Round and irrigation chase for gardeners
Quick summary
- You are on a hedge. The Saturday round still has a locked gate. The timer after the dry week still has to be chased.
- The list is a named garden, a round reminder, or an irrigation chase. Not a second opinion on a neighbour's pine.
- Every call starts with the name on the file. If they do not recognise it, the call stops.
- It does not say whose tree it is. A locked gate is a yes or no. A fell is a callback after a walk.
- If they ask you to take a side, the assistant writes the question down and says the gardener measures on site.
- SMS does the first reminder. The voice call is for the villa that still has no key two days before Friday.
TL;DR
The trimmer is running. Eight Saturday hedges still have a locked gate and Wednesday's irrigation never confirmed who opens the timer box. Nobody is going to spend the morning ringing. An assistant works the list you give it: name on the file, one purpose. It asks whether someone can open. It does not say whose tree it is, how far to cut, or what a crown is worth. If they ask, it writes the question down and says the gardener measures on site. It can book a new day if that day is free. It will not ring a neighbour's mobile about someone else's hedge.
Key takeaways
- Build each list from your own files: name, the number on the file, and one purpose.
- Do not put a neighbour mobile on a hedge chase unless that number is the number on the file.
- Write the purpose as a reminder or a chase, not as a question about a boundary.
- If the client asks whose tree it is, the assistant ends the call and flags the gardener to call back.
- Check the book before you speak a day. Do not read Saturday off last week's pad.
- Keep sides and crown prices off the script. The gardener measures on site.
The lists on the van while the trimmer is running
The hedge is not finished. Eight Saturday gates still have no one to open. Wednesday’s timer never confirmed. You are not going to spend the morning ringing.
That is the outbound problem in this crew. Not a campaign. Not a hunt for new lawns. A list of people you already know, a garden you have already written down, and nobody free to ring because the trimmer is still running.
SMS can do the first reminder. The voice call is for the villa that still has no key two days before Friday, and for the irrigation that did not answer the text.
One purpose, the name on the file
Every call on this list has one job. Who opens on Saturday. Can we keep the timer visit. Is Friday’s villa still on.
The call opens with the crew name and the name on the file. If the person on the line does not recognise them, the call stops. That is how you avoid telling a neighbour about a hedge, or a housekeeper about a pine that is not on their file.
Do not put a neighbour mobile on the list unless it is the number on the file. A chase that briefs the wrong person is worse than no chase.
If they start asking whose tree it is, the purpose has ended. Write the question. Flag the gardener. Do not finish the reminder with a side so the file feels done.
Gate, irrigation, villa Friday
Gate. Saturday hedge, monthly round. The assistant asks whether someone can open at the time you already booked. Yes or no. A new day only if the book is free. It does not add a tree to the hedge because they mentioned it.
Irrigation. After a dry week, timer box. Who can open the box. Yes or no. It does not diagnose a drip from a description. It does not treat a floor leak as this chase.
Villa Friday. Shut since May, tidy before guests. Reminder of the day, who has the key. Not a fell of the pine on the boundary. Not a photo-price.
A tree measure already booked is a reminder of the walk, not a side sold on the chase. Keep new fells off this list.
What the assistant must not say while it chases
A side. Whose tree. How far to cut. “If it hangs over, you can.” That sentence, on a recorded outbound call, is yours.
A crown price from a photo they want to send while you chase the gate. Flag it. Do not price it to keep them on the line.
Climb. Go up and look. Never, on a chase or on an inbound.
A Saturday the book does not have. Check first. Last week’s pad is how you double-book a hedge morning.
Water on a floor. Not this list. Do not send a plumber from a garden chase.
How CITT handles the chase
- You build the list. Name, number on the file, one purpose.
- SMS first if you use it, in the language of the original booking.
- Voice for what SMS did not close — locked gate, no answer, a day that has to move.
- The call stops if the person is not on the file, or if they ask for a side.
- A new day is checked against the same book the crew uses.
- You get the transcript, the yes or no on the gate, and any flagged question.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
What you set first
Export Saturday hedges without a confirmed opener. Export irrigation visits after a dry week. Export villa Fridays in the next seven days. One purpose each.
Write the opening line: crew, name on the file, stop if they do not recognise it. Write the forbidden sentences: side, crown price, climb, plumber.
Connect the book so a moved Saturday is a real Saturday. Keep neighbour numbers off the list unless they are the opener on the file.
A chase that takes a side has stopped being reception. Put that in the notes, in those words, if you have to.
After the list is worked
A hedge that would have been locked on Saturday now has a name who opens, or a slot you can give to irrigation. A villa that would have been empty on Friday now has a key or a moved day.
It does not replace the walk. It replaces the morning you were never going to spend on the phone. The side, if any, is still on site. The gate is the only yes or no this call needed.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gate chase before Saturday | Yes, from your list | When someone has time | If you write a script |
| Round and irrigation reminders | Yes | Yes | Sometimes |
| Starts with the name on the file | Yes | Yes | If you insist |
| Takes a side to hurry the gate | Never — the gardener measures on site | The gardener does, after the line | A risk if the script drifts |
| Answers a fell price from a photo | No — flags the gardener | The walk does | Must not; sometimes does |
| Offers a Saturday the book does not have | No — checks the book, or takes a callback | If they check | Often from last week's pad |
| Rings a neighbour about someone else's pine | No — only the number on the file | Only if you said so | A risk if the list was not read |
What unchased Saturday gates cost one spring week
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people, 18 open visits before a Saturday, each waiting on a gate or a timer box.
- This example treats 8 of those 18 as still missing two days later.
- A visit that sits incomplete, or is pulled when the gate is locked at nine, wastes about €65 of reserved time — put your own figure in, not ours.
- A two-day outbound chase recovers half of those missing opens. Challenge this first; crews vary.
- 8 visits still open on paper, two days out.
- Half recovered — 4 visits that move on the gate they needed.
- 4 × €65 = €260 of reserved time protected, in one week.
- Several such weeks in the growing season — this example counts eight.
About €2,080 in that season of van time, from calls that only ask whether someone can open.
What it costs
CITT is pay as you go: no packages, no minimum, no contract. The current rates — the monthly fee per number and the per-minute rate — are on the pricing section of the home page, which is the only place they are published.
Frequently asked questions
Can it tell them which beds still need irrigation?
It can name the visit you put on the list — Saturday hedge, timer after the dry week, tree measure. It should not rebuild the garden on the call, and it should not decide that a drip line is finished. If they ask whose tree it is in the meantime, that is a callback. The gardener measures on site.
What if they ask you to cut from the neighbour's side, on the chase call?
The assistant does not answer. It says the gardener measures on site, takes the question in the client's words, and ends the chase. A chase that becomes a side has no reviewer, no file note of a decision, and no walk attached. The transcript still helps — the gardener returns a real question rather than “they rang”.
Can it offer a new day if the gate cannot open on Saturday?
Yes, if you allow that purpose and if it checks the book before it offers a day. It still does not price a crown beyond the visit type you entered. A reminder that starts taking a side has stopped being a reminder.
Does it still ask for the name when we ring?
Yes. The call opens with the crew name, the name on the file, and it stops if the person on the line does not recognise them. That is how you avoid briefing a neighbour about a hedge, or a housekeeper about a pine that is not on their file.
Can it chase a villa Friday from an existing round?
As a reminder, yes: we have a tidy this week, can you open, here is who must be at the gate. Not as a sentence that a tree on the boundary is included, and not as a fell. “We still have Saturday at 08:30 for the hedge” is reception. “We'll cut their side as well” is a side you do not make on this call.
Who decides who is on the list?
The crew. The assistant does not invent people to ring. You export or tick the files that need a reminder or a chase, with one purpose each. A list that mixes “is the gate open” with “see if they want the pine down” is two jobs, and only the first one belongs here.
