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Adding a client
A client is the account you bill. Everything else in CleanFlo hangs off one: the sites you clean, the jobs booked at them, the invoices you raise and the portal your client logs into.
On this page
Most people add their first client within a minute of finishing setup, and it takes about that long. The record itself is small: a name, someone to ring, and a few tags. The parts worth slowing down for are the tags, which your cleaners read on their phones, and the portal, which decides what your client can see.
The Clients screen
Open Clients in the sidebar. The page is titled Clients & Locations because it holds both: a client at the top level, and the sites you actually turn up at underneath. The three figures across the header count what you have.
Manage relationships and service sites
| Client | Contact | Sites | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RH Riverside Homes jane@riverside.com | Jane Lawson | 3 sites | Active | ||
| SM St Marks Medical Centre admin@stmarks.co.uk | Dr Aled Pryce | 1 site | Active | ||
| HL Harbour Lettings lettings@harbour.co.uk | Owen Trelease | 9 sites | Active | ||
| BV Bay View Offices facilities@bayview.co.uk | Marta Quinn | 2 sites | Inactive |
Filling in the sheet
Press Add Client and a sheet slides in from the right, headed Add New Client with the sub-line "Create a new client record for your company". It is five labelled sections top to bottom. Only the first field is compulsory.
Name the client
Under Business / Client Name, fill in Client name *. The placeholder reads "e.g. Riverside Homes London". Use the name you will put on the invoice, because that is where it ends up. For a domestic customer this is simply their name.
Give yourself someone to ring
Under Primary Contact there are three fields: Contact name ("e.g. Jane Lawson"), Email address ("jane@riverside.com") and Phone number ("+44 7700 900000"). All three are optional, but the email is what portal links and invoices are sent to, so leaving it out limits you later.
Tag anything a cleaner needs to know
Under Tags, the label reads "Quick-reference tags for cleaners". Tap the presets that apply. These are the ones that show up next to the client name in the app, so tag for the doorstep, not for your filing.
Decide about the portal
Under Client Portal, leave Enable Client Portal off unless you want this client logging in. Switching it on reveals a PIN, a visibility level and a requests toggle. You can come back to this at any time from Edit Details.
Add anything private
Under Notes, Internal notes (optional) has the placeholder "Any additional info about this client…". Internal means internal: it never appears in the portal and cleaners do not see it.
Save
Press Add Client at the foot. A toast confirms with Client "Riverside Homes" added and the new record appears at the top of the table.
Tags are for the doorstep
Tags exist for one reason: a cleaner standing outside a property at half seven in the morning needs to know whether there is a dog behind the door and where the key is. There are seven presets, each with its own colour so they are readable at a glance rather than needing to be read word by word.
| Tag | Colour | What people use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Key Holder | Sky blue | You hold a key rather than being let in. Worth knowing before someone drives over. |
| Pet On Site | Amber | A dog or cat is loose. The cleaner keeps the front door shut behind them. |
| Alarm Code | Red | The property is alarmed. Put the code itself in the location Access Notes, not in the tag. |
| Parking Available | Green | There is somewhere to leave the van. Saves a phone call on a first visit. |
| Access Instructions | Purple | Getting in is not obvious. Flags that the notes on the location are worth reading. |
| Fragile Items | Pink | Antiques, glass, instruments. Sets the expectation before anything is moved. |
| Eco Products Only | Teal | The client has asked for specific chemistry, so the usual kit is wrong. |
The field under the presets, Add custom tag..., takes anything you type and adds it with Add. Custom tags are neutral grey, which is a useful signal in itself: coloured means one of the seven safety-and-access facts, grey means something local to you.
The portal section, in short
You can switch the client portal on while you are creating the record, and it is the same set of controls you would find later under Edit Details. There is a whole guide to what the client then sees, so this is only what the four controls do.
What happens next
A saved client is an empty shell until it has a location. The client page opens on its Locations tab showing No locations yet and the line "Add the first service site for Riverside Homes." until you add one, because a job needs an address and the client record does not hold one.
From there the order is always the same: client, then location, then job, then invoice. You can add several clients in a sitting and come back for the addresses, but nothing can be scheduled until at least one location exists.
Common questions
What is the difference between a client and a location?
Can I import a spreadsheet of clients?
Do I have to fill in an email address?
What does the Inactive status actually do?
Still stuck?
Open Support in the app and send us a ticket, or email the team. A real person reads every one.