The wasted visit nobody planned for
You loaded the van, drove forty minutes, and nobody is in. It is the most avoidable cost in trade work — no materials used, no hours billed, and a slot gone that somebody else wanted. Almost every one of these traces back to a question nobody asked when the job was booked.
Six things worth establishing
A name, not "someone". "My mum will be in" is a plan; "someone will be there" is a hope.
The single most useful field. A driver ringing on approach prevents more failures than anything else.
Gate codes, buzzer numbers, which entrance, a shared hallway, the flat number that is not on the street.
Permit zones and loading restrictions turn a ten-minute job into a forty-minute one, or into a fine.
A dog, scaffolding, a car on the drive, a room that needs clearing before you can work.
People forget. A confirmation the day before costs nothing.
Why "just leave it with the neighbour" goes wrong
Key arrangements sound simple on the phone and fail in specific, predictable ways: the neighbour is out, the key is for the wrong lock, the keysafe code has been changed, or nobody mentioned the second lock that needs a different key. If a job depends on a key arrangement, it is worth confirming the day before rather than discovering it on the doorstep, because there is no recovering from it once you are standing there.
Charge for it, or decide not to
Either a failed-access visit is chargeable and that is stated when the job is booked, or it is absorbed and treated as a cost of doing business. Both are workable. What does not work is deciding afterwards, case by case, because that turns every instance into an argument with somebody who was never told. Saying it at the time makes the charge fair and, more usefully, makes people turn up.
The call that saves the visit
A short confirmation the day before — right day, right window, will you be in, is the code still the same — prevents most of these. It is unglamorous, it takes ninety seconds, and for a trade running six jobs a day it pays for itself the first time it catches one. Most businesses do not do it because it is nobody’s job; making it somebody’s, or something’s, is the whole fix.
Frequently asked
Establish who will physically be there by name, a mobile that will be answered, how to reach the door, parking, anything in the way, and whether they know the window.
Predictably: the neighbour is out, the key is for the wrong lock, the keysafe code changed, or nobody mentioned a second lock. Confirm the day before rather than on the doorstep.
Either charge and say so when the job is booked, or absorb it. What does not work is deciding afterwards, which turns every instance into an argument.
A ninety-second confirmation call the day before. It pays for itself the first time it catches one.