Add or Request a Job
Ultimately, you control how you assign jobs using the TIDY software.
If you see a list of timeslots available with a pro, you are viewing the times they have set as available in the app. You can assign them to your job, if you like. There are several other ways to book:
- Booking on a pro's website.
- Book a confirmed time according to your preferences.
- Request a time from a pro who does not have an available time you like.
- Request a same-day job from a pro.
- Send a job request to your list of pros, in the priority you select using the strategy you select. Even if you have no pros.
You can see some of these options by tapping schedule job, then going through the options. Depending on your selections, the current status of pros in your area, your account setting, you will see different options as you navigate.
You can make a job request via any of our channels, including:
- Via the API
- Via the web
- Via mobile devices
- Via an integration
When you make a job request, you are asking that each of your pros gets contacted in the order that you specify in the My Pros section of your app. When you make a job request, you can track the full history of the request to clearly see:
- Which of your pros have been contacted
- How your pros were contacted
- If a pro declined your request
- If a pro accepted your request
- The content of the messages sent to your pros
This way, you can track exactly what is going on at your properties at all times.
Pros will be contacted in the order you have presented. By default, they are contacted:
- The first pros on your favorites list is contacted right away.
- If you don't have any pros on your favorites list, all pros in your "Approved" list are contacted right away.
- If you have a favorites list, then the next pro on your list will be contacted when the first of the following occur:
- A certain percentage of time has elapsed between when your request is made and the midway point. This is equally divided between the people on your list and the time to the midway point.
- At the midway between the job request and the job start, everyone will be contacted.
- 24 hours left until the job start, everyone will be contacted.
Examples
If your list looks like this: Favorites Ana Bob Charlie Approved Find New Pro Example 1: You request a job for 30 days from now.
Day 0: Ana is notified (right away). Day 5: Bob is notified. Day 10: Charlie is notified. Day 15: Find New Pro is initiated Example 2: You request a job for 20 hours from now.
Hour 0: Everyone is notified right away.
Once a pro is contacted, they can accept a job until:
- Someone else has accepted it
- You cancel the job.
So they can accept jobs after someone else was contacted, they just no longer have exclusive ability to see the job.
You can book a one-time job or book recurring jobs, which we call Plans.
To book a one-time job, follow these steps:
- Create an account (or login) at tidy.com
- You will land on a page to pick your job type and frequency. Pick "One Time" if that is the right option for you.
- Follow the rest of the checkout process, including picking a pro, and you're done!
Jobs can be booked for up to 4 weeks in the future at this time.
If you already have an active plan, you can easily book one-time jobs of any type in addition to your plan. Pros will often discount rates if you already have a plan with them, so it’s usually best to add your plans first, then add one-time jobs. For example, if you want to start with a larger 4-hour cleaning and then have regular 2.5-hour cleanings every week, it’s often less expensive to book the 2.5-hour recurring plan first, then add the 4-hour cleaning as a one-time job.
You can request jobs for times other than the ones listed, including for the same day.
Requesting a same-day job sends a message to Pros who are not already booked, and might be able to accept one of your requested times. This is successful about 60% of the time on average.
Request a same-day job by selecting the “one-time” frequency in any booking view and clicking “Request Job for Today”. If you had a confirmed appointment, and the Pro had to cancel, tap "Request a substitute" on the update that appears on the cancelled job.
When requesting a same-day job or substitute, you can select all the times you are available and we will message Pros in your area to see if they are available for one of those times. If someone accepts we let you know right away, or if no one accepts we’ll let you know 30m before the last requested time. The acceptance rate depends on your location and settings, but on average pros tend to accept around 60% of these requests.
If you don't see the time you like with a favorite Pro of yours, you can request that they open up their schedule for you. It is common for Pros to do this for their repeat customers. To do this, select them from the dropdown when scheduling.
(1) Tap Schedule Job inside your app.
(2) Select the person you are looking to book from the dropdown.
(3) Select the possible days and times that work for you. The more options, the better.
(4) Finalize your request
(5) If they accept, you will know right away. If after 2 days they don't accept, the request expires. If they like, they can also counter-propose times to work with you.
If you have any Private Pros, you can book a job at any timeMy Pros. This option will allow you to book a cleaning with any Private Pro on your list and add it to your schedule at the time of your choice.
You can always request any kind of job from private pros.
In some cases, for requests for TIDY to help you, you may not be able to book any possible length of job, or start time.
There are a couple of reasons that may occur, but the one reason if pros use a "Block Schedule", which is very popular. These are also sometimes referred to as "fixed length jobs".
What is a block schedule? Just like in many schools, it means there are more limited start times for jobs, and lengths are fixed to certain intervals. In the case of cleaning, this means having blocks start at (for example) 8 am, 9:30 am, 11 am, and so on. If you book a 1-hour job, they can do that at 8 am, then make a 2.5-hour job at 9:30 am. If both of those clients cancel, they can book a 4-hour job to span that time.
Block schedules have the following advantages:
- If a client cancels on a pro, the pro is more likely to be able to find a replacement client.
- If a pro cancels on a client, likewise, the client is more likely to be able to find a replacement.
- By booking a fixed length, clients can have pros focus on what is important to them. Typically, clients have a set amount of very important things, and it's an advantage to not have to pay for the unimportant things as a "bundle".
- Expectations are more set.
- There is no need to do quotes. Quoting typically increases the costs for clients because the pro must recoup their lost time quoting.
If you really need something outside the available times, what you may need to do is find a vendor who accommodates your needs, then you can add them in TIDY with whatever your agreement was. You can then send them jobs, to-do lists, etc all using TIDY still. Just because you can't find someone on TIDY to help with your exact needs, doesn't mean we can't help you.
Example of Why Traditional Scheduling Can Be Bad
For pros, imagine your clients each want random length jobs with random start times. You might have someone book a 5.5 hour cleaning starting at 10am. This is fine if this is all you want to do this day, but if you were hoping for other clients this can be tough. Lets say you manage to find a short 2 hour cleaning starting at 7am. What happens if the 5.5 hour cleaning cancels? Its hard to fill that up.
The same issue is there for clients. If you have a 5.5 hour cleaning starting at 10am, what are the odds you can find someone to do the same thing? It can be quite challenging.
Imagine if all legos were not standardized. Building would be hard! The same goes for scheduling. Some more structure makes it easy for clients and pros to put together schedules with redundancy. We hope this helps explain this a bit more :)