'I rang you three weeks ago to take it down'
A builder rings, annoyed. The scaffold is still up. He says he called for off-hire weeks ago, spoke to someone in the office, and now he has an invoice for extension weeks. Your office has no record of the call. Maybe he rang the yard. Maybe he texted a gang lead. Maybe he spoke to someone who wrote it on a pad.
You end up writing off the disputed weeks, and the kit has been sitting on a job instead of going out to the next one.
Why off-hires go missing
Off-hire is a simple message, but it arrives on whatever channel the customer happens to use, to whoever they know. There is often no confirmation back, so nobody knows it was missed until the invoice arrives.
- Customers call the office, the yard, a gang lead or the owner's mobile.
- Requests are written on pads or remembered.
- No confirmation goes back to the customer.
- Strikes are planned separately from requests.
- Hire invoicing does not know about the request.
What a lost off-hire costs
Disputed hire that you usually concede. Kit stuck on a finished job when it is needed on the next. Customers who feel ignored and take their next job elsewhere. And strikes planned in a rush when someone finally notices, which disrupts the transport and gang plan.
The office also loses the ability to plan. Without a list of confirmed off-hires, the yard cannot see which kit is coming back next week, which makes it harder to accept new erects with confidence.
The off-hire route we build
- One off-hire route that customers are told about: a web form, a text number and an email address, all feeding the same log. Staff who take a call enter it into the same log.
- Each request records the date and time, the customer, the site and which scaffold, matched to the hire register.
- The customer receives an immediate confirmation with a reference, the date from which hire stops under your terms, and the next step.
- Requests taken by gang leads or the yard can be entered on their phones, so nothing depends on passing a message on.
- Hire charges stop in the register from the recorded date, according to your terms.
- The strike is added to the list for planning, with the kit expected back, so transport and gangs can be scheduled.
- Requests not yet scheduled for strike are shown to the office daily until they are.
| Step | Recorded |
|---|---|
| Request received | Date, time, channel, who took it |
| Confirmation sent | Reference and hire stop date |
| Hire stopped | Date in the register |
| Strike planned | Date, gang, wagon |
| Kit returned | Date back in the yard |
When hire stops is set by your terms. The log makes sure everyone works from the same request date.
After off-hire is under control
Customers get written confirmation, which ends most disputes before they start. The office has a list of strikes waiting to be planned. Hire invoicing stops at the right date without anyone intervening. And kit comes back to the yard sooner, ready for the next job.
Is your off-hire process like this?
- Customers say they called for off-hire and you have no record.
- Off-hires are taken by whoever answers the phone.
- Customers get no written confirmation.
- Strikes are planned after someone notices.
- You concede disputed hire regularly.