Why several sites feel like chaos
One site fits in your head. Three do not. Questions arrive in different chats, photos sit in your camera roll, and you only notice a site has gone quiet when the client calls to ask why.
The fix is not working longer hours. It is one place for everything, and a short routine you repeat every week. This guide sets out one that suits a small studio, and most of it fits on a phone.
Set up once
- One project per site, with the client's name, the address and a pin for the site location.
- One place for each kind of thing: visits, snags, queries, drawings, extra work and fees.
- A simple stage plan for each job, so you know what should be happening this week.
- The client, the contractor and the key trades saved in your contacts.
- Alerts on for client replies only, so the important ones are not buried.
Every morning: a ten-minute check
Before you call anyone, look at one list across all your sites:
- Questions from site due today, or already late.
- Drawings and choices waiting on clients, oldest first.
- Snags that have been open longest.
- Fees due or overdue, if you handle the money.
- Any live site nobody has visited in two weeks.
Pick the three things that will unblock the most work, and do them first. Everything else can wait until after your visits.
The weekly rhythm
| When | Focus | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Plan the week: which sites to visit, in what order. Check this week's stage dates. | Every visit has a day |
| Tuesday to Thursday | Visit days, grouped by area. Log each visit before you leave the site. | Every visit logged, with photos |
| One afternoon midweek | Desk time: answer queries, send drawings, follow up on decisions. | No query past its date |
| Friday | Close the week: send reports, update plans, follow up on fees. | Every client knows where their job stands |
Move the days around to suit your studio. What matters is that each of these happens every week, not that it happens on a Monday.
Visit days without wasted trips
- Group sites by area and visit them on the same day.
- Before each visit, check what is open for that site: snags to check, questions to discuss, items to see fitted.
- Log the visit before you drive off. Five minutes on site saves twenty that evening.
- Raise snags and queries on the spot, while the person who can fix them is in front of you.
- Keep every live site on a rhythm, even quiet ones. A site you have not seen in two weeks is where surprises grow.
Signs a site is slipping
Problems on a site rarely arrive all at once. They show up in small signs first. Look out for:
- No visit logged in two weeks.
- Decisions waiting on the client for more than a week.
- Site queries past their needed-by date.
- Snags that have stayed open across several visits.
- A fee that is overdue.
- A client who has gone quiet.
One sign on its own is normal. Two or three on the same site mean it needs a visit, or a call, this week.
Keep clients informed without more calls
Most client calls ask one question: what is happening? A regular, visible update answers it before they ask.
Give each client one place to see progress at any time: the latest visit and photos, what comes next, and what is waiting on them. Calls then become about decisions, not status, and there are fewer of them.
If you have a small team
- Agree who visits which site, and who answers queries for each.
- Everyone logs in the same place. A visit that lives only in someone's phone gallery does not exist for the rest of the studio.
- Decide who sends things to clients. Juniors prepare; a senior person sends.
- Spend ten minutes together each week on what is stuck, site by site.
End each day in ten minutes
Before you stop, close the day: finish any visit notes you started on site, send the answers you promised for today, and note tomorrow's three most important jobs. It keeps the evening free and the next morning's check short.
The Friday close checklist
- Every visit this week is logged, with photos.
- Visit reports have gone to clients and contractors.
- No site query is past its needed-by date.
- Decisions waiting on clients have been followed up.
- Fixed snags have been checked and closed.
- Fees falling due next week are flagged.
- Next week's visits are planned.