Maintenance Enhancements | Best Practices

Your company might define a “maintenance enhancement” one of two different ways. This will determine the workflow. Choose a scenario below and follow the correlating workflow:

1. A client requests additional maintenance work while crews are already on-site
2. A client requests to add work to an existing maintenance contract

Work Requested While Crews Are On-site

When extra work is requested during a scheduled visit, many landscape companies choose to bill the work on a time-and-materials (hourly) basis. This is the simplest and most practical way to price unplanned tasks.

If your business encounters this frequently, the best practice is to set up a default task in your account (for example, “Extra Work,” “Unplanned Work,” or “Additional Work”) configured to “Track hours and rates for billing-by-the-hour.” This ensures that whenever a maintenance job is created, whether from an estimate or directly through the Job List, the task is already available.

To add hourly rates in bulk for this type of extra work: 

1. Navigate to Jobs > Update Jobs 
2. Set filters at the top:
   • Action dropdown: Add
   • Type of Add: Rates, then select the hourly rate to apply
   • Job Group - select either: 
     • No Groups = if jobs are not grouped
     • Select the appropriate Job Group Name = if jobs are grouped
3. Select the Jobs you want to apply the rate to
   💡Use the Set All Row option to add all rates quickly in bulk 
4. Lastly, ensure any materials the crew may use on an ad-hoc basis are added to the Job and set up as billable. 
   💡This can also be managed in bulk through the Update Jobs screen, or added directly within the Job itself.

Client Requests to Add-on Work to Existing Maintenance Contract

The workflow for this is very similar to adding Change Orders to Design Build estimates.

1. In the existing Estimate, create a new Work Area for the Enhancement. Clearly label it (e.g., “Enhancement 1”). 
   ⚠️ Do not modify any previously sold Work Areas 
2. Add the details and required items for the Enhancement to the new Work Area.
3. If client approval is required, hide all other Work Areas and send only the Enhancement Work Area for signature.
4. Once approved, open the existing Job from the Jobs List
5. In the Timesheet Tracking menu, select Punch-in Tasks
6. Click + Task in the top right corner. 
   1. Enter the Task Name (e.g., “Enhancement 1”)
   2. Set the Cost Code
   3. Add notes and estimated hours as needed
   4. When finished, click Save
7. Go to the Services tab, click + Service, and add the appropriate Service that matches the Enhancement.
   • If billing hourly, configure the Task to be billed by the hour, add a Rate under the Hourly Rates tab, then add a corresponding hourly Service in the Services tab and mark it as such.
8. Optional: Adjust the Task order if necessary.
9. For accurate Job Costing: 
   1. Navigate to Job Costing > Overview
   2. Click the Settings gear
   3. Select Update Assignments
   4. Link the new Task to the Enhancement Work Area.
10. Schedule the Newly Added Work
    1. Navigate back into the Job and open it
    2. Go to the Schedule tab and click + Schedule.
    3. Select your seasonal Maintenance template. This will automatically match all newly created enhancement services in the Job to your template.
    4. Assign the appropriate tasks to each service.
    5. Click Next, then choose the weekday and crew for any recurring weekly services. Leave any services you want on the waitlist with an Unassigned Crew and ensure the Type says ‘Wait List’.

If invoicing for Seasonal Work, you’ll need to adjust your Invoice Schedule as well doing the following: 

Add to invoice steps:

1. Under Invoicing > Invoice Schedule, adjust the Contracted Total at the top of the page to the new amount for the total project.
2. Click + Scheduled Invoice to create a new invoice for the CO
3. Set the number of payments and click the Calculator icon to expedite and then click Add
4. You can then adjust the invoice date to today’s date to bill right away, or adjust to a different date of your choosing.

Need more help?  Contact our Support Team by email at lmn-support@granum.com, through Live Chat, or by phone at (888) 347-9864

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