Four premises types and what each one constrains

0 · Why the row comes before the column

On the matrix the premises type is the row and the operation is the column, and the row is written first for a reason: the premises decides what is physically possible, and the operation only decides what is being attempted. A deep clean in an empty flat and a deep clean in a workshop bay share a name and almost nothing else.

Each of the four types below carries one constraint that outranks the rest. Where that constraint cannot be met on the day, the visit is rescheduled rather than reduced, because a half-finished floor has to be done twice and the second time costs more work than the first.

1 · Flats between tenancies

Access: Keys come from whoever holds them against a signed receipt, and go back the same way. Nothing is left on a latch and nothing is posted.
Services: The supply is often capped between tenancies. Where there is no water the work is done from containers filled off site; where there is no power there is no machine, so the floor is done by hand and the visit is longer.
Substrates: Usually vinyl sheet in the kitchen and bathroom, carpet or laminate elsewhere. Laminate is damp-mopped and never flooded, because the board swells at the joints and does not come back.
Waste: Bagged and taken away. It does not go into the block's own bin store, which belongs to the residents and is somebody else's round.

2 · Stairs, landings, bin stores and chutes

Access: By fob or by the caretaker. Work is planned around the refuse round, because a bin store cleaned before the bins are emptied has been cleaned around the bins.
Working method: Half the width at a time, signed, with the dry half left to walk on. Landings are taken one floor at a time so that no resident meets two wet flights in a row.
The chute: Hopper doors and their frames are cleaned by hand. The chute itself and anything inside the duct is separate work and is not covered by a communal clean.
Matting: Entrance matting is lifted first and the well beneath it cleaned, then the matting, then the hard floor. In the other order the matting puts the grit straight back down.

3 · Workshop bays, ramps and the forecourt apron

Before anything wet: The interceptor is located and its condition noted. If it cannot be identified, the floor is degreased and picked up wet, with no rinse run at all.
Isolation: Ramps and lifts are isolated and left down, and sockets near the work are isolated before any water is introduced. This is arranged with whoever runs the bay, in advance, in writing.
Sequence: Sweep for swarf and grit, degrease, agitate, pick up wet, then neutralise. The apron is taken in sections so that a vehicle can always be moved off whichever section is wet.
Markings: Bay lines and pit edges are cleaned by hand. Aggressive pads take the paint off the line as readily as the dirt off the floor.

4 · Shop floor, stockroom and back-of-house on the parade

Timing: After close, or before opening, agreed with the unit holder for a named date rather than a window. The parade shares a yard, so a van is in and out rather than parked for the session.
Stock: Moved or covered by the holder before the visit. Nothing saleable is handled, and shelving is only taken down where the method statement says it will be.
Back-of-house: The canopy and its filter housing are degreased by hand. Ductwork above the canopy is not part of this work and is written out of the scope in advance so there is no argument about it afterwards.
Order of rooms: Front first, stockroom and back-of-house after, so the last floor done is the one everybody walks out across.

With the row settled, the column follows: what is actually being done on the visit is set out operation by operation on the operations page, and the paperwork that carries it is on method.