How to choose a janitorial scheduling app

Scheduling crews for a janitorial business requires exceptional attention to detail to avoid overbooking or underbooking. No two jobs are the same. 

• Some require more time or personnel than others.

• Certain clients need to book recurring services

• Some customers may have a crew preference. 

On top of client requests, operations must adjust schedules for employee vacations and sick days. 

Because of the hassle, many commercial cleaning service providers use janitorial software to stay on top of jobs, automate scheduling, and reduce labor costs. 

A scheduling app built specifically for the industry allows janitorial managers to schedule new jobs, update the schedule, and keep everyone on track. 

Learn more about the benefits of using commercial janitorial services scheduling apps, including factors to consider when searching for cleaning scheduling software.

Why is scheduling important for commercial cleaning companies? 

Creating a detailed schedule delivers benefits across a janitorial organization, not just making sure crews know where to go every day. 

An optimized commercial cleaning schedule can help an organization to:

• Book more jobs

• Provide excellent customer service

• Set clear expectations with employees

Think of the schedule as the foundation on which you generate revenue. As such, it presents an opportunity to optimize your resources and support healthy growth.

Without a schedule, companies may overbook, underbook, and even miss appointments. While understandable and common in the industry, mistakes such as these damage brand reputation,  cause lost business opportunities, and increase client turnover. 

What are janitorial scheduling apps?

A janitorial scheduling app is a convenient and efficient method for managing client schedules. Apps display a visual schedule and simplify dispatching by allowing the user to move jobs and janitors around as needed without the hassle and confusion of a magnetic whiteboard or Excel spreadsheet.

Common scheduling app features include:

• Drag-and-drop scheduling functionality

• Real-time updating to adjust and add jobs on the fly

• Route optimization

• Reporting

• Integrations with other business-critical applications

Commercial cleaning companies can also find scheduling applications as a feature within an all-in-one janitorial business software solution like Aspire. By combining scheduling with:

• Estimating

• Customer relationship management

• Equipment management

• Invoicing

• And more

Commercial cleaning companies streamline business processes and break down silos, which results in increased business efficiency and profitability.

What are janitorial scheduling apps used for? 

Cleaning service scheduling software is used to manage and streamline the process of building daily work routes for recurring and single jobs. 

These apps provide features such as:

• Automated shift assignment

• Timekeeping

• Real-time updates

• Staff availability notifications 

Cleaning-service scheduling software can also improve communication between managers and staff with quick, universal schedule changes while reducing labor costs by ensuring that the right number of staff is scheduled for each job to save time and win more bids. 

Are janitorial scheduling apps necessary? 

Scheduling apps for cleaning businesses are necessary for companies that want to maximize profitability within their operations and set ambitious growth goals for the future. They make scheduling faster while minimizing the potential for human errors that arise from Excel, Google Sheets, or whiteboards. 

With intuitive user interfaces, it’s much easier for cleaning companies to quickly respond to scheduling issues caused by last-minute job additions and cancellations or staffing changes. 

Users can easily move jobs between crews or to different times and days. The schedule updates in real-time and syncs to the cloud, so when crews access the platform from an iOS or Android device in the field, they access current and accurate information.

Advantages of janitorial scheduling apps

Making the switch from using your old method of building your weekly schedule to using cleaning-service scheduling software delivers benefits across your organization.

Better allocation of resources

With optimized scheduling, businesses can maximize how they use available resources. Scheduling software should take into account the following:

• Current business needs

• Employee skills

• Job prioritization

• Needed gaps between jobs

• Repeat vs. one-time customers

By knowing how long it takes an employee to finish a job, you can book the right cleaning team for the right services, freeing time in your existing routes to schedule more clients without needing additional staff.

→ When you encounter scheduling curveballs, you can update the schedule in real time to avoid underbooking or overbooking. 

Aspire janitorial business management software helps commercial cleaners make the most of their schedule

Aspire’s scheduling software automatically generates work tickets from signed contracts, which populate in the scheduling module and can be drag-and-dropped onto the calendar. 

It’s easy to schedule the whole year for recurring jobs with just a few clicks. The rescheduling function works the way you do, with the ability to:

• Drag and drop a work ticket to a new day

• Split a job between multiple days

• Extend the duration of the job 

• Reassign a work ticket to a new crew

• Split a job between multiple crews

For significant rescheduling, users can insert a blank day to reschedule an entire day's tickets at once without affecting the rest of the schedule. 

Minimize time on the road with smart scheduling

Route optimization finds the best way to schedule crews and jobs to reduce windshield time and boost efficiency.

From the Crew Mobile app, employees can easily clock in on-site from their mobile device to track labor hours and materials/supplies to the work ticket, giving business owners unparalleled accuracy in job costing.

Stay connected to crew in the field with GPS

Each time a crew checks in, the time-tracking app uses GPS to geofence their location, providing your operations managers with visibility into the jobs in progress while also creating back-up data for billing verification.

Increased organization 

Scheduling apps help businesses stay organized by eliminating the need for manual processes, such as paper schedules, whiteboards, or spreadsheets. Sometimes all three. Sometimes with different information on each one. 

Software designed for field services allows all employees to access one central schedule that updates in real-time. This helps avoid confusion across multiple versions of the daily or weekly route and resulting miscommunication. 

Minimize scheduling errors

When using manual scheduling methods, it’s not uncommon to book two crews to a job, miss appointments, or have crews driving back and forth across town as jobs are added to their day.

With the ability to convert contracts directly into work tickets, no job falls through the cracks. Visual scheduling tools help cleaning companies avoid double booking, and route optimization and cloud-syncing ensure that crew heads to the next closest job–even as the schedule changes.

Improved efficiency

Automated scheduling tools speed up the time-consuming process of scheduling staff for cleaning jobs. Not only do signed estimates automatically convert to work tickets you can drag and drop on the scheduling board, but Aspire also allows users to create unlimited custom tags for both clients and properties in the CRM. 

Users can apply the same tag to office cleaning jobs within a five-mile radius, then use bulk scheduling to schedule them all on the same day. 

Factors to consider when searching for cleaning-service scheduling software

When searching for cleaning service scheduling software, look for an all-in-one janitorial business software solution that solves end-to-end operational processes, including:

• Scheduling

• Estimating

• CRM

• Invoicing

• Reporting

• Job costing

By connecting all the business-critical functions for an organization, effective software streamlines efficiency.

Are janitorial scheduling apps cost-effective?

When it comes to janitorial business software cost and pricing, consider the number of users and core features. 

Unlike other software options, Aspire doesn’t add on any per-user charges or block features behind a paywall. With some platforms on the market, growing your business can cause your technology costs to skyrocket. 

→ Aspire users can scale without limits.

Consider whether the software provides more value for your money by offering a comprehensive business solution.

Does it improve business processes? 

When you implement software in your business management, it should streamline and improve processes. Apps with end-to-end functionality give business owners full visibility into their business to inform responsive management and increase profits. 

Within Aspire you can quickly click into any ticket on the schedule for a detailed breakdown, including:

• Estimated vs actual hours

• Alloted vs consumed supplies and materials

• Real-time labor costs

• Assigned equipment 

• Subcontractor costs

A quick comparison of actual vs. estimated costs gives users the ability to manage projects with gross margins always in mind. Daily, proactive business decisions go a long way to ensure profitability from every job and build the momentum to scale into new markets, areas, and verticals.

Best components of a janitorial scheduling app

Commercial cleaning companies find the most benefits from janitorial scheduling apps with the following components. 

Flexible and real-time scheduling

Janitorial companies must be adaptable in an industry where scheduling changes are common.

Flexible, real-time scheduling that syncs to their crew’s mobile devices lets cleaning companies reschedule jobs quickly or split jobs between crews or days to maximize efficiency and profits. 

Data visualization and reporting

By centralizing data, cleaning businesses gain an overall picture of their company and can spot otherwise overlooked data insights. Aspire provides real-time visibility, enabling business owners to identify high-profit cleaning services, monitor cash flow, and analyze invoicing and spending patterns.

In addition, the live scheduling board provides a visual overview of job progress and locations, and can be updated in real-time to maximize efficiency.

Integration and compatibility

Many janitorial service businesses rely on multiple software solutions for their business functions. With Aspire’s all-in-one platform, you get a single source of truth for the CRM, invoicing, scheduling, and reporting.

Seamless integrations streamline important business functions, such as QuickBooks for accurate accounting. This integration allows users to house all financial activity above the gross margin line in Aspire, while QuickBooks handles all data related to indirect costs. The two solutions share relevant information to generate accurate financials at month-end or year-end close.

User-friendly interface with customizable dashboards

A commercial janitorial services scheduling app needs to provide simple and intuitive navigation for its features. It should offer a clear and concise interface for ease of use, and provide accessibility from multiple devices for maximum flexibility.

A scheduling app for cleaning businesses should allow for customization. In Aspire, you can customize templates and reports to meet your business needs.

How Aspire's scheduling app helps janitorial companies streamline operations to increase profitability

As anyone in the cleaning industry knows, growing a janitorial business doesn’t just mean gaining new cleaning jobs. Successful growth involves identifying and overcoming challenges in:

• Lack of labor

• Scheduling jobs

• Managing cash flow

• Inventory management

• Maintaining customer satisfaction

Aspire’s cloud-based field service business management software enables owners to scale their business with efficient workflows from estimating to invoicing and captures key performance insights to make it easy to pinpoint issues before they impact revenue.

An end-to-end software solution empowers responsive management so you can simplify your cleaning calendar, expand your janitorial business, and increase profit.

See it in action! Learn how Aspire software powers ServiceMaster Clean’s growth.