Service call report template: the six lines every ticket needs.

Start with the six lines.

Print these on the ticket, in this order. Same order on every truck. Job number, address, date and time in and out go in the header.

• Customer complaint, in their words
• What we found, with the unit's age and size
• What we did today
• Parts used, with counts and sizes
• Recommended, and whether a quote is attached
• Customer signed or declined, and who they are

Everything else is detail. These six are the ticket.

Complaint and finding, two lines apart.

The complaint is what the customer said when they called. Write it the way they said it. “No hot water since Tuesday” is a complaint. “Water heater failure” is already your opinion.

The finding is what you saw: age, size, fuel, and the condition that explains the complaint. Nameplate year, not a guess. When the two lines match, the customer sees you fixed what they called about. When they don't, the office knows why the bill differs from the phone call.

The mistake this prevents is the call back to the truck. A ticket that says “fixed heater” brings a dispatcher asking what was wrong. The tech is on a ladder somewhere else.

What we did, and what went in.

Work done is a list of actions, nothing proposed. Replaced, flushed, relit, tested. The customer knows what they paid for. A warranty rep knows what you touched.

Write for that second reader. Six months on, the tank lets go and the customer says you broke it. Found says 2016. Recommended says replace within 12 months, quote attached. The initials sit under today's work only. That call is short. If the line says “serviced,” you lose.

Parts used carries counts, sizes and source. 3/4-inch T&P valve, one, truck stock. Anode rod, one. The part with no size is the part the office can't bill, reorder or match to the supply house invoice.

Recommended, and whether they signed.

Recommended is its own line, never mixed with what you did. “Replace within 12 months, quote attached” is a recommendation someone can act on. “Unit is old” is weather.

The mistake this prevents is the recommendation nobody can find. The tech said it at the door. The office never heard it. The line on the ticket is the warning.

The last line records what the customer did about today's work. Initialed, signed or declined, with a name and who they are. A tenant's initials cover today's repair, not a replacement. Declined is a useful answer. The ticket with a signature settles the dispute.

Internal notes stay inside.

The customer copy carries the six lines and nothing else. The office copy carries more. Travel time, the gate code, where the shutoff is, the part borrowed from the other truck, the declined quote.

Give it a box on the ticket and mark it internal. The office uses it to price the job, schedule the next one and send the right tech. Keep it to the job. Write every note as if the customer will read it, because in a dispute they might.

How the ticket gets filled.

Most tickets get filled at 6 pm in the truck, from memory, after four calls. Sizes blur. The recommendation shrinks to a word. The second visit's complaint borrows the first visit's finding. Nobody is lazy. The day is long.

The other way is to fill the lines while you work. Say the complaint when you walk in. Read the nameplate out loud. Say what you pulled and what size went in. Say the recommendation at the moment you give it. Ten-4 drafts the six lines from what you say and shoot on the job. The lead reads the draft against the photos and signs it before it goes out.

Take our fictional water heater call, job TF-P312. Complaint: no hot water since Tuesday morning. Found: 2016 50-gallon gas heater, T&P weeping, anode rod spent, pilot out. Did: replaced the T&P and the anode, flushed the tank, relit and tested. Parts: one 3/4-inch T&P valve, one anode rod. Recommended: replacement within 12 months, quote attached; no expansion tank installed, quoted with it. Customer: initialed today's work; the quotes are their decision. Six lines. Nobody has to call the truck.