Creating a domestic or commercial client

Written By Matthew Smith

Last updated 29 days ago

This guide explains how to create a new client inside WorkNinja. You can create either a commercial client or a domestic client, depending on the type of customer you are adding.

Before You Start

To create a client, go to the Create section in WorkNinja.

At the top of this section, you will see tabs for creating:

  • Clients

  • Quotes

  • Jobs

  • Invoices

For this guide, select Clients.

Creating a Commercial Client

A commercial client is designed for businesses or organisations that may have multiple contacts, multiple addresses, and contract details.

To create a commercial client, choose Commercial Client.

1. Add the Company Details

Start by entering the main company information, including:

  • Company name

  • Business type

  • Client ID or reference number

  • Lead source

  • Primary email address

  • Primary phone number

This information will be used as the main record for the commercial client.

2. Add Company Contacts

Next, scroll down to the Company Contacts section.

You can add as many company contacts as needed. This is useful when a business has multiple people involved, such as office staff, accounts contacts, site managers, or emergency contacts.

For each contact, you can choose whether they are a:

  • Billing contact

  • Job contact

  • Emergency contact

You can also mark one contact as the primary contact. This person will be used as the main contact for the commercial client.

3. Add Addresses

Next, add the addresses linked to the commercial client.

Click Add Address to create a new address.

You can also choose whether an address should be marked as the billing address.

Commercial clients can have multiple addresses, which is useful if you work with companies that have different sites, branches, offices, or properties.

4. Add Contract Details

You can also add contract details to the client record.

This allows you to store important contract information that you may need to refer back to later.

To upload a contract document, click the Upload button and select the relevant file.

5. Assign Contacts to Addresses

Once you have added company contacts and addresses, you can assign contacts to specific addresses.

This turns a company contact into an address contact.

This is useful when certain people only need to receive communication related to a specific address, such as tenants, site managers, or property contacts.

To assign contacts to an address:

  1. Click Manage Contacts.

  2. Select an existing company contact, or create a new contact by entering their details.

  3. Click Add Contact.

  4. The contact will appear in the selected contacts list.

  5. Click Save.

6. Save the Commercial Client

Once all relevant details have been added, click Save.

WorkNinja will then take you to the client view page, where you can see the full client record.

Creating a Domestic Client

A domestic client is used for individual customers, such as homeowners or private residential clients.

Creating a domestic client works in a similar way to creating a commercial client, but with one key difference:

A domestic client can only have one contact and one address.

To create a domestic client, choose Domestic Client.

1. Add the Client Details

Enter the customer’s details, including:

  • Full name

  • Email address

  • Phone number

  • Client ID or reference number

  • Lead source

  • Address

2. Save the Domestic Client

Once the details have been added, click Save.

WorkNinja will take you to the client view page, where you can review the client’s details.

Commercial vs Domestic Clients

The main difference between commercial and domestic clients is the amount of information they can hold.

A commercial client can have multiple contacts, multiple addresses, and contract details.

A domestic client is simpler and is designed for one person at one address.

Summary

Creating a client in WorkNinja only takes a few minutes.

Use a commercial client when you are working with a business, organisation, or customer with multiple sites or contacts.

Use a domestic client when you are working with an individual customer at a single address.