How to write a field-service work order

Before you roll

Open a draft and enter the customer name, the service address, and a working title from the call notes. If you already use job numbers, enter that too. Leave the diagnosis blank. You do not know it yet. The draft sits in the browser, so the same phone you navigate with can hold the report.

On site

Write the reported problem in the customer’s words before you open a panel. After you know the cause, write the diagnosis as a finding, not a story. Work performed is a short sequence: what you removed, what you installed, what you tested. Recommendations are the work you are not billing today.

Photograph the nameplate or the fixture, the failed part, and the finished result. Caption them. Six photos is the cap in JobSheet so the PDF stays something a customer will actually open.

A worked example

Priya Shah at 418 Cedar Lane reports that the furnace short-cycles and the upstairs stays cold. The diagnosis is a dirty flame sensor and a restricted 16x25x1 filter. Work performed: cleaned the sensor, replaced the filter, confirmed inducer operation, measured a 52 F temperature rise. Labor is 1.5 hours at $125. The filter is $28.50. The subtotal is $216.00. The recommendation is to replace a 20-year-old thermostat before next heating season. The gate code stays in internal notes and never reaches the PDF.

That is the sample job in the generator. Load it, read the preview, then clear it and write the visit you are actually on.

Why invoices get disputed

• The report names a trade and not a finding.
• There is no model or serial, so a later tech cannot tell which unit you touched.
• Parts and labor are one lump sum.
• Nobody signed, and the customer does not remember agreeing to the filter.

None of those require a different business. They require the report to be finished before you leave.

Work order or service report

Start a work order when the customer is authorizing the visit. Write a service report when the work is already done. A job sheet is the same generator used as the record of the call. None of these is a payment receipt.

PDF or print

Generate the PDF in US Letter or A4. If the download fails, use Print. The printout is the same report. JobSheet does not email it for you in this version. Send the file with the mail or texting app you already use.