reasons in Schedule Change Reasons first.

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Cancel All Future Jobs is permanent. Use it only when you are ending service for this customer.

Remove a skip or lockout fee​

If the customer shouldn't pay the fee, delete it from the skipped or locked-out job:

  1. Open the job. See Job Detail Drawer.
  2. On the Summary tab, find the fee in the job's billing breakdown.
  3. Delete the fee's row and confirm Delete Fee.

The job's total updates. You also need permission to edit fees. To waive the fee in the first place, turn off Charge Skip Fee or Charge Lockout Fee in the drawer before you confirm.

Can I undo or change a skip, lockout or cancellation?​

No. Once you confirm, the action can't be undone or edited.

The job's details can't be edited afterwards either: only pending jobs can be edited in the Job Detail Drawer. You can still add and change the job's timesheets.

  • Skip or lockout: to get the visit back, schedule a new job. In the Property & Service Manager, use Schedule Extra Cleaning.
  • Skip or lockout fee: the fee is added automatically when the service's scope has one set up in the quoting tool settings. To remove it, see Remove a skip or lockout fee.
  • Cancellation reason: a reason can't be edited after it is saved. Check the reason before you click Cancel Service.
  • Cancel a Job or Cancel All Future Jobs: both are permanent.

To avoid mistakes, read the drawer before you confirm. The fee, reason and customer notification are all set on that screen.

Lock Out a Job​

Use Lock Out Job when technicians arrived at the property but were unable to access it. Common reasons include the customer not being home, pet issues, or a gate/keypad problem.

Lockout Drawer Options​

Lockout Fee — If a lockout fee is configured for this service type, the system shows the fee amount and turns on the Charge Lockout Fee toggle automatically:

  • The fee calculation appears — flat fee or percentage of bill rate
  • Toggle off to waive the fee
  • When charged, the fee replaces the job's regular price for that visit, the same way a skip fee does

Tech Pay Split — Whenever Charge Lockout Fee is on, a tech pay table appears listing the technicians scheduled on the job's team. This applies to every service, not just hourly ones. Default pay works like this:

  • Each Captain and Team Member is checked, with an equal share of the technicians' portion of the fee: the fee × the scope's lockout Technician Split % ÷ the number of Captains and Team Members on the job
  • Trainees and Extras are listed but not checked, and get no default pay
  • An hours column also appears when the scope's Pay Type is Hourly

Change amounts, or check and uncheck technicians, before confirming. Each checked technician gets their amount as additional pay for the job date. For example, a $60 lockout fee with a 50% Technician Split and two Captains/Team Members defaults to $15 each.

The lockout fee amount, its calculation type (a flat amount or a percentage of the job's bill rate), and its Technician Split are set on the service's scope. See Quoting and Scope Configuration.

Reason (required) — Select from:

  • Customer unavailable
  • Access issues
  • Pet issues
  • Safety concerns
  • Equipment needed
  • Weather conditions
  • Other

A reason is required. The Lock Out Job button stays disabled until one is selected.

Additional Notes (optional) — Add any details about the lockout situation.

Notify Customer — See Lock out a job without emailing the customer.

Click Lock Out Job (or Lock Out ($X.XX) if a fee applies) to confirm.

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After a lockout, the customer's record is updated with the lockout status. The team is released from this job for the day.

Lock out a job without emailing the customer​

Turn off Notify Customer in the Lock Out drawer before you click Lock Out Job. The lockout, fee, and tech pay are recorded as usual, and no email goes out. When the toggle is on, the customer is emailed using your Lockout email template. It is on by default when the customer has an email address on file and disabled when they don't, and the drawer shows the address the email will go to.

Sales Tax on Skip and Lockout Fees​

Whether a skip or lockout fee is taxed depends on the scope's QuickBooks Item, the same item the cleaning service is billed on. The fee goes to QuickBooks on that item, and the item's tax setting in QuickBooks decides whether the fee is taxed: its taxable setting on a US QuickBooks company, or its sales tax code on a Canadian (global tax) company. If the item is taxable, the fee is taxed. A customer who is tax-exempt in QuickBooks is never taxed.

Pulse doesn't calculate sales tax itself. QuickBooks calculates it when the invoice syncs, so no tax is added to a fee (or anything else on the invoice) until QuickBooks is connected and the invoice syncs.

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Don't mark the scope's QuickBooks item as non-taxable just to stop tax on fees. That also stops tax on the cleaning service billed with that item. Pulse doesn't have a separate tax setting for skip or lockout fees today.

Tips​

  • Use Skip for temporary gaps, Cancel for permanent endings. The distinction affects recurring schedule continuity and reports.
  • Check the fee window before confirming. The skip and lockout fee details show how many hours until the job and whether the cancellation falls inside the fee window. This helps you decide whether to waive or charge.
  • Notify the customer for every skip, cancel, and lockout. The notification toggle defaults to on. Only turn it off when you have already contacted the customer directly.
  • Select the lockout reason carefully. Lockout reasons are used in reporting to identify which property access issues occur most often.
  • Tech Pay on lockouts. If your technicians receive partial pay for arriving at a locked-out property, confirm the amounts in the tech split table before saving.

Troubleshooting​

The Actions dropdown does not show Skip or Lock Out​

These options may not appear for all job statuses. A completed job, for example, cannot be locked out. Check the job status badge in the Job Detail drawer header. If the job is already in a terminal state, the actions are not available.

No fee information is loading​

Fee data loads when the drawer opens. If it shows a spinner that does not go away, close and reopen the drawer. If the issue continues, contact your administrator to verify that fee rules are configured for this service type.

I cannot select a reason for Cancel​

The reason dropdown only appears after you select a cancellation type (Customer Request or Company Decision). Make sure you have clicked one of the two options at the top of the Cancel drawer.

The customer was not notified even though Notify Customer was on​

Skip, cancel, and lockout notifications are sent by email only. Verify that the customer has a valid email address on file. If there is none, the notification toggle is disabled and no notification can be sent. Add an email address to the customer profile and then resend manually if needed.

"A technician is still checked in to this job"​

The job has a time entry with no clock-out, so it cannot be skipped, cancelled, or locked out yet. Enter the clock-out in Office > Time (see Editing Time Entries), then try again.