Weekly Admin Checklist for Contractors: A Routine That Fits in Two Hours

Admin that waits for a free evening becomes a Sunday night with a shoebox of receipts and three customers who never heard back. By the end of this lesson you’ll have a 15-minute daily wrap-up, a two-hour weekly admin block with a checklist, and a short monthly and quarterly list, built from the routines in the other lessons of this course.

At the end of every work day, in the truck or at the kitchen table:

1. Reply to every new inquiry you haven’t answered (how to respond).
2. Photograph today’s receipts and name them with the job.
3. Write today’s job notes: hours, materials used, anything the customer asked for, anything that changed.
4. Send any invoice for work finished today.
5. Look at tomorrow: first address, materials needed, customer confirmed.

Same day and time every week, in your calendar like a job. Example: Friday, 1:00 to 3:00. The minutes are a starting plan; adjust them after a few weeks.

Total: 2 hours. If a section takes much longer every week, that’s the part to fix: a template, a habit, or a tool.

Add 30 to 60 minutes to one weekly block:

1. Monthly close: reconcile every account, review profit and loss, and check profit on each finished job.
2. Lead review: where this month’s inquiries came from and which became jobs.
3. Renewals: anything expiring in the next 60 days (the deadlines calendar).
4. Backup: update the second copy of your records.

1. Estimated tax: confirm the amount with your accountant two weeks before each due date.
2. Prices: compare your real hours and costs on recent jobs with what you priced. Update your price list if they’ve drifted.
3. Overhead: check your monthly overhead against your plan. New costs since last quarter?

• Protect it like a job. Don’t book customers into it. If something has to move, move it to the next day, not “later”.
• Same place, same tools. One laptop or tablet, one list of open items.
• Start with the money sections if you run out of time: invoices and payments before anything else.
• Keep a parking list for anything that comes up during the week, so it gets done in the block instead of interrupting a job.

This week:

1. Put the two-hour weekly block in your calendar as a repeating event.
2. Set a daily 15-minute reminder at the end of your work day.
3. Copy the weekly checklist into your notes or print it.
4. After the first block, write down how long each section really took.

Plan two hours a week plus 15 minutes at the end of each work day as a starting point, then adjust after a few weeks of tracking how long each part really takes. If admin keeps growing, look for the section that takes longest and fix that one.

Money first: invoice every finished job and send reminders on overdue invoices. Then reply to open inquiries and estimates. Books and filing come after, in one or two catch-up blocks.

When your weekly block regularly runs well past two hours, or the work you can’t take on is worth more than the cost of help, a part-time bookkeeper or office helper can pay for itself. Track your admin time for a month before you decide.

MotionOps is field service software for contractors. Appointments & Schedule keeps next week in one place, Invoicing & Payments shows who still owes you, Lead Source Tracking records where each inquiry came from, and AI Receipt Capture fills in receipt details from a photo.

See all features or compare plans. When you’re ready for your first jobs, book a MotionOps demo.

Contractor Starter Hub: Business Administration Essentials, lesson 5 of 5

• Previous lesson: Contractor Taxes, Deadlines and Renewals: A Calendar for Your First Year
• Next course: Run Your First Jobs
• All five lessons: Business Administration Essentials