A few questions for a startup Handy person business

[and_breathe]

I’ve just subscribed to the Professional Plan so I can use a custom domain however I need to achieve the following:

1. I don’t want to use square for my website, I already have that covered but I would like to embed the booking flow

2. I want to use my domain for Square to send Appointment confirmations as I think at the moment they are ending up in my clients spam folder. ie [email protected]

3. Where do I confirm the email settings and on my DNS I’ll need to add SPF and DMARC to say Square can use my email address - I don't want to pay/use google for email hosting - so I think I may have bought Pro and it won't allow me to do what I want?

4. Estimates. When I create an estimate for a client, how is the best way to create an Appointment from that? Ideally say if I go to a job and estimate it will be a full day, I could send an Estimate for say £180, I then want the client to book a days themselves but at that quoted price. 

5. Appointments, at the moment I don’t have prices, I have From £30, so when a client books an hour, am I best to amend the appointment to include a cost, if they like they can then cancel the appointment out if we go ahead, I can checkout at the appointment?  

6. Square is working really well for me, but it would be great to have some advice with someone especially on points 4 and 5 to see if I can utilise a better workflow for my type of business,

for example, if someone was to book a plumbing job, if I could get them to confirm they know where their stopcock is, and that it's not seized!

or allow options for job discussions (I ask clients to book a time to chat), so that they choose Phone/Remote or Onsite Visit.

Also is there any way I can create a dedicated place for clients to list their tasks, ie fix tap, trim door, reattach towel rail...  

[Minion]

Hey @and_breathe 

Let me ask you a question(s) if you don't mind answering.  I'm not in the same field as you, but as busy as I get, I personally find it easier to schedule the customers around my schedule , possibly giving them a couple options, if my next available doesn't work for them.  

Im in the automotive industry, so while I have my services priced out and set up for xx amount of hours per vehicle some jobs take longer than others as I am sure you are well aware.  For this reason, I got rid of my online booking (per say).  Customers can still book online through Google, but I have to approve or deny it.  Going back to my original question, is it easier for you to let them schedule, on their own?

[and_breathe]

What's the point of using square appointments then? I want my customers to self book, and I allow time after each appointment to avoid clashes. 

Without sounding ungrateful you've not helped with any of my questions, but questioned the bit I am happy with.

[Minion]

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@and_breathe wrote:

What's the point of using square appointments then? I want my customers to self book, and I allow time after each appointment to avoid clashes. 

Without sounding ungrateful you've not helped with any of my questions, but questioned the bit I am happy with.

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I was actually trying to get a better sense of your business and workflow.  

So to start, you should probably add pricing in their with services, whether it be a base price or the actually cost.  I have no idea how you run your business so those are completely up to you as long as the customer understands it I think its fine.  

As for creating an appointment from an estimate, I don't think that can be done, You would have to manually add them to an appointment yourself. You can convert the estimate into an invoice. @and_breathe 

[mitin]

Hi @and_breathe 
Few questions to help understand your need
Where is your domain name registered at? 
The only notifications email setting option I can find is this one Settings>Notifications>Account 
Depending on your domain registrar, most of them offer free email forwarding so that should work for you without additional costs
The best way to achieve 4 & 5 would be to attach a service associated with the appointment, you can have prices in your services that would be able to get attached to an appointment
I hope this helps

[and_breathe]

It's ok. It doesn't matter where my Domain is hosted, it seems that Square cannot send out as the domain email anyway.

Unfortunately you've missed the understanding for my questions too

[and_breathe]

I don't want to sound ungrateful but unless you understand the technicality of the questions, please don't reply for replying sake, we are filling the internet with nonsense otherwise.

[mitin]

@and_breathe We are all sellers here volunteering our time to support one another. While it's clear you're frustrated, being condescending to those trying to help isn't productive. If multiple people are 'missing the point' of your question, it might be worth rephrasing your technical requirements so we can better assist you. Let’s keep the tone respectful so the community remains a helpful space for everyone

[and_breathe]

I was polite and respectful, I said I didn’t want to sound ungrateful. 

I came here for help, not justify why I want things set up the way I’d like to achieve. . 

[Sadew68]

I boosted a few stubborn pages by getting solid forum links and local tweaks, and the difference was pretty quick. If you want to see the service I used, just click here since it leads to the team that handled everything for me through their client portal and support crew. The nice part was not having to juggle multiple vendors or guess what to fix next.