Follow the work from first call to paid invoice

Who it's for

It is for businesses with enough demand and not enough flow. Signs include turning work away while staff feel busy all day, customers chasing you for quotes, or the owner being the only person who knows the state of every job.

We see this in plumbing, electrical and renovation firms, cleaning and property-service companies, clinics with booking bottlenecks, and retailers whose ordering and stock checks eat the owner's evenings. The method is the same; the steps differ.

What we look at

We follow ten to twenty recent jobs or orders through every step and record how long each waited. A typical service business has eight to twelve steps:

1. Enquiry received (call, text, email or walk-in)
2. First reply
3. Site visit or needs assessment
4. Quote written
5. Quote sent and followed up
6. Job scheduled
7. Materials ordered and received
8. Work completed
9. Invoice issued
10. Payment received

For each step we note who does it, what tool they use, how long it takes and how long it sits waiting. The waiting time is usually where the money is.

What you receive

You get a workflow map, a delay table and a ranked fix list.

• Workflow map: one page showing every step, who owns it, and where information is typed twice.
• Delay table: median and worst-case waiting time at each step.
• Fix list: five to ten changes, each with estimated hours saved per month, cash effect and difficulty.
• Hand-off rules: short written rules for the two or three hand-offs that fail most, such as office to field or sales to scheduling.

A worked example

Shortening the gap between finishing work and getting paid is often the quickest win. Take a Victoria renovation firm billing $1.8 million a year. If invoices go out an average of nine days after completion, and payment takes another 21 days, roughly 30 days of revenue is always outstanding, which is about $148,000.

If invoicing moves to within two days of completion, the outstanding amount drops by about $35,000. That is cash the business no longer has to borrow or wait for, and nothing about the actual work changed.

Timeline

Most reviews take four to six weeks.

• Week 1: job sample chosen; records and system exports gathered.
• Weeks 2–3: staff calls and step timing.
• Week 4: draft map and delay table reviewed with you.
• Weeks 5–6: fix list, hand-off rules and a 60-day implementation order.

How we measure results

Each fix has a before-and-after measure set at the start. Common ones are days from enquiry to quote, quote follow-up rate, days from completion to invoice, days to payment and owner hours per week spent on admin.

We suggest re-measuring at 60 and 120 days. If you keep advisory sessions, we do that check with you.

Mistakes to avoid

Process projects fail in predictable ways.

• Buying software first. A new system copies an unclear process faster.
• Fixing everything at once. Staff can absorb two or three changes per quarter.
• Leaving the owner as the bottleneck. If every quote needs your sign-off, set price rules so others can quote within limits.
• Not writing hand-offs down. Verbal rules fade within a month.
• Measuring busyness instead of flow. Full calendars don't mean finished jobs.

How it fits with other services

Better flow usually raises capacity, which changes the growth plan. If the review shows you can handle 20% more work, the growth plan decides what that work should be. If the main pain is seasonal overload, pair it with the seasonal cash and staffing plan. Pricing for each is on the pricing page.