OpSpot Blog

Booking a trade usually means a round of phone calls: who does tiling, who's free next Thursday, and is the one who said yes already on another job that day? Get it wrong and two jobs are waiting for the same person.

OpSpot answers that inside the booking itself. Pick the job type, and OpSpot lists every staff member and subcontractor who does that work, with four weeks of availability, so you can see who's free before you book.

At a glance

1. Give each staff member and subcontractor their job types once, for example Electrical or Tiling.
2. On a booking, choose the job type. OpSpot finds everyone who does that work.
3. Read the Availability grid: four weeks, one row per person, with how full each day already is.
4. Tick the days for the person you want. They're added to the booking's attendees for those days.

Step 1: Give people their job types

Job types are your company's own trades and stages, for example Demolition, Electrical, Tiling or Joinery.

• For your staff, open Users, edit the person, and choose their Job Types.
• For subcontractors, set their job types on their Subcontractors record.

You only do this once. From then on, the right people show up whenever you book that kind of work.

Step 2: Choose the job type on the booking

Open a new or existing booking and choose the Job Type. A booking can have up to three, for example Electrical and Data.

OpSpot looks up everyone who has that job type, your staff and your subcontractors, and adds anyone you've already put in Attendees.

Step 3: Read the Availability grid

The Availability section shows four weeks, starting from the Monday of the booking's week. There's a row for each person and a column for each day.

• Each day has a bar showing how much of that person's day is already booked, measured against your standard shift length (8 hours unless you change it).
• The bar turns red when the day is nearly full, and a ! appears when the person is overbooked.
• Click a day to see what they're already booked on: start time, hours, job number and description.

Subcontractors who work for other builders. If a subcontractor is booked by another company on OpSpot, that time still shows as taken, so you don't double-book them. You see only "Booked by another company", not the other builder's job details. Their privacy is protected, and so is yours.

Step 4: Tick the days and book

Tick the days you want for the person who's free. OpSpot adds them to the booking's Attendees for those days. On a multi-day booking, you can pick different people for different days. Untick a person's last day and they come off the booking.

The grid lists people in the same order as the Attendees list, so the people you book most often are easy to find.

Tip: to have the grid open automatically, tick Expand availability section once data is fetched in Company Settings, under General Booking. You can also set the Default Shift Number Of Hours there.

Example: commercial office fit-out

The project manager needs an electrician for three days of first fix in a fortnight.

• They choose the job type Electrical. The grid shows two in-house electricians and three electrical subcontractors.
• One subcontractor's days are red: they're booked on another site that week. Another shows "Booked by another company" on Tuesday.
• The project manager ticks Wednesday to Friday for the subcontractor who's free, and the booking is done without a phone call.

Example: residential bathroom renovation

The tiler needs two days after waterproofing has cured.

• The project manager chooses Tiling and looks two weeks ahead.
• The usual tiler is free on Thursday but has a half-day job on Friday. The bar shows it.
• They book Thursday with the usual tiler and Friday with a second tiler, on the same booking.

FAQ

Can other builders see my jobs? No. If another builder books the same subcontractor, your bookings show to them only as "Booked by another company".

What counts as a full day? Your standard shift length, 8 hours by default. Change it in Company Settings, under General Booking.

Can I still pick someone who's busy? Yes. The grid warns you; it doesn't stop you. A ! shows when a day goes over a full shift.

How far ahead can I see? Four weeks from the Monday of the booking's week. Change the booking date to look further ahead.

Related guides

• Scheduling crews with the calendar, planner and Gantt
• Work orders and subcontractor payments
• Subcontractor licence and insurance tracking