Basementgrid is built around one straightforward idea: every maintenance job should be a clean, closed record.
Here's the process. A work order gets raised. It's designated to a vendor. The vendor assigns it to a technician. The technician shows up and completes the required procedure. The BM verifies and accepts the work. The work order is completed and moves on to payment.
That's it. No hanging tasks, no ambiguity about what happened.
Think of it like a visit to the doctor
Every work order works the same way a medical visit does. When you see a doctor and the problem can be treated on the spot, they treat it and close the case. Simple.
But sometimes the doctor can't fully treat you in that visit. Maybe they don't have the right medicine on hand. Maybe the case needs a specialist. Either way, they don't leave your file open indefinitely. They close the current visit and schedule a follow-up.
Maintenance jobs work exactly the same way. A technician might arrive on site and find that the job needs parts that aren't on hand, or a fix that's outside what they're equipped to handle. That's fine. What isn't fine is leaving the job hanging.
The rule for vendors: clock in, and close it out
As long as the technician has arrived on site, they should clock in. Before they leave, they should complete the procedure and close the job — even if the job isn't fully resolved.
If a follow-up job is needed, the technician makes that known to the building manager, who then raises a new job for the follow-up work. The original job still gets closed. It just has a clear next step attached to it, the same way a doctor's follow-up appointment is a new visit, not an extension of the old one.
Why this matters
An open, untouched work order doesn't help anyone. It sits there without telling you whether the vendor showed up, what they found, or what's still outstanding. And when it comes time to evaluate vendor performance, that gap becomes a real problem. There's no record to point to.
Closing every job, and cleanly spinning off follow-ups when needed, is what keeps your maintenance history intact and your vendor accountability real.
How to set this expectation with your vendors
This works best when vendors understand the standard upfront, not after the fact.
When onboarding a new vendor, make it part of the conversation: every job gets clocked in on arrival and closed before they leave, with follow-ups flagged rather than jobs left open. Don't assume it's implied.
For existing vendors, a simple message reinforces the standard:
"Just a reminder on how we handle work orders — once you're on site, clock in, and before you leave, close out the job in the system. If something needs a follow-up (parts, specialist knowledge, etc.), let us know and we'll raise a new job for it. Please avoid leaving jobs open or untouched, as it affects how we track and evaluate completed work."
If a vendor repeatedly leaves jobs open, it's worth raising directly rather than letting it slide. Since job completion data feeds into vendor performance evaluation, unclosed jobs distort that record and make it harder to justify renewing (or not renewing) a vendor down the line.
