Free maintenance work order template and forms

You’ve probably heard that “communication is key” — a saying that is especially true when running a successful business. As a result, your maintenance work order template should reflect that to keep your business organized and leave little confusion between you, your maintenance staff, and your customers.

This guide explains how to use work orders to keep customers happy during any maintenance job.

What is a work order?

A work order is a business form used by field service businesses to keep track of jobs. It helps you manage your business by painting a clear picture of what materials, team members, and timelines are required to get the job done.

A maintenance work order form is similar to a construction work order form but is a blueprint for all types of maintenance work and the overall success of your business. It efficiently manages equipment use and keeps records of maintenance activities.

Maintenance work order forms and service order forms can are beneficial in several ways, including:

• Scheduling and giving a detailed description of maintenance activities.
• Documenting completed maintenance activities.
• Communication matters between different departments within your company.
• Detailed reports and business analytics.

The lifecycle of maintenance work order forms

The maintenance work order lifecycle starts when work order requests are given by your customers, maintenance staff, technicians, and maintenance managers.

For example, an automotive maintenance team will use a vehicle maintenance work order form to kickstart job assignments and outline the work to be performed.

Once the work is done, the work order cycle still continues as your maintenance staff needs to be paid for their labor, and you need to bill your customer for the job.

The next part of this lifecycle is to collect payment and hope that your customer finds your maintenance services valuable enough to use again.

Pro-tip: The best approach to the maintenance work order lifecycle includes work order management software like Method:Field Services.

Solutions like these automate many steps in the lifecycle, such as job dispatching and time tracking. Equipped with the right tech, you can finally focus on what matters: growing your maintenance company.

Maintenance work order vs. work request

Now that you have a solid understanding of maintenance work orders, it’s time to distinguish the difference between that and a work request form.

A work request is the first step before a maintenance work order is created.

It includes all the information your team will need to complete a work order. However, the work request form needs to go through an approval process to become a work order.

In other words, you can think of the request as the event that needs to happen for a work order to be created

The goal of maintenance work order forms

You want to have a maintenance work order form to keep your business organized. Many field service businesses offer complicated services that can cause a lot of confusion or the possibility of costly mistakes.

When dealing with multiple jobs at once, the best way to stay organized is a concise maintenance work order template. Keep reading to find out how you can get a free template and get your work order process organized today.

What should be included in a maintenance work order form?

You know your business best and how you operate it daily. But there are a few key form fields you may want to include when designing your maintenance work order template.

Some of these include:

• Customer information.
• A work order number or any way to track the work order.
• An order date for when you will perform the job.
• A detailed description of the maintenance work
• Job location and the assigned maintenance worker.
• Labor and material costs.
• The estimated total cost.

The benefits of digital maintenance work order forms over paper ones

Businesses are moving online, and a digital maintenance work order form makes your admin workload a lot lighter. Here are a few reasons why.

Seamless work order tracking

As most field service businesses know, it’s hard to keep track of multiple jobs at one time. What’s more, paper forms get lost and forgotten about — creating a huge problem for your team and customer.

Work orders are in one system with a digital form, so your information doesn’t get lost. A bonus is that with digital forms, you can search through work orders efficiently and know:

• Where in the job cycle your field team is at.
• If any changes or additional equipment and materials are needed.

Data at your fingertips

An edge that digital maintenance work order forms have over their paper counterparts is that checking work order data or grabbing customer info is as easy for your team as opening a mobile app.

This means that your maintenance technicians can get straight to work instead of calling HQ or running back to the truck for this information.

What’s more, your office team can get live updates on maintenance service progress and adjust schedules on the fly thanks to these real-time insights.

Dedicate fewer resources to labor and planning

Getting time back into your day is the best way to make room for growing other aspects of your business.

When work orders are properly managed, jobs move forward. Plus, you avoid spending your workday planning and doing constant admin work by managing work orders digitally.

This frees up time to focus on growth opportunities like marketing your business and engaging with customers.

Connect your office and field teams

It has never been easier for field service companies to connect their field team with the office team. A digital maintenance work order form can allow your field team to have access to any job information they need while on the job.

Similarly, the office team can pull the information from the digital maintenance work order form to use for invoice creation, equipment management, and material purchasing.

Using a work order management software like Method:Field Services strengthens your maintenance work order process by connecting you, your customer, and your team with a few clicks.

The best ways to prioritize and organize maintenance work orders

With a maintenance work order template, you have a great starting point for organizing your work orders. There does come the point where you will need to start using management software to optimize and better your process.

Method:Field Services lets you take your maintenance work order template to new heights as the software empowers you to turn work orders into invoices with the click of a button.

What’s great about this is that your customers can pay these invoices online for convenient and quick payment.

Some other ways you can optimize your work order lifecycle is by:

• Creating a standardized process.
• Attaching checklists and other additional files.
• Adding custom form fields.
• Adding before and after images of completed jobs.

Recap: The value of using a maintenance work order template

A maintenance work order template makes managing jobs easier. Here are the top reasons why a standardized maintenance work order format should be part of your process.

1. Saves you hours of admin time.
2. Leaves little room for confusion or lost information.
3. Organizes previous jobs in an easy-to-view system.
4. Communicates every aspect needed to perform a maintenance job.

Take your maintenance work order template to the next level by watching this Method:Field Services demo.

Image credit: Shutter B via Adobe Stock