A batch of voids on a Monday morning
The housing provider's voids team sends eight works orders by email on Monday: lock changes on empty properties across the area, each with an order number, an address, a priority and a rate code. Keys to be collected from one office and new keys returned to another. Target completion within the timescale in the contract.
Your office retypes each order into the job system, rings the voids team to check where the keys are, books the engineers, and hopes the right rate codes were picked. When the jobs are done, the engineer's notes say "front and back changed, 3 keys each" and the office has to translate that back into the provider's codes. One order was done twice by mistake. One was invoiced under the wrong code and rejected.
A contract that runs on codes and targets
Schedule of rates work is predictable in volume, which is why locksmiths want it, and exact in its paperwork, which is why it is hard to make pay. Every job must match an order, every line must match a code, and every completion must be evidenced in the provider's way.
- Works orders arrive as emails or portal notifications and are retyped.
- Engineers describe work in trade terms, not in the provider's rate codes.
- Key collection and return points vary by provider and area.
- Target dates are not visible on the engineer's job.
- Variations (an extra door, a damaged frame) need approval before they are billed.
Margin lost in the admin
Schedule of rates prices are fixed. Every extra phone call, retyped order and rejected invoice comes out of a margin that was thin to begin with. Missed targets can count against you in contract reviews. Variations done without approval are often unpaid.
A works order flow that speaks the provider's language
We build a flow that sits between the provider's orders and your job and accounts systems.
- Works orders are read automatically from the provider's emails or portal, with order number, address, priority, rate code and target date extracted into a job.
- Your schedule of rates is loaded as a price list, and each job carries the codes on the order.
- The engineer sees the job with the target date, the key collection and return points and the tasks as plain trade descriptions mapped to the codes.
- Anything found on site that is not on the order is recorded as a variation request with photos and sent to the provider for approval before it is done or billed.
- Completion records keys cut, keys returned and where, with photos, in the form the provider asks for.
- Invoices are built from the order's codes and any approved variations, and submitted to the provider in their required format, individually or as a batch.
| Contract step | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Order received | Retyped by the office | Imported into a job |
| Rate codes | Chosen at invoicing time | Carried on the job from the order |
| Target dates | In the email only | On the job and the office dashboard |
| Variations | Done and hoped for | Requested and approved first |
| Invoice | Built by hand, sometimes rejected | Built from order codes |
Contract work that pays what it should
Orders become jobs without typing. Engineers know the targets and where keys go. Invoices match orders, so they are paid rather than queried. The office can see every open order against its target, which makes contract review meetings a lot easier. And variations are paid because they were approved first.
The day-to-day rhythm changes too. On a Monday the office opens a list of new orders already turned into jobs, sorted by target date, with key collection points shown. Engineers are allocated batches of voids in the same area. By Friday the completed jobs have their evidence attached and the invoices are ready to check and send, rather than waiting until the end of the month for someone to find time to build them.
Is your void work like this?
- You retype works orders from emails or a portal.
- Rate codes are chosen at invoicing, not at booking.
- Invoices are rejected for code or order mismatches.
- Variations are sometimes done without approval.
- Target dates are tracked in someone's head.