From school run to wedding in two hours
On a Friday in June, your executive coach does a school run in the morning, because the usual contract vehicle is in the workshop. It comes back at half nine with crisp packets under the seats and mud on the floor. At two it goes out for a wedding, where the couple were promised a spotless executive coach with ribbons on the front.
The valeter works from the whiteboard, where the wedding is written for Saturday by mistake. She cleans three other coaches first. At quarter to two the driver finds the executive coach as it came back from the school run, and does what he can with a brush in ten minutes.
Cleaning is planned separately from the work
Cleaning and valeting are usually planned in the yard, from a whiteboard or a verbal list, while the allocation of vehicles to jobs is done in the office. The two are linked only by conversation, and allocations change through the day.
- The valeter's list is written up by hand and not updated when allocations change.
- The time a coach is back in the yard before its next job is not visible.
- The standard each next job needs (a quick tidy, a full valet, ribbons) is not recorded.
- Nobody signs off that a coach is ready, so the driver finds out when they arrive.
- Internal cleaning after incidents (sickness, spills) is not prioritised.
Customers judge the coach before the journey starts
The first thing a wedding party, a corporate client or an executive hire sees is the state of the coach. A vehicle that looks like it has just done a school run spoils the impression before the driver has said a word. Drivers end up cleaning in the minutes before departure, and late departures follow.
Valeters also waste effort on coaches that are not going out again that day, while one that is needed urgently waits.
A cleaning plan driven by allocations
We build a cleaning plan that reads the day's work.
- For every vehicle, the plan shows when it is back in the yard, when it next goes out, and the gap between.
- Each job carries a cleaning standard, set by job type or by the office: quick tidy, full interior valet, exterior wash, or dressing such as ribbons for a wedding.
- The valeter's list on a tablet or phone orders the coaches by when they are next needed and what each needs, and updates when the office changes an allocation.
- Drivers returning a coach can flag issues on their phone (sickness, spills, damage), which moves that coach up the list with a note.
- When a coach is done, the valeter marks it ready with a couple of photos. The next driver and the office see it as ready on the board.
- Coaches with gaps too short for the cleaning needed are flagged to the office in advance, so they can swap vehicles or adjust timings.
| Situation | Whiteboard | Cleaning plan |
|---|---|---|
| Allocation changes | Board not updated | List reorders itself |
| Short gap before a wedding | Found by the driver | Flagged to the office in advance |
| Sickness on the last job | Mentioned if remembered | Flagged by the driver, moved up the list |
| Is the coach ready? | Driver checks on arrival | Marked ready with photos |
| Wedding ribbons | Remembered or not | Part of the job's standard |
The Friday wedding with a cleaning plan
On Thursday afternoon, when the office swaps the executive coach onto the school run, the plan flags that it is back at half nine and needs a full interior valet and ribbons before two. The office accepts the flag because the gap is enough. On Friday morning, the valeter's list puts the executive coach first. By one o'clock it is marked ready with photos, and the wedding driver collects a spotless coach.
Across the week, the plan also shows which coaches regularly go out without the cleaning they needed, which helps decide whether the yard needs more cleaning hours at busy times.
Are coaches going out unready?
- The valeter works from a whiteboard or verbal list.
- Allocation changes do not reach the yard.
- Drivers find coaches not cleaned when they arrive.
- Wedding and executive hires have gone out below standard.
- Sickness and spills from the last job are not flagged.