How to keep customers updated on a job

Set expectations on day one

The easiest update is the one you give before the job starts. Tell the customer roughly how the work will run, which days you will be there, which days you won’t (waiting for plaster to dry, a part to arrive, another trade to finish), and when they will hear from you. “I’ll send a photo and a line at the end of each day” turns a week of wondering into a week of knowing when to look.

Say what they will see and when. If the first two days are stripping out, tell them it will look worse before it looks better. A customer who expected the mess doesn’t ring about it.

When to send an update

You don’t need to post every hour. A handful of moments cover almost every job: when you start, at the end of each working day, whenever the plan changes, just before anything gets covered up, and when you finish. If you only manage one, make it the end of the day; it is when customers get home and wonder what happened.

Days you aren’t on site need a line too. “Not on site today, waiting for the worktop, back Thursday” takes ten seconds and stops the customer deciding you have disappeared. Silence is what makes people worry, not bad news.

What a good update says

Three things, in plain words: what got done, what happens next, and when. “First fix done, all cables in. Plasterer Monday, I’m back Wednesday for second fix.” No jargon the customer has to look up, and no essay. One or two sentences is plenty.

Add a photo whenever you can. A photo of the new pipe run or the levelled base explains more than a paragraph, and it is proof of work the customer will never otherwise see. Take it from where the customer would stand, so they recognise the room.

When the job overruns

Tell them as soon as you know, not when the original finish date arrives. An overrun the customer hears about on Tuesday is an inconvenience; one they discover on Friday, when you don’t turn up, is a complaint.

Say why, give a new date, and say what it means for the price, even if the answer is nothing. Something like: “The old floor joists are rotten under the bath, so I need to replace two before the floor goes back. Photo attached. It adds a day; I’ll be finished Friday instead of Thursday. I’ll price the extra timber and labour and send it over before I go ahead.” That message answers every question the customer would otherwise ring to ask.

If the delay is not your fault, such as a late delivery or a supplier mix-up, say so plainly, without blame or excuses, and say what you are doing about it. Customers mostly want to know you are on it.

When you find something you didn’t quote for

Stop and show the customer before you do the extra work, not on the invoice afterwards. A photo of the problem, a sentence on why it matters, the options and a price, then their go-ahead in writing (a text reply is fine). We cover this, and photographing work before it gets covered up, in photos of hidden work.

Keep it all in one place

Updates scattered across texts, WhatsApp, voicemail and a chat at the door are hard for a customer to follow, and harder for you to look back on when there is a question later. Pick one place for the job’s updates and stick to it for the whole job.

One place also helps when more than one person cares about the job: a partner at work, a landlord, a son or daughter helping an elderly parent. If everything is in one thread or on one page, you send it once instead of repeating yourself to each of them.

Answer the questions people actually ask

Customers ask the same things on almost every job. Will there be water or power tonight? Can I use the kitchen? Do I need to move the car, the dog, the furniture? When will it be done? If your end-of-day update answers whichever of these applies, most of the mid-afternoon calls never happen.

Be honest about noise, dust and access before they become a problem. Telling someone the drill will be going from eight is a courtesy; finding out at eight is not.

Finish properly

The last update matters as much as the first. Say it is done, post the finished photos, and say anything they need to know: how to work the new controls, how long to leave the paint, who to call if something isn’t right. If you would like a review, this is the moment to ask, while the finished photos are in front of them.

Doing it with How’s the Job

How’s the Job was built for exactly this. You add the job, text the customer one link, and post photos and short updates from your phone as you go. They open the link in their phone’s browser, with no app or account, and see a three-step progress bar in your trade’s words with every update newest first. The page refreshes itself when you post, so they check it instead of calling you.

One-tap starters such as “On my way” and “Running late, sorry” make the quick updates quicker, and anyone the customer forwards the link to sees the same page. It is free. See an example job page for what your customer would get.