The email from the managing agent
The managing agent for a block of flats writes to say the grounds have not been maintained for three weeks and they will not be paying this month's invoice until it is sorted. Your crew leader is sure they were there every Wednesday. He remembers the resident who complained about the blower. But the job sheets are paper, one got rained on, and the only photos are on a phone belonging to a lad who has since left.
So the office apologises, sends a crew for an extra visit at your cost, and the invoice gets paid late, minus a credit.
Why the argument keeps happening
Grass grows. By the time a resident looks out on Friday, Wednesday's cut is less obvious, and shrub beds done last month look untouched. The client is not always wrong to ask. The trouble is that your record of the visit is weaker than their impression of the site.
- Paper or whiteboard job sheets are ticked at the end of the day, not at the site.
- Photos, where they exist, are on personal phones and not linked to the site or date.
- The contract specification says what should be done, but nothing records what was done on each visit.
- Periodic tasks, like pruning or weed control, leave no trace that the client can see.
- Clients only hear from you when there is a problem, so silence reads as absence.
What the disputes cost
Unpaid or credited invoices are the obvious part. Extra goodwill visits take crew time from paying work. Disputes damage relationships at renewal, when the managing agent is choosing between you and a cheaper tender. And each dispute takes office time: finding who was on the crew, piecing together what happened, writing the reply.
The proof-of-visit record we build
- The crew leader's app lists the day's sites and the tasks due at each, taken from the contract specification.
- Arriving at a site, the app records the time and location. Each task is marked done with at least one photo, taken in the app so the time and location are attached and the image cannot be swapped for an old one from the camera roll.
- Tasks that could not be done, such as a locked bin store or cars parked on the verge, are recorded with a reason and a photo.
- Visits appear in the office as they happen, and any site with incomplete tasks is flagged for the supervisor.
- Each client gets a site report on a schedule you choose, listing visits, tasks completed and a selection of photos. Commercial clients can have a login to see their own sites.
- When a query comes in, the office pulls up the visit history for that site and replies with dates, tasks and photos.
| Client asks | Evidence available |
|---|---|
| Was the site visited? | Arrival time and location for each visit |
| Was the grass cut? | Timestamped photos for the task |
| Why was the bin store not done? | Recorded reason and photo on the day |
| When were the hedges last cut? | Task history for the site |
| What are we paying for? | Report of visits and tasks per period |
Location recording is limited to the working visit. How you use it for staff monitoring is a policy decision for you, and your employment adviser should be involved.
After the next query
When the managing agent writes, the office replies with the visit log and photos for the three weeks in question, usually the same day. Most queries end there. Where the crew did miss something, you know which task and which visit, so the fix is specific. And clients who receive regular reports ask fewer questions in the first place, because they can see the work.
Is this happening to you?
- Clients have held or reduced invoices over disputed visits.
- Your evidence of a visit is a paper sheet or a crew leader's memory.
- Crew photos live on personal phones.
- Clients only hear from you when something goes wrong.
- You have sent free extra visits to settle an argument.