What two-way SMS crew comms does
Construction runs on text messages. The framer texts the PM, the PM texts the homeowner, the homeowner texts the estimator, the estimator texts the office. Each conversation lives on a different phone in a different thread. The two-way SMS hub pulls every conversation into one searchable inbox tied to the right project.
- Unified inbox — every SMS to and from a project contact appears in GHL, tagged with the project and the role (PM, sub, homeowner, estimator).
- Assignment — if the PM is on vacation, his inbox routes to the backup PM. No “let me check with him when he’s back.”
- Search — search “backsplash” across every project’s SMS history and find the conversation where the homeowner picked the subway tile.
- Auto-replies for after-hours — homeowner texts at 11pm; auto-reply confirms “got your message, we’ll respond by 9am” so they don’t lie awake worried it disappeared.
- On-site arrival pings — subs text “on-site” when they arrive, which auto-confirms to the homeowner (“electrician just arrived for rough-in”).
How it works under the hood
GHL’s native SMS infrastructure plus a thin layer of automation:
- Inbound SMS — comes into the GHL number tied to your team. Each user has their own visible identity (PMs send as themselves, not as a generic company number).
- Auto-route to project — workflow matches the sender’s phone to the most recent project they’re associated with and threads the message into that project’s conversation view.
- Tagging — each message tags by role (homeowner, sub, vendor) and by current project phase, so historical search filters cleanly.
- Assignment + escalation — if a message sits unread for 2 hours during business hours, it escalates to the next responder.
- Closeout archive — once the project closes, the SMS thread archives with the contact record. Available forever, searchable forever.
Backsplash dispute — fragmented SMS vs unified inbox
Homeowner: 'we picked the herringbone, not the subway' → PM checks his phone → can't find it → checks office manager's phone → finds a message saying 'subway' from 6 weeks ago → still argues for an hour
PM searches GHL inbox for 'herringbone' across the project → finds the homeowner's exact message Sept 12 saying 'subway is fine, we changed our mind' → screenshot to the homeowner → resolved in 90 seconds
What it’s NOT
- Not a replacement for in-person walk-throughs. Critical decisions (cabinet layout, tile pattern, paint color) should still happen in person with samples. SMS confirms the decision; it shouldn’t be the decision.
- Not a group-chat tool. GHL’s SMS is one-to-one between your team and an external party. If you need crew group chats, use Slack or WhatsApp and link out — the SMS hub is for external comms.
- Not anonymous. Every SMS is attributed to a specific GHL user. There’s no “from the company” sending without a name attached. Accountability is a feature, not a bug.
- Not free of carrier compliance. A2P 10DLC registration is required for the SMS numbers, which we handle during onboarding. Reply STOP works as expected for any homeowner who wants out.
Why phone numbers aren’t enough
Your PM’s personal cell knows the homeowner’s name. It doesn’t know which project they’re on, what phase they’re in, what materials they’ve selected, or what their next milestone is. The minute the PM leaves the company or hands off the project, all of that context dies on the phone.
The GHL inbox knows everything. When a new PM takes over a project, they can read 6 months of conversation in 15 minutes and be functionally up to speed. That’s the operational continuity construction businesses lack: every SMS thread is institutional knowledge, not personal knowledge.