Organising job files in OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox, with a folder template

Give every job its own folder, named with the year, a job number, the postcode and the client's surname, for example "2026-041 SN2 4AB Patel". Inside, use the same eight numbered subfolders every time: enquiry and quote, contract, drawings, orders and bills, site photos, certificates, invoices, and handover. The same layout works in OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox.

Why do job files end up in a mess?

Because they arrive from everywhere: WhatsApp photos, email attachments, merchant invoices, drawings from the architect, certificates from the testing app. Each lands wherever it was opened, and finding them later means searching three phones and two inboxes.

When the person who knew where everything lived walked out, so did the filing system. A roofing and cladding firm in Ireland we spoke to kept every job in one Excel sheet. Both work while one person holds it all in their head, and both fail when that person is off, busy or gone. A folder template written down is the cheapest fix.

What should the folder structure be?

Years at the top, jobs inside, and the same subfolders in every job. Numbering the subfolders keeps them in the order a job runs, whichever app you use.

Jobs/
  2026/
    2026-041 SN2 4AB Patel/
      01 Enquiry and quote/
      02 Contract and variations/
      03 Drawings and specs/
      04 Orders and supplier bills/
      05 Site photos/
        Before/
        During/
        After/
      06 Certificates and compliance/
      07 Invoices and payments/
      08 Handover and warranty/
    2026-042 postcode surname/
  Templates/
    _Job template/   (copy this for every new job)
Admin/
  Insurance/
  Accreditations/
  Vans/
  Staff/
  RAMS masters/

Make an empty "_Job template" folder with the eight subfolders and copy it for each new job. In Google Drive and OneDrive, copying folders is easier from the desktop sync app than the browser; in all three, it takes seconds.

Number jobs in sequence through the year: 2026-001, 2026-002. Use the same number on the quote, invoice and folder, so a search for "2026-041" finds everything.

How should files be named?

Start with the date written year-month-day, then what it is. "2026-10-14 Quote v2.pdf" and "2026-11-03 Variation 1 extra radiator.pdf" sort themselves in order and need no explanation.

OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox: which should you use?

Use the one that comes with the email you already pay for. Microsoft 365 firms should use OneDrive and SharePoint; Google Workspace firms should use Google Drive. Dropbox suits firms that want file storage on its own, or already use it with architects and clients.

Prices and storage change; check the vendor page before you buy. If photos fill the space fast, the larger plan is usually cheaper than an hour a week deleting files.

How do you share folders with clients and subcontractors?

Share the one subfolder they need, not the job folder. In Google Drive, sharing a folder gives access to every file and subfolder inside it, and you can't give someone less access to a single file than they have to its folder.

So share "03 Drawings and specs" with the subbie as viewer, and "05 Site photos/After" with the client at handover. Keep "04 Orders and supplier bills" and "07 Invoices and payments" private: they show your costs and margin. Google's roles are viewer, commenter and editor; editors can delete and move files and, by default, share them, so give that to staff only.

How long should you keep a job's files?

Long enough to meet the tax rules and defend the work, and no longer for personal data you don't need. HMRC sets minimums for accounting records. The data protection rules say not to keep personal data for longer than you need it, and expect you to decide and justify how long that is.

Certificates, warranties and handover packs often need keeping longer for the building's sake, and on any project with more than one contractor, domestic jobs included, CDM 2015 requires a health and safety file. HMRC's internal deadlines don't cover those, so decide a retention period for each subfolder and write it in the Templates folder. The ICO's guidance is that small organisations doing low-risk processing may not need a documented retention policy, but must still review and delete personal data they no longer need.

A heating firm in Northern Ireland with around 700 gas customers was wary of switching software for fear of losing six to seven years of records. Files you own, in a folder structure you control, are the protection against that. Landlord work brings its own record duties; see landlord customers for heating and electrical firms.

How do you get the team to file things in the right place?

Make the right place the easy place. Put the job folder link in the diary entry, show engineers how to save photos straight into "05 Site photos" from their phone, and check one job a week. The wider rollout approach is in getting staff to use new software, and the owner bottleneck covers why "ask me, I'll know where it is" stops scaling.

Common questions