FENCING
The fence quote is waiting on the HOA, the survey and the permit. Make each wait a stage
A fence sale is not done when the customer says yes. In many South Florida neighborhoods, the job has to wait. The HOA wants to see the plan. The city wants a survey. Then comes the permit. Each wait can take weeks, and each one waits on someone different. The customer just knows the fence is not up yet.
A note on what this is. The rules for HOAs, surveys and permits change by city and by community. We do not know yours. This post is about keeping track of the waits, not about the rules. Check with the city and the HOA for those.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Why does "pending" cause problems?
"Pending" hides the real question: pending on whom? A job waiting on the customer to send the survey is very different from a job waiting on the city. In the first case, you should remind the customer. In the second, you should check on the city. If both sit in the same pile, both get forgotten.
Meanwhile, the customer hears nothing. After three weeks of silence, they start to wonder. Some call another fence company. Some just cancel.
What stages should the board have?
- Quote accepted: the customer said yes.
- Waiting on the HOA: the plan has been sent for approval.
- Waiting on the survey: the customer needs to find it or order one.
- Waiting on the permit: you have applied with the city.
- Ready to schedule: every approval is in.
- Installed, and waiting on the final inspection if there is one.
Not every job has every stage. A job with no HOA skips that one. What matters is that each card sits where the real wait is.
Who is waiting on whom?
Write it on each stage. The HOA stage is often the customer’s job, since many HOAs want the owner to submit the request. The survey stage is the customer’s job too, if they have to find or order one. The permit stage is yours. When you can see whose turn it is, you know who to call.
How do you check this on your own jobs?
Do it this week. List every fence job where the customer said yes but the fence is not up. Next to each one, write what it is waiting on and who has to act. Then write the date of your last message to that customer. If some of those dates are more than two weeks old, those are the jobs most at risk.
A customer who hears from you at every step does not wonder if you forgot. Silence is what makes people call someone else.
What should the customer hear at each step?
One short text when the job moves. "We sent your plan to the HOA." "The HOA approved it. Next we need the survey." "We applied for the permit." "The permit is in. Can we install on the 14th?" Each one tells them where the job is and what happens next. No sales talk, just the news.
How does the job board work here?
The board is set up with the fence stages above, and you can change them. Every job is a card that moves from stage to stage. A card that sits too long in one stage raises a waiting alert, so the job waiting on a survey for three weeks comes up for a reminder. Texts to the customer go out in the language saved on the card, and nothing automatic goes out between 8 PM and 8 AM. If a whiteboard already does this for you, keep it.
Related
Listed your open fence jobs?
Bring the list to a 30-minute call. We will set up the stages with you for how your jobs move, write the step texts in both languages, and tell you if your whiteboard is already enough.
