Free Work Order Template
A work order is what you hand the person who is actually going to the address. It says who the customer is, what they asked for, what was authorized, and what came back. Done properly it is also the record that turns into the invoice without anybody rewriting it.
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What belongs on a work order
- A work order number and the date the call came in
- Customer name, site address and the phone number of whoever is actually there
- What the customer says is wrong, in their words, not yours
- The amount the customer has authorized before you need to call back for more
- Tasks and materials, ticked off as they are done
- Time on site and time off site, which is the line that gets queried on the invoice
- What was actually done, and anything you found that needs a second visit
- A customer signature at completion
The work order is the invoice, one step earlier
Every field you skip on the work order is a field somebody guesses at later. Hours get rounded up from memory, a part gets forgotten, and the invoice goes out wrong in one direction or the other.
Fill the tasks and materials in on site, while the van is still at the curb. Then the invoice is transcription, not reconstruction.
Write down what the customer said, not what you think is wrong
"No hot water upstairs since Tuesday" is worth keeping. "Replaced mixing valve" is what you did about it. The two lines together are what stop a callback turning into a dispute about whether the original complaint was ever fixed.
It also protects the tech. If the reported fault was intermittent and the customer signed to say the work was completed, that is on the paper.
Put an authorized amount on it
A service call with no ceiling is how a $180 visit becomes a $900 argument. Write the number the customer agreed to on the phone, and make the rule that going past it needs a call, not a judgment call.
If they authorize more while you are there, that is a change order or a second line on the work order, initialled.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a work order and a job order?
Nothing meaningful. Different trades use different words for the same document. Service and repair businesses tend to say work order, construction tends to say job order or field order.
Is a work order the same as an invoice?
No. A work order authorizes and records the work. An invoice asks for the money. The work order is normally the source document the invoice is built from.
Do I need a customer signature on a work order?
It is not a legal requirement, but it is the cheapest protection you will ever get. A signature at completion means the customer agreed at the time that the work was done, which is much harder to walk back three weeks later.
Can I use this for maintenance schedules?
Yes. Put the recurring tasks in the task rows and print a stack of them. The tick column is there for exactly that.