MaidBossPro Blog — Recurring Cleanings

Setting a Client's Fixed Slot: Choosing the Day, Time and Team for a Recurring Cleaning

Ask a long-time recurring client what they like about their cleaning service and you will rarely hear about the products or the vacuum. You will hear “They come every other Tuesday at nine, and it's always Maria and Jen.” Reliability is the product. A fixed slot is how you deliver it.

From Frequency to a Real Slot

Once a client has picked how often they want you, as covered in Weekly, Every Two Weeks or Monthly: Choosing a Recurring House Cleaning Schedule for Each Client, the next step is turning that frequency into a slot. A slot has four parts:

• The frequency: weekly, every 2 weeks, every 4 weeks or monthly on the same date.
• The day: Tuesday, Thursday, whichever weekday the visits fall on.
• The time: when the team arrives, such as 9:00 AM.
• The team: Team 1, Team 2 and so on.

In MaidBossPro, a recurring client keeps all four, visit after visit. The client does not get “sometime next week.” They get the same day, the same time and the same team until someone decides to change it.

Choosing the Weekday

The weekday is the hardest part of the slot to change later, so it is worth getting right at the start. A few things to weigh:

• Where the home is. If Team 2 already works the north side on Tuesdays, a new north-side client belongs on a Tuesday. One extra stop on an existing route costs far less than a separate trip across town.
• What the client needs. Some clients want Friday so the house is ready for the weekend. Others want Monday so the week starts fresh. Ask, and write the answer down.
• How full the day already is. A Tuesday that is already packed is a bad home for another three-hour clean, no matter how close the address.
• Holidays. Monday clients lose more visits to long weekends. Thursday clients run into Thanksgiving. It is not a reason to avoid those days, just something to mention at signup.

In MaidBossPro, you do not pick the weekday from a dropdown. You pick the first cleaning date, and that date sets the weekday for the whole series. Choose a Tuesday as the first date and the client is a Tuesday client.

Choosing the Time

The time on a recurring slot is a promise, so pick one your team can keep. Think about where the visit sits in the team's day. A first-stop 8:30 AM slot is easy to hit every time. An 11:00 AM slot after two other homes depends on those homes running on time.

Some practical habits:

• Give early slots to clients who care most. The client who works from home and wants the team gone by lunch should get the morning.
• Leave room after long homes. If a four-bedroom house with two dogs runs long, the next client's time should allow for it.
• Use windows in conversation. The time on the card might say 1:00 PM, but telling the client “between one and one-thirty” protects you on a slow day.

The time shows on the visit card on the Scheduled List and on the team's app, so the team sees exactly when each home expects them.

Choosing the Team

Each team is set up like a vehicle, “Team 1,” “Team 2,” and the series is assigned to one of them. Pick the team that works the client's area on that day, and if you can, the team that did the first clean. A team that already knows where the lockbox is and which rooms to skip makes a better first impression on visit two than a team seeing the house cold. More on that in Keeping the Same Team on a Recurring Cleaning Client.

Setting It Up in MaidBossPro

On Recurring Cleanings (Schedule → Recurring), click Add Recurring Cleaning and fill in:

• The home, the service and its price.
• The frequency.
• The first cleaning date, which sets the weekday.
• The time.
• The team.
• How far ahead to schedule: 3, 6 or 12 months.

Save it, and every visit in that range goes straight onto the schedule. Each one appears on the Scheduled List for its day and on the team's app, in route order, with the time on the card. The home's cleaning details from its last cleaning, such as beds, baths, pets, extras and the entry code, are copied onto every visit, so the team sees “Recurring Maintenance · 3 bed / 2 bath · Dog” and the lockbox code without anyone retyping it.

The new series then shows on the Recurring Cleanings list as a single line, like “Every 2 weeks · Tuesdays · 9:00 AM · Team 1,” with the next visit and how far ahead it is scheduled. Choosing the range is covered in How Far Ahead to Schedule Recurring Cleanings: 3, 6 or 12 Months and When to Extend.

Protecting the Slot

Once a client has a slot, treat it like a reservation. When a one-off deep clean or move-out comes in from the Waiting List, book it into the open space around your standing slots rather than bumping a regular client to make room. The recurring client should not pay for your new work with a moved cleaning.

When a single visit has to move because of a holiday, a sick team member or a client request, move just that visit on the schedule. The slot stays the same, and the next visit lands on the usual day. When the slot itself needs to change, such as a new day or a new team, use Change on the series so every upcoming visit follows. To see how fixed slots fit with the rest of the recurring system, visit the MaidBossPro recurring cleaning software page.