Fullbay Works Where Others Just Promise.

Dylan Palardy knew he needed to switch platforms.

He had previously shifted Top Dog Repair & Towing to new shop management software that promised a lot of things. QuickBooksⓇ integration and mobile access in particular were non-negotiables for his shop, and the software touted those features as well as user-friendliness. 

It didn’t take long for Dylan to realize their new software wasn’t quite panning out.

He describes Top Dog as a multigenerational heavy-duty operation in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. They service everything from propane trucks to school buses and UTVs, with a strong focus on fleet maintenance. The business has, over the last few years, expanded more into roadside and mobile service work across rural Colorado, which meant the team needed systems that could keep up. 

He’d seen Fullbay back when he was auditioning new platforms, and revisited it during his renewed search. He liked what he saw: “I can’t, for the hell, let me tell you, remember why I went with [the other software] instead of [Fullbay] in the first place,” he told us. 

PAIN POINT: A PROMISED INTEGRATION DID NOT DELIVER

A QuickBooks integration was not optional for the Top Dog team. His mother handled the bookwork in the office, and manual data entry (and double-entry) had become exactly the kind of time-consuming back-office work Dylan wanted to get away from. 

The software they initially tried advertised numerous capabilities, including a QuickBooks integration that never quite came to fruition. “They said it was gonna be able to transfer over to QuickBooks properly and do all these other things,” Dylan said. So he and the Top Dog crew waited.

And waited.

And finally, “[We’d] just been waiting on that for too long.” 

For a growing shop, that kind of disconnect was more than an inconvenience. It meant more manual work, more time spent between systems, and less confidence that the software could keep up with the business.

PAIN POINT: MOBILITY IS MISSION-CRITICAL

Top Dog’s road calls are not always short trips. Dylan reports the team regularly travels long distances across Colorado to support customers — sometimes spending hours on mountain roads for service calls and staying overnight near job sites. Mobile accessibility, for them, was not a “nice-to-have.” It was mission-critical.

While they had a shop management platform that introduced digital workflows, the Top Dog techs still struggled to access it both in the field and, unfortunately, during in-shop repairs. “You’d have to walk back and forth from your computer,” he said. 

That was a problem in the shop. On the road, it was an even bigger limitation.

ENTER FULLBAY: GETTING REACQUAINTED

The limitations of their shop software eventually led Dylan to revisit Fullbay. His prior software had done him a favor in that he now knew what his shop’s non-negotiables were, and fortunately, Fullbay met them. 

“The biggest thing that attracted me … was the QuickBooks integration,” he explained. “It’s obviously a well-known company. [And] from the … research I did, everybody was very pleased with Fullbay.”

RESULT: THE TOP DOG TEAM CAN NOW ROAM COLORADO

Top Dog’s technicians can now access shop information wherever they’re working. No longer do they have to walk back and forth to a computer to enter information or review work orders; Fullbay’s mobile accessibility has made the team’s workflow far more streamlined.

That matters for a team handling both in-shop repairs and long-distance road calls across rural Colorado. Dylan said one of the biggest things he likes about Fullbay is that his technicians can use it easily on their phones. Adoption was fast, too: “[Nobody is] having any issues, and they seem to really be enjoying it,” Dylan said. 

RESULT: FLEETS LOVE FULLBAY, TOO

Fullbay’s digital workflow has improved the experience for Top Dog’s fleet customers, too. Because the shop handles maintenance for a wide variety of commercial clients, clear communication and fast approvals are absolutely critical. 

“My big fleets love the [customer] portal,” Dylan said. “They don’t even have to talk to me to approve things. They’re pumped about it. I’ve gotten lots of compliments so far.” 

For a fleet-focused shop, that kind of customer response matters. It gives Top Dog’s customers a faster, cleaner way to review and approve work — and gives Dylan’s team a smoother process for keeping jobs moving.

RESULT: THE INTEGRATION TOP DOG WAS WAITING FOR

Where the previous platform left Top Dog waiting for QuickBooks functionality, Fullbay helped solve one of Dylan’s biggest back-office headaches.

The payoff was immediate and personal. Having a reliable integration immediately removed the headache of juggling disconnected applications or worrying about duplicate data entries and accounting issues…but best of all, Dylan said, “My mom can stop doing that by hand.”

FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR TOP DOG

The Top Dog team is fairly new to the Fullbay family, but they’re having a good time putting the platform to work for them. So far, Dylan says the switch was “absolutely” worth it, and he’s looking forward to testing out its other offerings. “The little AI guy in the corner … that guy’s a genius,” Dylan said. 

(That’s Spike! We like him, too.)

He’s been experimenting with using Fullbay AI to edit tech stories, and has found the tool useful so far. He’s also exploring additional integrations to see what else Fullbay can bring to his shop. 

We’re excited to see where Dylan and the Top Dog team take the business next — both in the shop and on the road.