Frequently Asked Questions

Expediens is Latin for expedite, the speeding up of a process or getting things done quickly.

It is a service to help you simplify your life and release your time (we like to call it lifestyle management). By outsourcing to us the tasks you'd rather not do, the task still gets done and you end up with more free time. Our relationship manager will ensure your task is completed to your satisfaction by either one of our staff or by a third party sourced by us.

Expediens currently operates in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. If you don't live here, why not? Seriously, we'd love to come to a city near you in the future.

Why not email us at contactus@expediens.com to see what our plans are?

You can have a look at our pricing section for in depth information but here is a quick summary:

- Tasks are charged at £15 per hour.

- Tasks are timed by the minute, not by the hour.

- There is no monthly charge.

- Travel is billed at £15 per hour if a job takes less than 1 hour onsite.

You can have a look at our pricing section for more detailed information but here is a summary:

- If a job can be completed in our office, there is no travel cost.

- If a job takes longer than 1 hour to complete we will waive travel costs.

- If a job takes less than 1 hour to complete then travel costs at charged at £15 per hour.

We will cover the first £5 in any one month of travel related expenses.

i.e. parking charges, petrol, bus fares etc.

Beyond that we'll add it to your invoice at the end of the month. We'll do what we can to reasonably keep this to a minimum and we hope that the £5 figure covers the vast majority.

A large variety of tasks have been completed! We have…

- Picked up shirts from a customer's office, had them ironed and then returned them.

- Researched things to do in Austin, Texas for a client attending a conference.

- Organised Tradesmen on behalf of our clients.

- Had a spare set of keys cut for a client.

- Boxed, shipped and in one case actually delivered some wine for a local entrepreneur with an up and coming wine business

- Picked up a passport application form.

- Organised a dinner for two at the legendary Dalhousie Castle.

House-sitting for members who have tradesmen coming at some point between 8am and 12pm is also one we've had some practice at. Cleaning and gardening are popular as well.

Don't let these examples tie you down. If you are considering booking a task and aren't sure if we can do it just contact us and we'll give you an answer straight away.

We take any request. If we cannot complete the tasks ourselves we outsource this. For example if you required a certified plumber we would find one for you, instead of us trying to fix your leaking sink. Some things are better left to specific professionals and we can liaise with these professionals on your behalf.

The tasks that we can't or won't do are those where there might be moral, ethical or improper concerns (we're sure that won't apply to you), or where regulatory (e.g. to book both flight and hotels for your trip to Paris would require us to be a registered ATOL travel agent. We can book flights or hotels, but not both.) or insurance restrictions prohibit.

We were asked to do research for a client who was investigating putting solar panels on the roof. The total cost would have been £8,000 and so it was time well spent!

Go on, you know you want to beat this.

We've designed Expediens around you. Our understanding of our typical customer is that you want to have a multi-channel access i.e. you want it every which way and why shouldn't you?

So you can use the website to sign-up, book tasks or contact us. You can email us at contactus@expediens.com. Or you can simply phone on 0131 718 6008. We're usually here between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday but you can leave us messages all round the clock should you wish, we'll pick them up as soon as we're back in.

It's an obvious and fair question to ask. Of your 168 hours in a week, you probably spend 60 asleep. You probably work, and travel or prepare for work for a further 50 hours. We'd guess you're eating for at least 10 hours more. That leaves you with 48 hours. According to analysis from 2007 the average person in the UK spends 7 hours and 9 minutes watching TV every day. So you already have no time left!

If you do the task yourself, yes it's cheaper but you lose the time. We want to give you back that time, and we can also bring to bear our expertise in carrying out the tasks, as well as our network of contacts. We think it's a wise and healthy trade-off.

Yes. We have £2m of public liability insurance. If you want more details, just ask.

If we find a tradesman for you, your contract for that job is with them and so you'll be covered by their insurance policy rather than ours. We act as agent rather than principal in these cases.

Our service is all about removing hassle from your life, not increasing it. So if there are any problems at all, we want to know about them. Please just call your Relationship Manager and we'll do all we can to resolve the problem and get everything back on track.

Not at this time. We are not a registered travel agency or package holiday provider, this service would be a significant cost to you and not a lot of benefit we think, so we've decided to stay out of this service. We can book hotels or B&Bs on your behalf however, or book flights (just not both for the same trip).

We'll only send our own staff to carry out tasks where we believe they have the skillsets to do an excellent job. We don't currently have any qualified plumbers on our books. So it's easiest for you and for us just to find you the person who can do the job, and do it well. We don't mark up their prices, we simply charge you for the time we have to organise it and ensure it is completed satisfactorily, and the plumber charges his/her normal rates direct to you. We don't get kick-backs from our tradespeople for using them either.