About the company: Domestic and General is a Dublin-based facilities services company delivering building maintenance, landscaping, cleaning, industrial cleaning, furnishing, and flooring to hundreds of clients. With around 250 employees and roughly 800 recurring contracts every month, Domestic and General keeps sites running smoothly, pairing hands-on service with a growing commitment to smarter, more digital operations.
Domestic and General had a solid Salesforce foundation and a clear ambition: to use far more of the platform’s potential across the business. They wanted Salesforce to work brilliantly for their teams on site, bring more of their day-to-day work online, and give every job a complete digital record. To make that happen, they partnered with Cosimo Consulting. Together they set out to simplify the platform, automate time-heavy admin, and strengthen the foundations underneath it, so that every job, however routine, could be tracked, evidenced, and delivered with confidence, and so the whole team could get the most from Salesforce.
Pain Points
- Ready to Unlock More from Salesforce: Domestic and General had a strong base to build on and were ready to extend Salesforce far beyond quotes and invoicing, right across the business.
- Bringing More Work Online: Some processes, such as audits and proof of work, still lived on paper. The team wanted to capture them directly in Salesforce.
- Building Stronger Foundations: As the business grew, the team wanted clearer structure around their data, permissions, and documentation to keep everything running cleanly.
“We knew we were only scratching the surface of what Salesforce could do. We wanted it to work brilliantly for our teams on site, and that was exactly the opportunity we brought to Cosimo.”
-Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General
The Opportunities Domestic and General Set Out to Tackle
As Domestic and General set out to get even more from Salesforce and make it effortless for every team to use, they identified a clear set of opportunities to simplify, automate, and strengthen the platform.
01, Getting More from Salesforce
- Salesforce was being used mainly for quotes and invoicing, with plenty of scope to extend it across the wider business.
- The team wanted the platform to be intuitive for operatives on site, so adoption would come naturally.
- The goal was for every work order to be completed in the app, giving a complete digital record of every job.
02, Bringing Manual Work Online
- Landscaping and cleaning audits were still done on paper, and the team wanted them captured directly in Salesforce.
- Operatives would benefit from seeing site maps and photos on their phones, making it easy to get up to speed on any site.
- Recording hours digitally would give a clearer, more reliable picture than paper records.
03, Streamlining Time-Heavy Admin
- Consumables invoicing followed a longer process than it needed to, and was ready for automation.
- Updating a staff member across a maintenance plan involved several manual steps that could be simplified.
- Maintenance-plan layouts held more detail than the team used day to day, and would benefit from a cleaner, more focused view.
04, Giving Field Teams More Clarity
- In the Field Service app, teams could see each job’s address, and wanted an easy way to identify the site at a glance too.
- Making site information clearer up front would help teams plan their day and prepare more efficiently.
05, Strengthening Data and Security Foundations
- As the business grew, the team wanted to tidy duplicate records and fields to keep everything running cleanly.
- They wanted a clear permissions structure, so the right people have the right access and sensitive data is well protected.
- Good documentation across the org would make the platform even easier to manage and build on
“As we grew, we wanted a better structure around our permissions, so the right people have the right access and our data is protected. Getting those foundations right was a big priority for us.”
– Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General
The Solution
Cosimo Consulting worked hand in hand with Domestic and General to simplify, rebuild, and strengthen their Salesforce org, always favouring the simplest, most user-friendly solution, and making sure every change worked for the people actually using it on site.
01, Digitising Work and Proof of Service
- Cosimo built landscaping and cleaning audits directly in Salesforce, bringing checklists and photos into one place, and made site maps and photos visible on operatives’ phones so teams always know exactly where to go. On top of this they also built a visible “site name” field in the Field Service app, so teams can identify each job at a glance.
02, Automating Time-Heavy Admin
- Created a custom button and flow to generate consumables invoices automatically, streamlining the process end to end.
- Built a flow so changing one person on a maintenance plan updates all future work orders automatically, while leaving past records intact.
- Simplified the maintenance-plan layout into a cleaner, focused view that is faster to work with.
03, Tracking Every Team Member
- Created a “service team” concept to track operatives, who worked where, when, and for how long even for contractors.
- Gave HR a weekly report to check hours against payroll, plus a reliable record of who was on any site on any date.
- Implemented Salesforce’s archive product to give the team plenty of headroom on storage.
04, Strengthening Security and Data Foundations
- Tidied thousands of duplicate records, with matching and duplicate rules in place to keep data clean going forward.
- Introduced a clear permissions structure, so the right people have the right access and sensitive data is well protected.
- Created proper documentation across the org, and refined the Conga contract templates so information is accurate every time.
The Impact
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5x Faster: Consumables invoicing now takes a day, not a week
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10x Faster: Faster staff reassignment across maintenance plans
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100% Completed: Work orders completed in-app, a company first
Working with Cosimo transformed how Domestic and General uses Salesforce, moving from a fraction of its capacity to something close to its full potential.
By simplifying layouts, automating manual admin, and strengthening the platform, Cosimo helped the team save days of work, protect sensitive data, and give teams clarity on every job. Clients now see greater transparency through consistent service reports, and Domestic and General has the confidence to keep growing.
01, Time Savings and Automation
- Consumables invoicing that once took a week now takes a single day.
- Reassigning staff on maintenance plans is up to 10 times faster, with one change updating every future work order.
- Simplified layouts make training and everyday work faster across around 800 recurring contracts a month.
“What used to take a person a whole week now takes a day. It really is that much faster.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General
02, Clarity and Consistency on Site
- Operatives can see site maps and photos on their phones, so they always know where to go.
- A visible site-name field means teams instantly identify each of their jobs.
- For the first time ever, every work order was completed in the app.
“The clarity clearly improved, they know exactly what they have to do and exactly where to go.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General
03, Stronger Tracking and Accountability
- A new “service team” setup tracks who worked where and when, without a licence for every operative.
- HR now checks hours against payroll each week, with an accurate, lasting record.
- If a query comes in, Domestic and General can see exactly who was on that site on that date.
04, Secure, Well-Structured Foundations
- Thousands of duplicates tidied, with rules in place to keep data clean.
- A clear permissions structure now protects sensitive data and gives the team real peace of mind.
- Proper documentation and improved contract templates mean accurate information every time.
“Now we’ve got a proper structure around our permissions, and our data is well protected. It gives us real peace of mind.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General
05, Confidence and Capability
- Cosimo made sure Nicoleta understood everything they built, and how to change it herself.
- The team’s trust and encouragement gave her the confidence to grow.
- After the project, she earned her Salesforce certification for the first time.
“They gave me the confidence to go for my certification. I honestly owe them some of it.” Nicoleta Istrate, Salesforce Manager, Domestic and General
