Monday is hotel day
Every Monday morning, you change the arrangements at a hotel: a large reception piece, two bar arrangements and twelve small table vases for the restaurant. On Wednesday, you visit an office for its reception flowers. On Friday, a restaurant has its table posies refreshed. Each contract has its own style, budget, container and access arrangement.
It is in a spreadsheet and a diary, and in your head. Then the hotel asks for an extra arrangement for an event next week, the office moves to fortnightly over the summer, and a new restaurant contract starts. The diary gets crowded, and one week the office visit is missed.
At month end, invoicing means working out what was delivered to each contract, including the extras and the missed visit.
Why contract work gets messy
Contracts are repeat work with frequent exceptions: extra arrangements for events, closed weeks, changes in frequency, special requests for seasonal colours. A spreadsheet holds the standard schedule but not the exceptions.
Containers belong to you but live at the client's premises. Over time, vases go missing, get broken or end up in a store cupboard, and it is hard to know how many are where.
Invoices depend on what was actually delivered, not what the contract says, so they have to be worked out from memory or from delivery notes.
What messy contracts cost
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Missed or late visits | Clients unhappy with tired flowers |
| Extras not recorded | Work done but never invoiced |
| Containers not tracked | Vases lost at clients' premises |
| Invoices worked out by hand | Hours at month end and mistakes |
| Flowers planned by memory | Repetitive designs clients notice |
Contract work gives a florist steady income through quiet weeks. It is worth running with the same care as a wedding.
Access is its own headache. The hotel wants flowers changed before breakfast service, the office has a security desk that needs the driver's name in advance, and the restaurant is only open from eleven. When those details live in the head of the florist who usually does the round, a holiday or a sick day turns a routine visit into a series of phone calls from the van.
Designs repeat too easily. The florist doing the Monday hotel visit makes something lovely, and then makes something similar the next week, and the week after. The hotel's manager notices before you do. Without photos of what was placed each week, it is hard to keep a contract feeling fresh through a long winter.
How we schedule and bill contracts
- Each contract is set up with its schedule (weekly, fortnightly, seasonal changes), arrangements, budget, access details and contact.
- Visits appear automatically in the workroom plan and the driver's run, so nothing depends on remembering the diary.
- Exceptions, such as closed weeks, extra arrangements or a change of frequency, are recorded on the contract and flow through to the plan.
- At each visit, the florist records what was placed, with a photo, and any containers taken or left. The photos also build a history so designs can be varied.
- Containers are tracked by client, so you always know how many vases are at each site.
- At month end, invoices are produced from what was actually delivered, including extras, and sent through Xero, QuickBooks or Sage.
Flowers for contracts can be added to your weekly wholesale order automatically, so buying for contract work is planned rather than guessed.
Contracts that run themselves
Each week's contract visits are in the plan. The florist knows what to make and the driver knows where to go. Extras are recorded when requested and invoiced at month end. You can see how many vases each client has.
- Every contract visit planned automatically
- Extras recorded and invoiced
- Containers tracked by client site
- Photo history that helps vary designs
Signs your contracts need a schedule
- Contract visits are tracked in a diary and spreadsheet.
- A visit has been missed or delivered late.
- Extra arrangements have not been invoiced.
- You do not know how many vases are at each client.
- Month-end contract invoicing takes hours.