Data Files samples / Cleaning company
Fernhollow Cleaning
Clients, sites, contracts, the rota, visits, one-off jobs, supplies, payslips and invoices for a cleaning company.
Overview
For a cleaning business that cleans the same places week after week under contract and takes on one-off jobs as well: an office cleaning company, a domestic cleaning agency, or one that does both. It answers what such a business asks every week: who is going where in the next seven days, which visits were missed or cut short, what each cleaner earned, which contracts pay their way, who has not paid and which contracts come up for renewal.
Fernhollow Cleaning is invented. It works in and around Leeds with a dozen cleaners paid by the hour. It cleans offices, a dental surgery, a nursery, showrooms and shops early in the morning or in the evening, and homes during the day, weekly or every other week. It also quotes for end of tenancy cleans, carpet and upholstery cleaning, oven cleans and cleans after the builders.
The records cover the last fifteen months, counted back from the day the file is made, with the rota booked two weeks ahead. Each visit is done, done short, covered by another cleaner when the regular one is on holiday or ill, or now and then missed. Contracts renew each year at a slightly higher rate and a few end on notice; new clients start through the year. One-off work is busier in the summer, when tenancies end. Every contract is invoiced on the first working day of the month for the month before, with each visit a line, and each cleaner gets a payslip at the end of the month.
It prints the documents such a business uses: the cleaning contract with its schedule of work for the client to sign, the monthly invoice, a quote for a one-off job, each cleaner's payslip showing hours and gross pay, and a visit sheet for the site with the tasks to tick off and a line for the client to sign.
In Rutba Data Files, choose Cleaning company on the start screen, then With sample records to look around, or Empty for the same design with nothing in it.
It suits, with small changes
- An office or commercial cleaning contractor
- A domestic cleaning agency
- A window cleaning round
- A carpet and upholstery cleaner
- A gardening or grounds maintenance business
- A pest control or hygiene service
- A home care or befriending service that visits on a rota
Read on
- Tutorial: the everyday tasks: 7 everyday tasks, step by step, each naming what to open.
- Tables, fields and relationships: every field of 16 tables, and how they are related.
- Queries, forms, reports and print templates: what each one shows, its criteria and calculated columns, and when to print it.
Things you should know
- Everything in a sample's records is invented: the business, the people, their addresses, e-mail addresses on example domains that reach nobody, and phone numbers from the ranges kept for drama and fiction. Tax, company and bank numbers are placeholders of zeros.
- The dates count back from the day the file was made, and some run on into the weeks after it, as real bookings and due dates do. Made from the Data Files start screen, a sample is dated from that day. Queries that compare with today (overdue, due this week) show more as a downloaded file gets older.
- To start empty, choose the same business on the start screen and then Empty: the same tables, queries, forms, reports and print templates, with nothing in them but the Start Here guide.
- Your records live in one file on your computer. Keep copies: File, Save As makes one, and a copy on another drive or in your own cloud storage keeps it safe if this computer is lost. Close the database before copying the file by hand.
- Every change to the design (a new field, a renamed table) is a numbered step that Data Files keeps, so you can see what was changed and when.
- Visits come before Contracts in the design, so that a query with both joins each visit to the cleaner who went rather than to the contract's regular cleaner. Keep that order if you add tables.
- Each visit keeps its own Charge Rate and Pay Rate, so a rate change at renewal or a pay rise in April does not alter what past visits were charged or paid.
- Hours Charged, not Hours Worked, is what goes on the invoice: a cleaner who stays longer does not cost the client more, and a short visit is charged only for the time worked.
- Numbers are typed, not made for you: contracts CON-, invoices INV-, jobs JOB- and payslips PAY-, each a new run each year and each used once.
- Payslips show hours and gross pay only. Tax, National Insurance and pension depend on each person's own position, so they are left to payroll.
- In Stock on Supplies is what the Supply Movements add up to. Change stock by adding a movement and then bringing In Stock to match, never by typing over it alone.
- Each print template prints for every record of its table unless you choose one. Choose the contract, invoice, job or payslip you want before pressing Print; ended contracts and declined quotes print too.
Starting with your own records
Start with Business: your own name, address, VAT number, bank details and the words for the foot of your documents. Then Cleaners and Supplies. Then each client in Clients with their Sites, and a contract in Contracts for each site cleaned regularly, with its Contract Tasks. From then on, book and record Visits, add Jobs as they are quoted, Supply Movements as stock comes and goes, and at each month's end the Payslips and the Invoices.
Making it yours
Every change to the design is a numbered step in Data Files, so a change can be seen and undone.
- Pay travel time between sites: add a Travel Minutes field to Visits and a payslip line for it at the cleaner's rate.
- Charge a fixed monthly price instead of by the hour: add a Monthly Price field to Contracts and invoice one line for the month, with the visits listed for information only.
- Keep a key register: add a Keys table (site, key reference, held by, signed out, signed in) so you know where every key is.
- Record a quality check: add an Inspections table (site, date, inspector, score, notes) and a query of the lowest scores.
- Clean windows or gardens on a round: rename Contracts to Rounds and set Visits per Week to 0.25 for every four weeks.
- Track the cleaners' training and checks: add a Training table pointing at Cleaners with what was done and when it falls due again.
Questions people ask
- How do I see who is cleaning where tomorrow?
- Run the query Rota, next 7 days, or print the report Rota. Both list the booked visits of the next seven days by cleaner, day and start time, with the address.
- A cleaner is off sick. How do I cover their visits?
- Open each of their booked visits in the Visits form and choose another cleaner in Cleaner, with a word in Notes. If nobody can go, set Status to Missed once the day has passed, and Hours Charged to 0, so the client is not charged.
- Why is a contract's invoice less than its Monthly Estimate?
- The estimate is an average month. The invoice charges the visits actually made: a month with four Mondays has fewer than one with five, missed visits are not charged, and short ones are charged for the time worked.
- How do I put the price up when a contract renews?
- Open the contract in the Contracts form, type the new Rate and Monthly Estimate, move End Date on a year and type the day in Last Renewed. Visits booked from then on take the new rate in Charge Rate.
- How do I print last month's invoices again?
- Open the print template Invoice and choose the invoices by number, or open an invoice in the Invoices form and print it from there.
- Which contracts make money?
- Run Contract profitability. It sets what each site was charged over the last 90 days against the wage cost of the hours worked, with holiday pay. Supplies used are in Supplies used, last 90 days.
- Can I use the cleaning contract as it is?
- Treat it as a draft. It is written plainly for this sample and is not legal advice; have it checked for your own country, then change the words in the print template Cleaning contract.
The other samples
- Shop
- Food and beverages
- Cafe or restaurant
- Takeaway
- Florist
- Pharmacy counter
- Wholesale and trading
- Workshop or maker
- Builder
- Used car dealer
- Salon
- Barber shop
- Repair shop
- Garage and MOT centre
- Consultancy or agency
- Gym and fitness studio
- Clinic
- School or training centre
- Charity or club
- Property rentals
- Estate and letting agent
- Guest house or B and B
- Building front desk
- HR, payroll and timesheets