A “visit” is where you send an employee out on a visit to a customer’s property. Below we describe the different types of visits you can create and where you can create them.
For each site you’ll want to add one or more visits. You can create:
Repeating visits – In landscape maintenance businesses, most of your visits will likely be repeating visits.
One-off visits (for example add a visit for 345 Wattle Dr only when you are called and asked to come).
Repeating visits
Repeating visit example
Let’s say you have a contract with Mary at 457 Waratah Rd to do garden maintenance every two weeks (26 visits per year) at a price of $100/visit ($2,600 per year).Since we do other visits in Mary’s area on Monday, we tell Mary we’ll come every two weeks on Mondays.
To add a repeating visit at 457 Waratah Rd:
Go to the site we’ve created for 457 Waratah Rd.
In the upper right hand corner, click the the “Add visit” button and select “repeating visit” from the dropdown.
In the form, add a due date for the first visit. For example, 2nd of November.
Specify how frequently you’ll visit (e.g. every 2 weeks or 4 weeks, etc). You can also specify a seasonal schedule which will allow you to change the repeat frequency based on the season.
Add general visit instructions that all staff should be aware of when they visit that property. For example, “beware of dog” or “clean by the pool area”. Note – setting or changing this field will update it for all visits for this property.
Enter work required which tells staff what they need to do on this particular repeating visit. (Note – You can have multiple sets of repeating visits for the same property each with different ‘work required.’ For example, you may have one repeating visit for just lawn mowing and another repeating visit for garden maintenance.)
You can also optionally specify the total number of man hours you think it’ll take and the estimated total dollar value of each visit. This will help you prioritise visits on the schedule and estimate how many visits you can fit into each day. SortScape will automatically calculate the “Estimated value” based on the number of Total man hours multiplied by the hourly rate which can be set in visit settings.
Click the “Create” button.
Now SortScape will remind you every two weeks to send a crew out to 457 Waratah. You’ll find more details for how this works below.
When editing repeating visits, refer to this list to understand how your edits affect the entire repeating series.
Editing repeat frequency – Changes to the repeat frequency will apply to all incomplete visits in the repeating series.
Updating other details of a repeating visit – Updating the instructions, estimated total man hours or estimated dollar value fields will update the details of the current visit and all following visits in the series.
Editing the due date of a repeating visit – Updating the due date field will update the details of the current visit and all following visits in the series.
Deleting a repeating visit – Deleting a repeating visit will delete the current visit and all following visits in the series.
One-off visits
One-off visit example
Now let’s say you get a call from Steve at 345 Wattle Dr asking you to come out and give the garden a trim. You don’t have a contract with Steve… you only add a visit whenever he calls.
For Steve you would:
Go to the site for 345 Wattle Dr.
In the upper right hand corner, click the the “add visit” button and select “one-off visit” from the dropdown.
In the dialog that appears, enter a due date for the visit. For example, 5th of November.
Tick the “Keep in unscheduled visits?” box if you don’t want to automatically add the visit to the schedule.
Optionally specify the Total number of man hours you think it’ll take and the estimated total dollar value of the visit. SortScape will automatically calculate the “Estimated value” based on the number of Total man hours multiplied by the hourly which can set in visit settings.
Add general visit instructions that all staff should be aware of when they visit that property. For example, “beware of dog” or “clean by the pool area”. Note – setting or changing this field will update it for all visits for this property.
Enter work required which tells staff what they need to do on this particular visit.
Click the “Create” button.
Now SortScape will remind you to send a crew out to 345 Wattle Dr on the 5th of November. You’ll find more details for how this works below.
You can convert one-off visits into repeating visits by following these steps.
Multi-day visits
Sometimes, a project might span multiple days, especially if it goes beyond basic maintenance. In such cases, you have two flexible options to manage your schedule effectively:
Create a Repeating Visit: Ideal for projects with a clear end date. Set the visit to repeat daily until a specified date. This option ensures continuity without the need to manually schedule each day.
Create Multiple One-Off Visits: Suitable for projects with variable lengths. Start with a single visit for the initial day, and if the project extends, you can easily "copy" this visit for subsequent days as needed.
If you're unsure about the project's duration, start with a one-off visit for the first day. Should the work need to continue, our platform allows you to duplicate this visit for the next day with just a few clicks. This flexibility helps you adapt to project demands without overcommitting your schedule from the start.
