A home visit is a different kind of visit
A lift company that maintains passenger lifts in offices and flats often also services stairlifts, through-floor lifts and platform lifts in people's homes. The commercial work runs on contracts and site contacts. The domestic work runs on phone calls. Each annual service needs a booking with the householder, who may be elderly, may rely on a family member to arrange things, and may be in hospital the week you planned.
Your office rings to book, gets no answer, leaves a message, rings again. The engineer arrives and nobody answers the door, because the booking was made with the daughter, who forgot to tell her mother. Payment is taken over the phone after the visit, or not.
Why domestic servicing does not fit the commercial system
Most lift job systems are set up for commercial customers: sites, contacts, contracts, planned visits by date. Domestic servicing needs something else.
- Every visit needs an appointment agreed with a person, not just a scheduled date.
- The contact may be the user, a relative, a carer or a local authority.
- Access notes matter: key safe, which door, whether to ring ahead.
- Payment is often per visit or annual, from individuals rather than accounts.
- Customers move, go into care or pass away, and records need handling with care.
What the mismatch costs
Phone booking is slow and repetitive, and it takes office time away from commercial customers. Missed appointments waste engineer time and upset customers who waited in. Late or missing payments build up in small amounts that nobody has time to chase. Handling a bereavement badly, for example sending a service reminder to someone who has died, causes real distress.
Booking and records designed for home customers
We build a domestic servicing process that sits alongside your commercial lift records, using the same engineers and planner but different rules.
- Each domestic lift has a customer record with the user, up to two contacts with their roles and preferred contact method, access notes and payment arrangement.
- When a service is due, the preferred contact receives a text or email with a choice of dates in the area where engineers will be, and can book online or reply to choose.
- Contacts who prefer the phone are placed on a call list for the office, so nobody is forced online.
- Confirmations and a reminder the day before go to the contacts, with the engineer's name.
- After the visit, the service record is completed on the engineer's phone and a payment link is sent if the customer pays per visit, using a provider such as Stripe or GoCardless.
- Records can be marked as paused or closed with a reason, such as moved into care or bereavement, which stops all reminders immediately.
| Task | Commercial lifts | Domestic lifts |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | Planned by date | Appointment agreed with a contact |
| Contact | Site or property manager | User, relative or carer |
| Reminders | Not usually needed | Confirmation and day-before reminder |
| Payment | Contract invoice | Per visit or annual, by link or direct debit |
| Closing a record | Contract ends | Handled with a reason and immediate stop |
A calmer domestic diary
Most bookings happen without a phone call. Customers who prefer to talk still get a call. Engineers arrive at homes where someone is expecting them, with access notes in hand. Payments come in on time without chasing. When a customer's circumstances change, the record is updated once and nothing inappropriate is sent.
The commercial side benefits too, because the office has more time for the site contacts and managing agents who make up most of your contract income.
Does this describe your domestic work?
- Domestic services are booked entirely by phone.
- Engineers regularly find nobody home.
- Payment for home visits is chased by hand.
- Domestic customers are squeezed into a commercial job system.
- You have sent a reminder to a customer who had passed away or moved into care.