A status page for trades and home services
A trades business does not run servers, but it does rely on a phone line, a booking form and a quote tool. When one fails, customers need to know.
What goes wrong for busy trades
You are on a roof or under a sink. If the phone line or booking form stops working, you may not know for hours.
- The office phone line is down, and customers think you are ignoring them.
- The online booking form stops sending jobs through, and enquiries are missed.
- A quote or invoice system is unavailable, and customers wait without being told.
- Staff in the office keep explaining the same thing over and over.
How a status page helps a trades business
Keep it simple. Three or four components, and one person who can update them from a phone.
A few clear components
List Phone line, Booking form and Online quotes, and mark each as Operational or not. See how components work.
Quick incident updates
Post a short note, such as "Phone line fault, please use the booking form". See how incidents work.
Team access
Add the office manager and a colleague, so updates do not depend on one person. See the team features.
Your own address
Use a free address or your company domain, such as status.yourbusiness.co.uk.
Email subscribers
Regular commercial customers can subscribe to hear about problems.
Worked example: a phone line fault
A fictional heating firm, Kestrel Heating, loses its main phone line in a cold snap.
The office manager posts an update
Phone line is set to Major outage with a note giving a mobile number and the booking form link.
The website points to the page
A line on the contact page links to the status page, so people see it before they ring.
The provider restores the line
The office manager posts Monitoring while calls are tested.
It is resolved
Phone line returns to Operational and the incident stays on the history page.
This is an illustration of how the features fit together, not a real customer story.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need technical skills?
No. Creating a page and posting an update takes a few minutes, and it needs nothing installed.
Does it detect problems with my phone line?
No. Orbis Status does not monitor anything. Someone on your team updates it when there is a problem.
Is it worth it for a small firm?
It is free, so there is little to lose. It will not suit everyone, and a plain note on your website may be enough for some.
