When you work on your own, every booking is a promise, and it only takes one job running over for you to break two. Getting a schedule you can keep comes down to a handful of choices: how precisely you say when you’ll arrive, how you book work that takes more than a day, and how much of the week you leave empty.
Promise a half day, not a time
A set time is easy to give on the phone and hard to keep. The first job runs over, the merchant has a queue, the part is the wrong one. A morning or an afternoon gives you that slack, and it answers the question most clients are really asking: do I need to be in in the morning or the afternoon?
A heating engineer’s Tuesday, booked by half days:
| Visit | Booked as | What the client is told |
|---|---|---|
| Boiler service, Patel | Morning | In the morning, between 8am and midday |
| Leaking valve, Okafor | Afternoon | In the afternoon, between midday and 5pm |
If the service runs an hour over, nobody is late. Booked as 9am and 1pm, both clients would be waiting.
When a set time is the right call
- Someone has to let you in: a landlord, a key holder, a tenant who works shifts.
- The site has an access window, like a shop before opening or a school in the holidays.
- The job is short and you can time it well: a quote visit, an annual service, a safety check.
- The client asks for one and you can keep it.
Give a set time a length as well, so the rest of the day shows how much room is left.
Work that takes more than a day
Book one visit for each day you’ll be there, rather than one long booking. A bathroom refit might be two days of first fix, a day for the plasterer to go in, then two days of second fix. Booked as four all-day visits on the one job, the gap day is free for something else, and moving one day leaves the others where they are.
Tell the client in writing, and again when it moves
A booking agreed on the phone is easy to mishear. An email with the day, the time and the address gives the client something to check, and a reason to tell you early if it doesn’t suit. When you have to move a visit, say what it was and what it is now, so nobody is left holding the old day.
Leave part of the week empty
Fill every slot and the first emergency call-out, quote visit or trip to the merchant pushes everything else back. Many sole traders keep half a day a week unbooked for exactly that. Group visits by area yourself where you can, so the day isn’t spent driving between them.
Keep a list of work waiting for a date
Won work with no date is the easiest to lose: the client accepted, you meant to ring back, and a fortnight later they’ve booked someone else. Book it while the client is still keen, and keep a list of anything you couldn’t.
How the Schedule in Sendinvo does it
The Schedule in Sendinvo lists your visits day by day under a week strip, or shows one day by the hour. You book a visit on a job for the morning, the afternoon, all day, or a set time with a length.
- Your hours. Morning is 8am to midday and afternoon is midday to 5pm until you change them in your company settings. Every visit and every client email then uses your hours.
- The client is told. Booking or moving a visit emails the client from your company, saying when you’re coming and where, and asking them to reply if it doesn’t suit. Untick the box if you’ve already told them.
- Clashes. When two visits cross on the same day, Sendinvo says so before you book and marks both on the Schedule. It warns, and leaves the choice to you.
- To book. Jobs with nothing booked wait in a list of their own, so won work doesn’t slip.
- Start and finish. Start a visit when you arrive and finish it when you leave. The job moves to Ready to invoice, and Raise invoice fills the invoice in from its quote.
What it doesn’t do: it doesn’t send texts, plan routes, or let you drag a visit to a new day (you move it with Move instead). For how jobs and visits fit together, see job management software for sole traders.
Questions
Should I give clients an arrival time or a time slot?
A slot, usually. A morning or an afternoon leaves room for a job that runs over. Give a set time when someone has to let you in, the site has an access window, or the job is short enough to time well.
How do I book a job that takes several days?
Book one visit for each day you’ll be there. In Sendinvo each visit is one day, so a three-day job is three visits on the same job, and each goes in the Schedule on its own day.
What happens if two bookings clash?
Sendinvo warns you before you book and marks both visits on the Schedule, but it doesn’t refuse the booking. Sometimes you mean to.
Does Sendinvo text clients about visits?
No. It emails the client when you book or move a visit, from your company, unless you untick the box or the client has no email address.