Scheduling a small trade business without the chaos

A small trade business usually runs its week from three places at once: a diary, a group chat and somebody's memory. That works until the day a job is booked twice, a customer is waiting at home for someone who has been sent to the other side of town, or the person who remembered everything is on leave. This guide is about building a schedule that survives a busy week, whether you use paper, a calendar app or job management software.

Book jobs, not just times

A diary entry that says "Smith 9am" tells you almost nothing. A booking should carry everything the person doing the job needs: the customer's name and phone, the site address, what the job is, what to bring, how long it should take, and any access notes. If the booking lives in one place and the job details live in another, someone will turn up without the right part.

Estimate durations honestly

Most schedules fall over because jobs are booked for how long the work takes, not how long the visit takes. A one-hour job is rarely a one-hour visit once you add finding a park, talking to the customer, cleaning up and writing the job up. Track how long jobs of each kind really take and book to that. Our guide to pricing a job properly makes the same point about chargeable hours.

Group work by area

Driving is time you pay for and usually can't charge for. Where you can, book jobs in the same area on the same day, and order each day's run so you are not crossing town and back. The order the jobs were booked in is almost never the best order to drive them in.

Match the job to the person

Once there is more than one of you, scheduling is also about who goes where. Licences and skills come first: a job that needs a licensed electrician can't go to an apprentice on their own. Then location, then how full each person's day already is. Write the rules down, even if it's only a few lines, so whoever is booking makes the same decisions you would.

If the people you schedule are employees, their award also shapes the roster: overtime, minimum engagements, breaks and allowances can all depend on when and where you send someone. The Fair Work Ombudsman's pay guides set out the rules for each award, so check the one that covers your team before you book a long day or a weekend job.

Tell the customer, then tell them again

• When you book: confirm the date, the arrival window and what they need to do, such as clearing access or securing the dog.
• The day before: a short reminder cuts no-shows.
• On the day: a message when you're on the way saves the "where are you?" call.

Arrival windows are kinder than exact times. "Between 8 and 10" is a promise you can keep; "9 o'clock" is one traffic jam away from being broken.

Plan the regular work

Servicing, inspections and maintenance contracts are the steadiest income a trade business has, and the easiest to forget. Put every recurring visit in the schedule as soon as the contract is signed, not when someone remembers it is due, and know when each contract ends so you can renew it.

Keep the schedule in one place everyone can see

A schedule only works if it is the one everyone uses. The office needs to see the whole week; each person in the field needs their own day on their phone, with the job details attached. Changes should show up for both at once, not by text message.

How BizzMate does it

• A week calendar with a row for each person, showing every booked job.
• Suggested slots: smart scheduling suggests who should take each unassigned job and when.
• A dispatch map of the day's jobs, and route ordering by real driving time, with the saving against the booked order shown before you apply it.
• Recurring jobs for maintenance contracts, created ahead of each visit, with a notice when a contract makes its last visit.
• An optional booking email to the customer when a job is scheduled.
• Phone screens for people in the field: today's jobs, the details, and the map.

Jobs arrive on the same board from email, Facebook Messenger and the BizzMate Marketplace, so the schedule starts from everything that came in. Start a 14-day free trial, no card needed.

If the schedule is full and the next problem is getting paid for it, read cutting the time it takes to get paid.