Domestic Duties Commercial Ltd. — Online Booking Platform

Overview

Domestic Duties Commercial Ltd. is a small commercial cleaning company with over 15 years of experience, serving businesses across Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Like many small service businesses, they were running on phone calls, paper diaries and manual follow-ups — a process that worked, but didn't scale and cost hours every week.

The brief was simple: give a small business the same digital tools that large cleaning franchises take for granted, without the enterprise price tag. The result is a custom-built React and Express platform backed by MongoDB that lets customers book and pay online, syncs every appointment straight into the team's Google Calendar, and sends automated WhatsApp reminders the day before each job — all managed from a single admin dashboard.

Key Features

Online Booking with Real-Time Availability

The core of the platform is a multi-step booking flow for specialist services like oven cleaning and carpet & upholstery. Customers pick a date from a live availability calendar that factors in existing bookings, blackout dates and per-service slot limits, then choose a time window and enter their details. A persistent sidebar summary keeps the selected service, date, time and deposit amount visible throughout. The entire flow is mobile-first — critical for a business whose customers are often booking from their phone between meetings.

Stripe Payment Integration

Deposits are collected at the point of booking to lock in the appointment slot. The system supports both percentage-based and fixed deposit amounts, configurable per service from the admin panel. Stripe Elements provides a secure, PCI-compliant payment form embedded directly into the booking flow. A bank transfer fallback is available for customers who prefer it, with clear account details and a unique reference generated automatically.

Google Calendar Sync

Every confirmed booking is automatically pushed to Google Calendar via the Google Calendar API. Each provider on the team can connect their own Google account through an OAuth flow in the admin panel, so appointments appear on their personal or shared calendar in real time — complete with client name, phone number, address and service notes in the event description. If a booking is cancelled, the calendar event is removed automatically. This replaced a manual diary system entirely, meaning the team always has an up-to-date schedule on their phone without touching the admin panel.

Automated WhatsApp Reminders

No-shows are expensive for a small service business. The platform integrates with WhatsApp via Twilio or the Meta Business API to send automated appointment reminders the day before each booking. Messages are personalised with the client's name, service type, date and time, and invite the customer to reply directly if they need to reschedule. This single feature dramatically reduces missed appointments and frees up the business owner from making manual reminder calls every evening.

Commercial Quote Builder

For larger contract cleaning enquiries — offices, factories, schools, showrooms — a dedicated quote request form captures business details, premises type, specific requirements and up to five supporting photographs. The image upload supports drag-and-drop with live previews, file size validation and format restrictions. Submissions arrive by email with all attachments, ready for the business to price up and respond within 24 hours.

Built for a Small Business

Every decision on this project was guided by one question: what will actually save this business time and win them more work? The admin panel lets the owner manage services, pricing, availability, blackout dates and provider calendars from one place. Customers can self-serve bookings at any hour without a phone call. Payments are secured upfront. Reminders go out automatically. The entire platform runs on a single VPS with minimal overhead — modern tools at a small-business budget.

Technologies

React, Express.js, MongoDB, Stripe, Google Calendar API, WhatsApp Business API (Twilio / Meta), Vite, Node.js