Half of mine have a locked gate, by locked its mostly a bolt that cant be reached... even if they didnt i prefer to txt everyone anyway, saves me a trip if they are on hol or having building work done and id rather people know im coming so its no surprise.
As for texting, i used txt local for years via cleaner planner but there was always the odd one every week that didnt send. It was costing about 40 quid a month, so i just went back to manual. Of course with multiple vans you need it automated but texting 20 jobs on an evening takes 5 mins from the cleaner planner app, copy and past the txt. Same with payment reminder on the debt list.