MaidBossPro Blog — House Cleaning Software

Pets, Extras and Entry Notes: What the Team Needs Before the Door Opens

Most cleaning complaints are not about the quality of the clean. They are about the details: the extra that was paid for but not done, the cat that got out, the alarm that went off, the room that was supposed to be skipped. Those details are small, which is exactly why they get lost.

Finishing the Job Record

Cleaning Type, Beds, Baths and Square Feet: The Details on Every Job covered the big picture of each job. This guide covers the three things that sit right underneath it on every card in MaidBossPro: pets, extras and entry notes.

Pets

Pets show in the job's detail line, right next to beds and baths: “3 bed / 2 bath · 1,800 sq ft · Dog”. That one word changes how a cleaner walks in. Use the entry notes to add what the team really needs to know:

• “Friendly older lab, will follow you room to room.”
• “Two cats. Keep the front door shut, they bolt.”
• “Dog will be crated in the laundry room. Skip laundry room.”
• “Do not let the dog into the back bedroom.”

Pets also tell you about the cleaning itself. Pet hair on the couch, on the stairs and in the corners means extra vacuum time, and the team should know before they arrive.

Extras

Extras are the add-ons a client pays for on top of the regular clean. MaidBossPro lists them on the job:

• Inside Oven
• Inside Fridge
• Interior Windows
• Baseboards
• Inside Cabinets
• Blinds
• Laundry
• Change Linens
• Dishes
• Walls & Doors

On the team's phone, extras show with a plus sign under the job details, like “+ Change Linens” or “+ Inside Oven”. That makes them hard to miss. A cleaner reading the card knows the linens are part of this visit, and the client who paid $35 for the inside of the oven actually gets it.

Extras also work the other way. If an extra is not on the card, the team knows it was not paid for. If a client asks on the spot, the team can note it and the office can add it to the invoice from your service list.

Entry and Notes

Entry notes are where the practical, slightly awkward details live:

• How to get in. Lockbox location and code, hidden key, garage keypad, door code.
• The alarm. Whether there is one, the code, and how long before it goes off.
• Rooms to skip. A home office, a nursery during nap time, a room under renovation.
• Products to use. “Use the client's wood cleaner on the kitchen table.” “No bleach in the guest bath.”

These notes show under the extras on the team's card. A cleaner standing at the door has the code, the alarm instructions and the list of rooms to skip on one screen. How that card looks on the phone is covered in The Team App: What Your Cleaners See on Their Phones.

Write Notes the Next Cleaner Can Use

The test of a good note is whether someone who has never been to the home could follow it. A few tips:

• Say where, not just what: “Lockbox on the left side of the garage door” beats “lockbox”.
• Put what to do if something fails: “If the code doesn't work, text the office before calling the client.”
• Keep one fact per line, so the note is easy to read on a phone.
• Remove old information. One current code is better than three old ones.

Set Them Up Once, at the Start

The easiest time to collect pets, extras and entry details is when the client first books. Ask the same short set of questions every time: Any pets, and will they be loose or put away? Which extras would you like on each visit, and which only now and then? How will we get in, and is there an alarm? Any rooms we should skip, or products you want us to use or avoid?

Put the answers on the estimate or the first job. When the estimate is approved, the details carry onto the job, and from there they follow the home. Asking the same questions every time also means no client gets a half-filled record just because a different person took the call.

Why This Beats the Group Text

A lot of maid services keep door codes in a group text. It works for a while, but the thread gets long, old codes stay forever and every former employee still has them. In MaidBossPro, entry notes live on the job, show only to cleaners signed in with their own PIN, and carry forward to the next visit. When someone leaves, turning off their PIN turns off their access.

The “carry forward” part is its own feature, and it is covered next. To see pets, extras and entry notes alongside everything else in the system, visit the house cleaning software page.