The readiness gate
- Scope confirmed — what is included, what is explicitly excluded, and what the customer expects to see at the end.
- Materials identified and obtainable within the intended date, including lead-time items.
- Equipment identified — owned, rented or shared, and not double-booked.
- Access resolved — gate codes, keys, pets, parking, occupancy, working hours, building rules.
- Permits, inspections and approvals identified and their timing understood.
- Documents complete — the agreement executed, deposit terms clear, any customer selections finalised.
- Crew profile known — skills required, headcount, and realistic duration.
Why the gate has to sit before scheduling
Scheduling converts a job into a promise to a customer and a block of paid capacity. Making that promise before readiness is known means one missing item costs you the crew day, the customer's confidence and the reschedule.
A job that fails the gate is not a problem — it is information, arriving while it is still cheap. The failure mode is scheduling first and discovering second.
Duration is part of readiness
Underestimating duration is the quietest way to lose a day. If the second job on a route assumes three hours and the work takes five, every downstream stop becomes a late arrival and the last one becomes a reschedule.
Plan duration from the sold scope and previous comparable jobs, and record actuals afterwards so the next estimate is better than a guess.
Who owns readiness
One named person per job. Shared responsibility for readiness reliably produces no responsibility for readiness. In small businesses the owner or office manager holds it; past a certain volume it becomes a coordinator role, and it is one of the first roles that pays for itself.