Run a Home-Service Business Remotely

Per-Job QC Run Sheet

Companion to the lesson "Quality Control From Your Kitchen Table"

Client:   Date:   Cleaner:   Entry: ☐ smart lock / garage code ☐ lockbox ☐ client home

1. The Loop (every job, no exceptions)

2. Standard Room Checklist

Write it once, revise it after every complaint, and version it. The fix for a missed item is never "tell the cleaner to try harder"; the fix is the item on the standard list, which changes every future job for every cleaner.

AreaDoneAreaDone
Kitchen: counters, sink, exterior appliancesBathroom 1: top to bottom, dry before wet
Fridge top (complaint-driven addition)Bathroom 2
Floors throughoutHalf bath
Bedrooms: dust, surfaces, floorsClient-flagged areas
Version:   Other:

3. Photo Requirements

Photos are timestamped proof when a client or guest claims a room was never cleaned.

4. Complaint Triage (the thirty-minute rule)

A complaint is a clock. Respond inside thirty minutes, always with the same first line:

"Thank you for telling me, I'm on it."
TypeMove
Product failure (room not done, streaky floor)Offer the re-clean today or tomorrow; the guarantee you sold requires it
Expectation gap (outside standard scope)Show the checklist kindly, offer the add-on at its price
Damaged itemInsurance claim, apology, no arguing fault on the phone
Accusation of theftStop. No accusations against your cleaner, no hush money, no defensiveness. Ask the customer to check thoroughly, tell them you are pulling the job record, pull the photos and timestamps, loop in your insurer if it stands. The bond exists for this conversation.

Economics of the refund: one corpus operator refunded a cleaning over a skipped bathroom, at a cost of maybe a hundred dollars, and that customer stayed roughly a decade, worth around twenty thousand dollars of bookings (course lore, unverified). A refund is the cheapest retention tool you own.

5. Safety Policy Lines (on the checklist and in the agreement)

6. Same-Day Follow-Up Text

Thank-you text with review link sent: ☐   Time sent:   Review received: ☐