A work order is the piece of paper (or screen) that turns a phone call into a finished job. It tells the technician where to go and what the customer asked for, and when the job is done it records what was actually fixed, which parts went in, how long it took and who signed off. Get it right and invoicing is quick, callbacks are easy to trace and disputes are rare.
This free work order template is built for home service jobs: repairs, installations, maintenance visits and inspections. Download it as an editable Word document, an Excel workbook that totals itself, or a printable PDF with the buttons above.
What's in the work order template
The template fits on one Letter-size page and includes:
- Your business details and license number
- Work order number, date issued, scheduled date and time window, and priority (routine, urgent or emergency)
- Customer details and the job site, with an on-site contact, access notes (gate codes, pets, keys, unit number) and the technician or crew assigned
- Work requested: the type of job (repair, installation, maintenance, inspection, warranty or callback) and the problem as the customer described it
- Work performed and findings: ruled lines for the technician to write what they found and did
- Labor and materials lines with quantity, unit, rate and amount, plus room for trip fees, permits and disposal
- Subtotal, sales tax and total
- Job status: time in and out, completed or follow-up needed, parts on order, and whether the customer paid on site or will be invoiced
- Recommendations: other problems found and safety issues, quoted separately
- Signature lines for the customer (authorizing the work) and the technician
Replace everything in [square brackets] with your own details. In the Excel version, the amounts, subtotal and total are formulas: enter quantities and rates and they calculate.
How to fill in a work order, field by field
1. Number every work order. A simple sequence (0001, 0002…) or job numbers from your software. You'll use the number to match the work order to its invoice, the parts you bought and any callback.
2. Write down the request in the customer's words. "Water heater leaking at the base, no hot water upstairs" is what the customer told the office. The technician's diagnosis goes in the next section. Keeping the two apart shows later whether the job fixed what the customer actually asked about.
3. Fill in access and contact details before the visit. Gate codes, dogs in the yard, a tenant's phone number, the unit number. A wasted trip because nobody could get in costs you more than the minute it takes to ask.
4. Record what was done, not just what was billed. "Replaced 3/4" brass drain valve, flushed tank, checked for leaks after refill" helps the next technician and protects you if the customer calls back in a month.
5. Itemize labor and parts. Hours and rate for labor; brand, model and quantity for parts. If you bill flat-rate prices, use one line per task with a quantity of 1.
6. Log time in and time out. Even on flat-rate jobs, real job times tell you whether your prices cover your labor.
7. Note anything else you found. A corroded gas connector, a breaker that runs hot, a roof vent with failing sealant. Write it under Recommendations and quote it separately. It's honest, it covers you, and it's often the next job.
8. Get the signature. Have the customer sign before you start when the price is known, or at the end to confirm the work is complete. If the work is authorized by a property manager or landlord rather than the person at the door, write their name and how they approved it.
Sample work order: a filled-in example
Here's how the main part of a work order might look for a plumbing repair. All names and prices are made up for illustration.
Work requested: Repair. Customer reports the water heater is leaking at the base and there's no hot water upstairs.
Work performed and findings: Leak traced to the drain valve, not the tank. Replaced the drain valve, flushed sediment from the tank, refilled and checked for leaks. Relit the pilot; hot water restored at all fixtures. Tank is 11 years old (date code on the label).
| Description | Qty | Unit | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | ||||
| Diagnose leak, replace drain valve, flush tank | 1.5 | hr | $120.00 | $180.00 |
| Materials, parts and other charges | ||||
| 3/4" brass drain valve | 1 | ea | $28.00 | $28.00 |
| Trip fee | 1 | ea | $79.00 | $79.00 |
| Subtotal | $287.00 |
| Sales tax (if it applies in your state) | $0.00 |
| Total | $287.00 |
Job status: Time in 9:10, time out 10:45. Completed. Invoice to follow.
Recommendations: Water heater is near the end of its typical service life; quoted replacement separately on estimate 0142.
Maintenance work orders
For recurring maintenance (a property manager's units, a commercial client's rooftop units, a seasonal tune-up program), the same form works with a few habits:
- Tick "Maintenance" under work requested, and write the checklist or agreement it belongs to.
- List the equipment you serviced on the labor lines, with its location, so each unit's history builds up over time.
- Keep the property contact in the job site box, and the billing contact (often a management company) in the customer box.
- Write problems found as recommendations, not as completed work, so the owner can approve repairs before you do them.
If you sell maintenance plans to homeowners, our HVAC service agreement template covers the agreement itself; use a work order for each visit.
Work order, estimate, invoice: which document when
- Estimate: the price you offer before the customer says yes.
- Work order: the job ticket that authorizes the work and records what the technician did.
- Change order: a signed change to the scope or price of a larger job that's already under contract.
- Invoice: the bill, built from the completed work order.
- Receipt: proof of payment.
Small repair jobs often skip the estimate: the work order, signed at the door, does the job. On larger projects, the work order is usually an internal document that tells a crew what part of the contract to build this week.
Extra work sold during a service call
A work order signed at the customer's home can run into consumer protection rules. Under the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule, many sales of $25 or more made at the buyer's home can be cancelled until midnight of the third business day after the sale. Sales made because the customer asked you to visit to repair or maintain their personal property are excluded, but the FTC notes that anything the customer buys beyond that repair or maintenance request is covered. So if a technician sells a bigger job during a repair visit, write it up as a separate estimate or contract with the required cancellation notice rather than adding it to the work order. Your state may have its own rules too; check with your licensing board or an attorney.
When to move from paper to software
A stack of paper work orders works for one or two trucks. As you grow, the problems show up: the office can't see which jobs are done, parts don't make it onto invoices, and nobody can find last year's ticket for a warranty call. Field service software creates the work order from the booking, sends it to the technician's phone, collects the signature and turns it into an invoice. Compare options in our guides to contractor scheduling software, field service management apps and free field service management software, where we check what each free plan really includes.
