At a glance
The challenge
Work orders arrived as PDFs in a shared inbox and were retyped into a spreadsheet, then into QuickBooks. Subcontractor updates came by text, email and phone, and insurance checks before payment were done by hand.
What we built
One system from the client's email to the QuickBooks invoice: automatic work-order intake, dispatch matched by trade and area, a subcontractor app, compliance holds on payouts, and a Command Center the office runs by asking.
The results
- Work orders flow from email to a QuickBooks invoice without retyping
- Dispatching a subcontractor takes one sentence
- Sales tax on every invoice worked out from the property address
- Payouts held automatically until a sub's paperwork is current
Every work order, typed in twice
Pronative has been in business for close to ten years. Its clients are third-party facility-management companies and, increasingly, large national retail and office brands it serves directly. The work is service, repairs and some remodels, spread across Texas and beyond, and all of it goes out to subcontractors: tradespeople, handymen and small businesses on a roster of a couple of hundred.
Clients sent formal work orders by email, usually as a PDF with the property details and their own work order or PO number. Each one was copied into a spreadsheet, then into QuickBooks Online. Finding out which sub was on which job, and whether it was finished, meant calls and texts all day. Before a sub could be paid, someone had to check by hand that their W-9 and workers' comp insurance were current.
“Every copy was another chance to get it wrong. Every task meant opening a different screen, a different sheet, a different login. The admin was eating the day.”
They had tried software before. It could pull the emails in, but every one still needed manual steps to become a job. And the spreadsheet copied out of the PDFs stayed the one place anyone trusted.
What we built: the whole job, from the client's email to QuickBooks
Fieldproxy mapped how a Pronative job actually moves, then set the system up to follow it, step for step.
Work orders in from email
Client emails and PDFs are read automatically and drafted as jobs, with the client's own work order or PO number kept as the job's reference.
Dispatch by trade and area
Subs are matched by trade and service area. A sub can only be dispatched with a W-9 and current workers' comp on file.
The subcontractor app
Subs see their jobs, upload before-and-after photos, add notes and voice notes, and capture the site manager's sign-off.
Bigger than scoped
If a job turns out larger than the work order, the sub pauses it and reports the extra work. An estimate goes to the client for approval before anyone carries on.
QuickBooks, mapped their way
Vendors, customers, invoices and bills sync to QuickBooks Online. The property address goes on every invoice so sales tax comes out right, and the memo says what was done, not just a PO number.
Payouts that check themselves
A job marked billing-ready produces the client report and the invoice. A sub's payout is held automatically if their compliance has lapsed.
Running the business by asking
The Command Center is the screen the office opens on. Instead of clicking through forms, they ask: dispatch this job, confirm that work order, set the job cost, raise an estimate, rate a sub, log the update a sub just phoned in. The AI suggests who fits a job, and they approve. Every change is shown before it runs, and anything can be undone.
“Dispatching a sub takes a sentence, not a spreadsheet. The AI suggests who fits and we approve. If the AI does something we didn't mean, we hit undo. That's what made us trust it with real work.”
Undo mattered from the first demo. One of Pronative's first questions was whether there was always a way to take something back. There is, and it is a large part of why the AI does real work for them instead of sitting on the side.
Built with them, one request at a time
The system kept moving after the first build. After the June walkthrough, Pronative asked for every email on a thread to be logged against its job, so a reply that wasn't sent reply-all never goes missing; voice dispatch in Spanish, because many of their tradespeople are Spanish-speaking; cost and margin on every job; a score for each subcontractor; and payouts held until compliance documents are in. All of it went in.
The QuickBooks connection was set up the same way, on a call with Stephanie, field by field: the property address as the ship-to so sales tax is right, the PO number, property and a short description on every invoice, and QuickBooks keeping its own invoice numbering.
“They listen, they build what you ask for, and when something needs to change, it changes.”
What Pronative would tell another business
“This is what AI in field service should look like: not a chatbot on the side, but the way you actually run the business. If you manage subcontractors and you're living in your inbox, Fieldproxy will give you hours back every single week.”
How it went
May 2026
First call and demo. Pronative asked for a trial account the same day.
Late May 2026
Their trial system was built: back office, subcontractor app and AI assistant, around the workflow mapped on the call.
June 2026
Workflow walkthroughs. The mapped process was confirmed as "spot-on", and a round of new requests went in.
July 2026
The Command Center became the first screen the office opens every morning.
August 2026
QuickBooks Online connected and mapped field by field with Stephanie: vendors, customers, invoices and bills.
“The team at Fieldproxy is amazing. They have continually strived to get our software customized exactly to our needs. No question or request is too small. They are such a pleasure to work with and so glad we found such a great company to partner with.”
