Checklists and checklist templates

A checklist is the list of tasks a technician ticks off on site. Attach one to a job and the work gets done the same way whoever turns up, which is the difference between a business and a group of people with ladders.

Templates live in Settings > Price Book, under the price list, in a section described as "reusable technician tasks by template".

1. New Template Group

A group holds related checklists. Click New Template Group to start one.

Group by the kind of work, not by customer: "Window Cleaning Checks", "Gutter Jobs", "Commercial".

2. Create the group

Name it and create. Then add the individual tasks that make up the checklist.

Write tasks as things you can tick, not as principles. "Wipe sills and frames" works. "Be thorough" does not.

3. Automation

The Automation button next to it attaches checklists to matching jobs automatically, so nobody has to remember to add one.

This is the setting that makes checklists actually get used. Manual attachment works fine for a week and then quietly stops happening.

4. On the job

In the job builder, the Checklist control reads No tasks selected until you pick a template. Choose one and the tasks come across with the job to the technician's phone.

Why they matter beyond the job

Completed checklists feed Reports > Quality checks. A job that comes back with everything ticked and photos attached is a job a manager can sign off without a phone call, and it's your evidence when a customer says something was missed.

Tips and gotchas

• Tasks should be tickable, not aspirational.
• Automate the attachment. Manual works until it doesn't.
• Keep lists short. A twenty-item checklist gets tapped through without being read.
• Checklists plus photos is what makes quality checks work. One without the other is weak evidence.

Next up: Job statuses