A simple domestic clean is easy to schedule: same day, same time, same cleaner, every week or fortnight. Commercial contracts and larger homes are rarely that tidy. An office might need a full clean on Monday morning, a washroom check on Wednesday afternoon and a lighter clean on Friday. A school might need two cleaners on some evenings and one on others. A large house might want a deep clean of the kitchen on one day and bedrooms on another.
Most basic scheduling tools struggle with this. They let you repeat a job weekly, but only with the same time and duration every day. Anything more complex has to be set up as separate jobs, which quickly becomes messy. This guide explains how ProCleanerUK’s Custom Weekly Pattern handles real contracts, and how to set one up.
The problem with simple recurrence
When a contract has different work on different days, simple recurrence forces you into workarounds:
- Separate jobs for each day: harder to manage, harder to invoice and easy to lose track of.
- One job with the longest duration: wrong hours, wrong pay and confused cleaners.
- Notes saying “Wednesday is different”: which someone eventually misses.
Each workaround adds admin and risk, and the bigger the contract, the worse it gets.
How Custom Weekly Pattern works
Custom Weekly Pattern treats the week as the repeating unit, but lets each day within it be different. For one contract you can set:
- Which days the work happens.
- The start time for each day.
- The duration for each day.
- The staff needed for each day.
The pattern then repeats every week, with every visit appearing correctly in the schedule and in each cleaner’s app.
An example contract
Imagine an office contract with three different visits each week:
- Monday, 7am: full clean of all areas, two cleaners for three hours.
- Wednesday, 2pm: washroom and kitchen check, one cleaner for one hour.
- Friday, 6pm: desks, floors and bins, one cleaner for two hours.
With a Custom Weekly Pattern, that is one recurring job. Each visit has the right time, duration and staff. Cleaners see only the visits they are assigned to, with the right checklist. Clock-in records reflect the real hours on each day.
Why it matters for profit
Getting the pattern right is not just tidy admin. It protects your margins. When duration and staffing are accurate for each day, payroll is right, quotes match reality and you can see whether the contract is profitable. Clock-in times can be compared with planned hours, so you spot quickly if a day regularly runs over.
Changing the pattern later
Contracts change. The client adds an extra day, moves Friday to Thursday or asks for an extra cleaner during a busy period. With one pattern, you update it once and every future visit follows. Reassign Staff can also set custom weekly patterns day by day when a contract moves to a different cleaner or team.
Domestic uses
Custom Weekly Pattern is not only for commercial work. It also suits:
- Large homes with different rooms cleaned on different days.
- Customers who want a longer clean once a week and a shorter tidy another day.
- Elderly or busy customers who want help on several days with different needs.
Setting up a pattern
- List every visit the contract needs in a typical week.
- Note the start time, duration and number of staff for each.
- Create the recurring job and set each day in the pattern.
- Assign cleaners to each day.
- Attach the right checklist for each type of visit.
- Add access notes, alarm procedures and any site rules.
For large buildings, add NFC tags so cleaners can clock in reliably, and use site assessments to check standards across the week. Our guide to cleaning audit software explains assessments.
Explaining the pattern to cleaners
Cleaners on a complex contract need to know what is different about each visit. Because each day in the pattern can carry its own checklist and the job notes are visible in the staff app, they see exactly what is expected on Monday compared with Friday. A short handover when a cleaner first joins the contract, ideally with a supervisor on site, helps them settle in quickly and avoids mistakes in the first few weeks.
Invoicing complex contracts
Commercial clients usually want one clear invoice, not a pile of separate jobs. Keeping the whole contract in one pattern makes invoicing straightforward, whether you bill per visit or monthly. Our guide to tracking quotes and invoices covers the options.
Quoting with the pattern in mind
When pricing a contract, build the quote around the same weekly breakdown: each visit, its duration and its staff. That keeps the quote, the schedule and payroll consistent. For larger bids, a tender pack created from the quote adds method statements, risk assessments, the COSHH register, training records and insurance. Our guide to the cleaning tender pack explains more.
Multi-site contracts
Some clients have several sites, each with its own needs. A retail chain might want early morning cleans at one shop and evening cleans at another, with different staff at each. Set up each site as its own location under the client, each with its own Custom Weekly Pattern, access notes and checklist. Cleaners see only the sites they work at, and the client can still receive clear invoicing across all their sites.
Cover and holidays on complex patterns
When a cleaner on a complex pattern is off, you do not want to rebuild the contract. Cover can be arranged for the affected visits with drag and drop or the Availability Finder, leaving the pattern itself untouched. The covering cleaner sees the right checklist and access notes for that visit. When the regular cleaner returns, the pattern carries on as before.
Checking the contract is profitable
Every few months, compare the planned hours in the pattern with real clock-in times for each day. If Wednesday’s washroom check is planned for one hour but regularly takes ninety minutes, either the pattern or the price needs adjusting. Complex contracts are where small differences add up fastest, so a regular check pays for itself.
Common mistakes
- Setting one duration for every day when the work differs.
- Forgetting to assign staff to each day, leaving visits unassigned.
- Using one checklist for very different visits.
- Not updating the pattern when the client changes the contract.
Where it fits
Custom Weekly Pattern works alongside the rest of ProCleanerUK’s scheduling: route planning, drag and drop, the Availability Finder, late start alerts and customer away dates. Our guide to automating your cleaning schedule shows how they fit together.
Schedule real contracts properly
Custom Weekly Pattern is included on every ProCleanerUK plan, with route planning, NFC clock-in, site assessments and tender packs. Start your 28-day free trial and set up your most complicated contract, or book a free demo and we will build a pattern with you.
FAQs
What is a Custom Weekly Pattern?
A recurring job where each day in the week can have its own start time, duration and staff.
Can one contract have different times on different days?
Yes. Each day in the pattern has its own start time and duration.
Can I assign different cleaners to different days?
Yes. Staff are set per day within the pattern.
Is it only for commercial contracts?
No. It also suits large homes and customers who want different help on different days.
What happens when the contract changes?
Update the pattern once and every future visit follows.