A weekly admin review works best when it ends with decisions: which customer needs a reply, which job needs preparation and which invoice needs attention. Start with the work already in front of you, then check the money and paperwork attached to it.
The useful bits
- Start with upcoming jobs and anything blocking them.
- Give every unfinished item an owner and a next action.
- Keep an unpaid invoice separate from a payment you have actually received.
Start with the next working week
Look at the jobs you have agreed to do. For each one, check the location, customer contact and arrangements for access. A diary entry that says “kitchen” is less useful than a record that tells you whose kitchen, what you agreed to do and whether the customer will be home.
Check parts, travel and preparation before adding new work around those visits. If a job depends on a delivery or a customer decision, record the dependency and decide when to follow it up. The point is to notice a missing piece while there is still time to deal with it.
- Are the date and access arrangements agreed?
- Is the current scope recorded?
- Are required parts or customer decisions outstanding?
- Does anyone need an update before the visit?
Make unfinished work visible
Review enquiries that need a response, quotes awaiting a decision and completed jobs without final paperwork. Use a short next action rather than a vague reminder. “Ask the customer to confirm the finish” tells you more than “follow up kitchen”.
Some jobs should wait. A quote can be paused because the customer is choosing materials; that is different from a quote you forgot to send. Record the reason so next week’s review starts with context.
An example review note
Kitchen tap replacement: customer approved the replacement, but the matching waste fitting is undecided. Send the two available options on Tuesday. Do not order the extra part until the customer confirms.
Check invoices against real payment records
Separate invoices that have been prepared, invoices that have been sent and money that has arrived. Check the agreed due date before deciding whether a reminder is needed. If the customer has raised a question, deal with that question as part of the follow-up.
For payments recorded manually, check the cash receipt or bank transaction before marking the invoice paid. Keep the invoice reference with the payment record so your future self or bookkeeper can understand the connection.
Finish with a short action list
Choose the actions you will actually complete next, and give each a date. If someone else handles the bookkeeping or customer replies, agree who will do what. Avoid leaving two people to assume the other person sent the invoice.
Keep the checklist repeatable, but change it when the business changes. A week full of appointments may need different preparation from a week on one large job. You are building a routine for your own work, not a test of how much administration you can fit into a Friday.
