Case study · Plumbing
Plumbing: Patrick L.'s journey with the ORKYO Business Scan.
Patrick gets calls while he's on a job himself: requests, quotes, and invoices all move at different speeds.
These case studies are examples designed to illustrate how ORKYO works.
The illustrative case
Patrick L.
Owner — Plumbing company
- Sector
- Plumbing company: troubleshooting, repairs, installations, and small jobs
- Headcount
- 7 people
- What the business does
- Requests come in continuously, some noted on a phone, others sent to the office.
The starting situation
A typical week: calls come in while Patrick is on a job himself, quotes wait for an answer with no one sure who should follow up, finished jobs stay administratively open, invoices go out late, and a few payments are overdue with no structured follow-up.
- Patrick gets a call while he's on a job himself.
- Some quotes go unanswered, with no one sure who should follow up.
- After the job, the information needed for invoicing arrives late.
- Unpaid invoices are watched, but follow-ups aren't structured.
Information requested to put the Business Scan in context
Sector — Plumbing
Headcount range — 6 to 10 employees
Company context
- Current setup
- Requests split between the owner's phone and the office
- Illustrative activity
- A mix of urgent calls and scheduled work
- Main difficulty
- Tracking quotes and payments depends on the owner's availability
These details describe the scenario shown. Not all of them correspond to fields requested in the Business Scan, and no data is automatically retrieved from the company's software.
What the Business Scan reveals
The owner answers the ORKYO Business Scan V3: 17 questions covering customer acquisition and engagement, planning and execution, billing and money, and infrastructure and continuity. Each question has two parts and four answer levels. The questionnaire is the same for every business; results are then put in context based on sector, headcount, reported impacts, and the owner's validations.
The four sections
- 1. Customer acquisition and engagement
- 2. Planning and execution
- 3. Billing and money
- 4. Infrastructure and continuity
How it works
- • 17 questions
- • 2 parts per question, so 34 parts total
- • 4 answer levels per part
- • About 10 minutes
- • Available without an account; creating one is optional
- • Can be saved to an ORKYO space and resumed securely
- • Explanatory guide available throughout the questionnaire
- • An overall maturity score and 8 scores by dimension
- • A reported-impact step, followed by context from sector and headcount
- • Owner validation, then an optional choice of 0 to 3 priorities
- • A personalized summary distinguishing ORKYO's urgency ranking from the recommended operational order
Dimensions likely to come up in this scenario
- Devis et conversion
- Planification et capacité
- Facturation
- Encaissement / créances
Actual results depend solely on the answers and impacts reported by the owner.
Example of possible findings
Quotes with no defined follow-up
An unanswered quote can stay unanswered: no follow-up rule is in place.
Jobs closed out late
Finishing the work and closing it administratively are days apart.
Invoicing dependent on late information
The invoice waits for details that come in after the fact.
Irregular payment follow-up
Unpaid invoices are known, but follow-ups don't happen on a set rhythm.
Owner validation
ORKYO doesn't decide on the owner's behalf. Every finding is put to them, and they respond using the options shown in the app:
- Yes, it's important
- Yes, but not a priority
- No, that doesn't apply
- I'd like to discuss it
The priorities chosen
- Track outstanding quotes
- Close out jobs quickly
- Make unpaid invoices and follow-ups visible
In this example, the owner chooses these priorities. A real user can select 0, 1, 2, or 3.
Why were these priorities chosen?
Track outstanding quotes
- Finding
- Quotes with no defined follow-up
- Impact on the owner or team
- Unanswered quotes that are never followed up on
- Why this priority was chosen
- A forgotten quote is an opportunity that disappears without a decision.
- Desired benefit
- See at all times which quotes need a follow-up.
- First concrete action
- Set a follow-up deadline when each quote is sent.
Close out jobs quickly
- Finding
- Jobs closed out late
- Impact on the owner or team
- Finished jobs still administratively open
- Why this priority was chosen
- Closing the job is what triggers invoicing.
- Desired benefit
- Shorten the delay between work done and invoice.
- First concrete action
- Report job details back the same day.
Make unpaid invoices and follow-ups visible
- Finding
- Irregular payment follow-up
- Impact on the owner or team
- Late payments discovered too late
- Why this priority was chosen
- A delay spotted early is easier to resolve.
- Desired benefit
- Track receivables by age.
- First concrete action
- Set a weekly meeting to review unpaid invoices.
A file, from request to payment
1. Customer request
A customer reports a leak and a pipe that needs redoing; the request is logged.
2. Preparing the quote
The diagnosis, parts, and labour are gathered in the same file.
3. Sending the quote
The quote is sent and its send date is recorded.
4. Following up on the quote
A follow-up deadline is set right when it's sent, so the quote isn't forgotten.
5. Customer acceptance
The customer's agreement and the agreed scope are noted in the file.
6. Scheduling the job
The job is scheduled taking already-committed urgent calls into account.
7. Doing the work
The plumber does the work and reports back details the same day.
8. Preparing and sending the invoice
The invoice is prepared as soon as the job closes, from information already on file.
9. Following up on an unpaid invoice
Unpaid invoices are reviewed weekly, by age.
10. Receiving and recording payment
Payment received is recorded and removed from the receivables to follow up.
This example describes a recommended path, from the customer's request to payment. It does not describe an automation already performed on the owner's behalf.
The gain being sought
The gain being sought
- Immediately find the status of a file.
- Know which quote needs a follow-up.
- Spot finished work that needs to be invoiced.
- Identify an unpaid invoice to follow up on.
- Limit duplicate data entry and information searches.
- Reduce follow-ups done from memory.
- Spend more time on clients, operations, and growth.
If 12 jobs a week each require 10 minutes of avoidable searching or follow-up, better organization could free up about 2 hours per week.
This illustrative estimate is not a promise of results. The actual gain depends on the business's volume and organization.
Before / with a more structured organization
Before
- • Scattered information
- • Follow-ups done from memory
- • Forgotten quotes
- • Delayed invoicing
- • Irregular follow-ups
- • Limited visibility into payments
With a more structured organization
- • File status visible
- • Next action identifiable
- • Quote tracked
- • Finished work passed on to invoicing
- • Invoice followed up on
- • Payment recorded
- • Owner less dependent on memory
ORKYO urgency ranking
- 1. Make unpaid invoices and follow-ups visible
- 2. Track outstanding quotes
- 3. Close out jobs quickly
Recommended operational order
- 1. Quotes tracked
- 2. Jobs closed out
- 3. Work invoiced
- 4. Payments tracked and followed up
Where is your business losing time between the customer's request and payment?
The ORKYO Business Scan helps you spot the main administrative friction points and choose up to three improvement priorities. About 10 minutes, no account required.