MaidBossPro Blog — Recurring Cleanings

Lockboxes, Alarms and Rooms to Skip: Entry Notes for Recurring Cleaning Clients

Most recurring clients are not home when you clean. That is the whole point: they come back from work to a clean house. It also means every visit depends on the team getting in, turning off the alarm, keeping the cat inside and knowing which rooms to leave alone, all without anyone there to ask.

Entry Notes Ride With Every Visit

How a recurring visit fills in from the home's last job is covered in Remembering Each Home: How a Recurring Cleaning Fills In From the Last Visit. Entry details are a big part of what carries over.

In MaidBossPro, every job has an Entry & Notes section that covers the lockbox, key or door code, the alarm, rooms to skip and products to use. They show under the address on the office lists and on the team's phone, right below the cleaning details. When a new job is created at the same home, the entry code fills in from the last one, so a recurring client's way in is already on the card each visit.

Getting In: Lockboxes, Keys and Codes

A good entry note answers three questions: where, what, and what if it fails.

• “Lockbox on the hose bib by the side door, code 4417. Key opens front and side.”
• “Garage keypad 8023. Interior door to the kitchen is left open on cleaning day.”
• “Office holds key, Team 2 picks up on the way. Return to the key hook.”

Then the backup: “If the code fails, text the office. Client works from home Tuesdays and can open up.” Without a backup, a team stuck at the door either waits, leaves, or calls the owner, who then has to reach the client.

If you hold client keys at the office, have a simple system for which key goes with which home and note it on the client record. Labeling keys with an address on them is something many owners avoid for obvious reasons. A number or code that only the office can match works better.

Alarms

An alarm going off in an empty house is one of the worst ways to start a visit. Alarm notes should cover:

• Where the panel is: “Panel inside the garage door, on the left.”
• How long they have: “30 seconds to disarm.”
• The code, or where to find it.
• Whether to re-arm when leaving, and how.
• What to do if it goes off: who to call and the password the monitoring company will ask for, if the client wants you to have it.

Some clients turn the alarm off on cleaning day. Note that too, so a team does not stand at a silent panel wondering if it is armed.

Pets

Pets are part of the cleaning details on every job, so the team sees “Dog” or “Cats” on the card before the door opens. The entry notes add what the team needs to know:

• “Two cats. One is an escape artist. Close the front door immediately.”
• “Dog is friendly but jumps. Crate is in the laundry room if needed.”
• “Do not let the dog into the back yard, gate latch is broken.”

A pet that gets out on your watch is a client you lose, and a terrible day for everyone. Make pet notes impossible to miss.

Rooms to Skip and Products to Use

Recurring clients develop preferences, and the notes are where you keep them:

• Rooms to skip: “Skip the home office, door will be closed.” “Teenager's room: floor only, do not touch the desk.”
• Products to use: “Use client's stone cleaner on the kitchen counters.” “No bleach anywhere, client is sensitive.” “Wood floors: damp mop only, client's cleaner under the sink.”
• Little things: “Leave the dishwasher alone if running.” “Fold the throw on the couch, do not hang it.”

These are the details that make a client feel known. They are also the ones most often lost when a different team covers, which is why they belong on the card and not in someone's head.

Keeping Entry Notes Safe and Current

Entry codes are sensitive. Keeping them on the job, shown only to team members signed in to the team app with your company login and their own personal PIN, is far better than a group text or a printed sheet left on a car seat. When a team member leaves, turning off their PIN turns off their access to every code.

Codes also change. Ask clients to text you when they change a lockbox or alarm code, and have teams note any code that did not work. Update the home once, and every future visit carries the new code. A team that keeps the same homes, as covered in Keeping the Same Team on a Recurring Cleaning Client, will often catch a change before it causes a problem.

Write Notes for a Stranger

The best test of an entry note is whether a team that has never been to the house could get in, disarm, find the supplies and leave it right. Write for that team. To see how entry notes fit with the rest of recurring work, visit the MaidBossPro recurring cleaning software page.