A dozen small jobs nobody owns
Misted units bring in steady work. A customer rings, a surveyor measures, the glass is ordered, it arrives, a glazer fits it in half an hour. But at any time there are a dozen of these jobs at different stages. One is waiting for the customer to say which of their three misted windows to do. Two units arrived last week and nobody booked the fit. One came in the wrong obscure glass pattern because the survey note said obscure without saying which.
The big installation jobs get the attention. The sealed unit jobs drift.
What makes unit replacements messy
Each replacement unit has its own details: the unit size, overall thickness, spacer bar colour, glass type, whether it needs toughened or laminated glass, any obscure pattern, any Georgian bar or lead. Those details are taken on site, often on a scrap of paper, and passed to a glass supplier by email.
- Measurements and specifications are written freehand and inconsistently.
- Photos showing the existing unit and its location are not stored with the job.
- Glass orders are placed by email and not matched back when the units arrive.
- Arrived units sit in the warehouse until someone remembers to book the fit.
- Small jobs are fitted one at a time instead of grouped by area.
What drifting costs
Units in the wrong spec have to be reordered, which doubles the glass cost on a small job. Units that sit in the warehouse are cash spent with no invoice raised. Customers wait longer than they expected for a simple job and start to wonder whether it was worth it. And one glazer driving across town for a single unit is an expensive way to earn a small invoice.
A workflow built for sealed unit jobs
- Enquiries come in through a web form or call, with the customer asked for photos of each misted or broken unit.
- The surveyor records each unit on a phone form with required fields for size, thickness, spacer colour, glass type, safety glass where your team specifies it, obscure pattern and bars.
- An order is generated for your glass supplier in the format they accept, with every unit clearly referenced.
- When units arrive, they are checked in against the order by scanning or ticking, and mismatches are flagged.
- Arrived units create fitting tasks, grouped by postcode so the glazer's day covers several jobs in one area.
- The customer is offered a slot, reminded the day before and invoiced on completion.
| Unit detail | On a scrap of paper | On the survey form |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Sometimes glass size, sometimes frame size | Glass size, checked for sense |
| Glass type | Obscure | Named obscure pattern |
| Safety glass | Not noted | Required field set by your team |
| Spacer colour | Forgotten | Required field |
| Photo | On the surveyor's phone | Attached to the unit |
Which units need safety glass is for your surveyors to decide under the rules that apply. The form makes sure the decision is recorded every time.
What changes for the glazing side of the business
Every sealed unit job is visible, with its stage. Orders go out with complete specs. Arrived units are fitted promptly because they create tasks the moment they are checked in. Glazers spend more of the day glazing and less driving. The small jobs become a reliable, well-run part of the business rather than a pile of loose ends.
Checklist for your sealed unit work
- Replacement units have arrived in the wrong spec.
- Units sit in the warehouse waiting for someone to book the fit.
- Survey notes for units vary by surveyor.
- Glazers drive across town for single units.
- You cannot list all open sealed unit jobs and their stage.