MaidBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Teams

Entry Codes on the Card: Lockboxes, Keys and Alarms in the Team's Day

Many cleaning customers are not home when the team arrives. That is part of the appeal: come home to a clean house. It also means the team has to get in on their own, every time, at every home. A lockbox code, a key on the ring, a garage keypad, an alarm with a short countdown. Get the entry wrong and the visit becomes a skip.

Off the Paper, Onto the Card

Printed route sheets, covered in Printing Route Sheets for Cleaning Teams, raise the question of where entry codes should live. The answer for most companies is the job card on the team's phone.

What Shows on the Card

In MaidBossPro, every job carries entry and notes alongside the cleaning details. On the team's phone, they show right under the address and the line like “Recurring Maintenance · 3 bed / 2 bath · 1,800 sq ft · Dog.” Entry and notes can include:

• Lockbox, key or door code: where the lockbox is, the code, which key to use, which door.
• Alarm: the code, where the panel is, and how long the team has.
• Rooms to skip: a home office, a sleeping baby's room, a locked guest room.
• Products to use: the customer's own floor cleaner, no bleach in the master bath, fragrance-free only.

The team reads the card in the driveway and walks in knowing how.

Write Entry Notes Someone New Can Follow

The test for a good entry note is simple: could a team member who has never been to this home get in without calling anyone? Compare these:

• Weak: “Lockbox.”
• Better: “Lockbox on the hose bib by the back door, code 4471. Key opens the back door only.”
• Best: “Lockbox on the hose bib by the back door, code 4471. Key opens the back door only. Alarm panel on the left inside the door, code in notes, about 30 seconds. Dog in the laundry room, friendly. Put key back in lockbox when done.”

The best version answers what to do after the door opens and how to leave, too. That is what makes it possible for a covering team on a sick day to clean the home without a phone call.

The Home Remembers

MaidBossPro remembers each home. When you create a new job at a home you have cleaned before, it fills in from that home's last job, including bedrooms, bathrooms, pets, extras and the entry code, with a note saying so. Nobody re-types the lockbox code every two weeks, and nobody gets it wrong by copying from an old text.

When a customer changes their code, update it once and the next job uses the new one. Ask customers to text the office when they change a code, and make it part of the night-before reminder message if you like: “Has your entry code changed? Reply and let us know.”

Behind a Personal PIN

Entry codes are sensitive. A code in a group text stays on every phone in the group forever, including the phones of people who no longer work for you. A code on a printed sheet can end up anywhere.

In the team app, each person signs in with your company login and their own personal PIN. They see entry notes for their team's homes. When someone leaves the company, turning off their PIN turns off their access to the app and everything in it. That is much tidier than trying to delete old group texts.

When Entry Fails

Even with good notes, entry sometimes fails. The code was changed, the key is missing, the customer locked a deadbolt by habit. The team should try what the notes allow, text the office, and if they still cannot get in, tap Skip with a note: “Lockbox code 4471 didn't open, no answer at the door.” The office follows up with the customer and puts the home on another day. More on that in Skips and Cancellations: Handling the Homes That Fall Off the Cleaning Schedule.

Then fix the note, so it does not happen twice.

Entry Notes Are Part of Scheduling

It is easy to think of entry codes as a team detail, not a scheduling one. But a home that cannot be entered is a home that falls off the schedule. Clear, current entry notes on every card are one of the quietest ways to keep the schedule on track. When building tomorrow's schedule, a quick glance at the entry notes for new homes and homes with changes catches problems before the team is standing on the porch. For the rest of the scheduling tools, see the MaidBossPro cleaning scheduling software page.