A folded sheet with a tea stain and no signature
The crew leader leaves the yard with a printed job sheet and inventory. During the day it gets folded, written on, rained on and left on the dashboard. At the end of the move the customer is supposed to sign it to say everything arrived, but the customer was upstairs dealing with the broadband engineer and the crew needed to get back.
The sheet comes back to the office at six. Maybe. Sometimes it comes back three days later. Sometimes it never does, and the office has nothing to show for a move that is now the subject of a complaint about a scratched table.
Why paper keeps winning
Paper works without signal, needs no training and cannot run out of battery. Those are real advantages. But paper cannot carry late changes to the crew, and it cannot send anything back until it physically arrives.
- Changes made after printing do not reach the crew.
- Times, extras and problems are written up from memory at the end of the day.
- Condition notes on furniture are vague because there is no room or time.
- Photos are on a crew member's personal phone, if they exist.
- The customer's signature is often missed.
What paper costs you
When a claim or dispute arrives, the paper sheet is the only record, and it is often the weakest part of your case. Extra work agreed on the day is missed off the invoice. Times are guessed for pay. The office spends the evening deciphering handwriting instead of preparing tomorrow.
There is a customer cost as well. A customer who rings at two o'clock to ask whether the lorry has left the old house gets a shrug from the office, because the only record of progress is sitting in the cab.
How we move the job sheet to the crew leader's phone
- The job sheet for the day appears on the crew leader's phone the night before: addresses, times, customer contact, access notes, special items and the inventory from the survey.
- Late changes from the office update the sheet and alert the crew.
- During the day, the crew leader records arrival and finish times at each address with one tap.
- Pre-existing marks on furniture and items are photographed and noted against the inventory before loading.
- Extra work or items added on the day are recorded with the customer's agreement.
- At the end, the customer signs on the phone, and the completed sheet with times, photos and notes is saved to the job and emailed to them.
- Everything works without signal and syncs when the phone reconnects.
| Record | Paper | Phone job sheet |
|---|---|---|
| Changes after printing | Phone call and a scribble | Update on the sheet |
| Times on site | Written up later | Tapped as it happens |
| Condition before loading | A word or two | Photo against the item |
| Customer sign-off | Often missed | Prompted before finishing |
What the office gets at the end of the day
Completed jobs arrive as they finish, not when the lorry is back. Times go to pay and job costing, extras go to the invoice, and photos sit with the job in case they are needed. The customer has a copy of what was signed.
Does this sound like your crews?
- Job sheets come back late, damaged or not at all.
- Customers often do not sign at the end of the move.
- Photos of damage are on staff's own phones.
- Extra work on the day is missed off invoices.
- Crews miss changes the office made after printing.