How do you arrange your work

[James102]

I feel a little overwhelmed with the the amount of work I'm getting in and I know it's just going to keep getting bigger I'm struggling to keep on top of it arranging the work load and keeping a note of every customer ect any advice would be great

 

[Dabber]

I use the squeegee app which enables me to manage cleans and finance. Be competitive when pricing as you will live to regret underpricing jobs. If you feel overwhelmed then don’t take on anymore customers until you are in a position to do so. It’s your business for you to control not for the workload to control you. Good luck.

 

[PDixon cvs]

I use cleaner planner linked with go cardless

 

[Pjj]

I feel a little overwhelmed with the the amount of work I'm getting in and I know it's just going to keep getting bigger I'm struggling to keep on top of it arranging the work load and keeping a note of every customer ect any advice would be great

You either have to expand and employ, or turn work away , or take on new work at a much higher price and get rid of your cheapest work , keep doing that and you will earn a lot more for less work

 

[pxlkid]

I use a combination of the calendar app on my phone and a database app called notion. Works great and at the end of the day I can tot up who’s paid (or not) add new customers in organise my next days work and run reports easily to analyse the state of the business.

 

[Chris34]

I put all the work on a spreadsheet date and day order. First column is date, second column is day and then the next columns are filled in with the customers names, one name for each box. I have a row underneath the customers names that has their prices, once they've paid I colour the box green. Example below

02nd March	Thursday	Sue	Jackie	David	Simon	Betty	Kath Conservatory roof
		25	20	25	40	35	120
03rd March	Friday	Mrs White	Geoff & Marg	Louise	Terry	Barbara	Alan	Patricia
		25	25	30	25	20	20	40
04th March	Saturday
05th March	Sunday
06th March	Monday	Mr Jones	Julie	Janice	Susan	Maria	Mike	Tom - (First clean after 15:00)
07th March	Tuesday	Sally	Rachel	Fred	Tom	Nick & Jane	Pete quotation - 15 Kings Drive

Basically before I do the work it's all planned out with their names written on each day for the whole week, this is how I plan my weeks work and I will shuffle jobs about to different days to suit the weeks work.

After I've done a days work I'll write the figures in for each job I've done, once they have paid I make the boxes green. Unfortunately I couldn't do that with this table and could only make the font green, but on a spreadsheet you can make the whole box green which is easier to spot the ones who haven't yet paid.

I write all my notes on the spreadsheet, if someone has to skip a clean for building work or hols I'll just write 'skipped' in the box and insert a comment with the reason they skipped.

For the once every 8 week jobs I turn the box with the name in blue, so all those with a blue box I know it's once every 8 weeks.

When the 4th week comes around again I copy all the customers names from 4 weeks previous and paste them into the new week and make any necessary alterations for people who might have cancelled or new customers, one offs etc.

Basically my works spreadsheet I can go back to say September last year and tell Mr Jones which day, date his windows were cleaned and how much he was charged. I can also forward to June this year and check who I've booked in for the add ons. It's all on one sheet.

 

[Iron Giant]

I use cleanerplanner.com and have done so for maybe around 8-9 years now which is linked with GoCardless for direct debits another alternative which is cheaper is aworka.com I used this previously to CP and it was pretty good just the updates and improvements didn't come fast enough years ago but it does everything CP does these days so I have been informed

 

[steve garwood]

My strong advice would be to definitely not have a schedule.
Just text those who need to leave a gate unlocked the evening before.
Don’t have dates you’re due around.
This way you have no unnecessary pressure on you, and can have a day off without worrying.
As you leave east customer, just say ‘I’ll text in roughly 6 weeks’.
If you’re having a holiday, tell them you’ll be a bit late next time because of this.
I’ve always believed windies over complicate things when it comes to unnecessary schedules. This is cleaning windows, not a hospital appointment ????‍?

 

[Chris34]

I agree with what Steve says and just want to make it clear, I don't have a schedule for the customer, it's 'my' work schedule. I don't tell the customer your next clean is on Wednesday 15th March I just say 'see you next time', the schedule is for my own planning and to keep track of who's paid and what work needs doing.

The service is once every 4 weeks but I tell them at quote that it might not be bang on 4 weeks, if there is any significant delay of more than one week I'd text them.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

The best advice if you don't want to expand is to keep it simple. Try and cut down the difficult work that's not paying well due to the time taken. Another thing I have focused on is distance, I'm refusing to take on new work which is far from my home. I'm now advertising and working locally which is paying off. Dumping the folk that mess about with payment which is the best thing I have taken on. Met a Guy called Dan who had a Gardening company and he told me his work philosophy. He had 50 customers and every time he got a new better paying customer he dumped the lowest paying customer. I thought that was a bit ruthless but he said it works for him. He had a brand new van and the best of tools so it makes good business sense but I couldn't work that why but I need a new van so it makes perfect sense. ?