CarpetBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Dispatch

From Approved Estimate to Scheduled Carpet Cleaning Job

An estimate the customer said yes to is the start of a job, not the end of a sale. Somewhere between the approval and the van pulling up, someone has to turn the estimate into a scheduled job with the right rooms, the right add-ons and the right access notes. In a lot of carpet cleaning offices, that step means re-typing the estimate into the calendar, and things fall out along the way.

Where the Customer Sees the Route

The previous guide, The Customer Live Route Map: Showing Carpet Cleaning Customers Where the Van Is, covered what customers see on the day. Many of those customers started with an estimate. This guide covers how that estimate gets onto the schedule.

Estimates Built From Your Service List

In CarpetBossPro, estimates are built from your own service list: per room, whole house, stairs, hallway, sofa, loveseat, chair, sectional, area rug, mattress, tile and grout, pet odor treatment, stain protector, deodorizer, spot removal, move-out cleaning, office maintenance, or whatever you set up. Services can be priced off the property's measurements, such as square feet, linear feet or rooms.

Each estimate carries the same carpet job details as a job: the rooms checked off, square feet, number of rooms, carpet type, method and access notes. Estimate templates speed up the common ones, like a three-bedroom refresh or a whole house with stairs.

Approval Becomes the Job

The customer approves the estimate online. When they do, the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job, and the estimate details carry onto the job. The rooms, add-ons, square feet and access notes are already on it. Nobody re-types “3 bedrooms, hallway, stairs, pet odor treatment in master.”

That matters for scheduling because the size of the job is right from the start. Whoever puts it on the board can see how big it is, and the tech sees the same details on their card.

Putting It on the Right Day

An approved estimate still needs a van and a day. Treat it like any other new job:

• Look at where the customer is on the map.
• Find a day a van is already in their area.
• Check that van's day on the dispatch board for room, keeping the size of the job in mind.
• Offer the customer one or two options.
• Assign the job, then auto-route and adjust for any time needs.

Approved estimates are often the customers most eager to get on the schedule. Reach out the same day they approve, while they are still excited.

Check the Access Notes Before the Visit

Estimates are often done over the phone or from a quick walk-through, and access details can be thin. Before the job goes out, take a minute to fill in the gaps: is there a dog, where can the van park, where will the hose run, and will someone be home? Those notes go on the address, so they carry forward to every future visit. Doing it once, before the first cleaning, saves the tech a phone call in the driveway.

Following Up on Estimates That Have Not Been Approved

Not every estimate gets approved right away. CarpetBossPro sends estimate follow-up emails, which bring back customers who meant to say yes and forgot. Each one that comes back approved becomes a job ready to schedule.

Estimates that stay open are worth a look when you are filling a day. If a van has room in a neighborhood where an estimate is sitting, a quick text can turn it into a job: “We're in your area Thursday and have an opening. Want to go ahead with the estimate we sent?”

New Sign-Ups and Requests

Not every new job starts with an estimate. Your website request form and sign-up form flow into Form Responses, and the sign-up form can capture a card. One click converts a sign-up into a client. From there, the new customer goes onto the schedule the same way: by area, onto a van with room.

When the Job Changes on Site

Sometimes the customer adds work on the day: the loveseat, the stairs or a second rug. The tech notes it, and the office adds it to the job as a line item from the service list so the invoice matches the work. If it is the kind of thing that will happen every visit, it carries forward, since the next job at that home fills in from this one. Combined visits are covered in Booking Upholstery, Area Rugs and Tile With the Carpet Job: Scheduling Combined Visits.

One Record From Estimate to Invoice

The point of all this is one record that follows the job from the first estimate to the scheduled visit to the invoice, with nothing re-typed along the way. To see how estimates, the dispatch board and the tech app connect, visit the CarpetBossPro carpet cleaning scheduling software page.