The work order process, from request to close

Every maintenance request goes through the same six stages, whether it is a dripping faucet or a water heater. Requests that go wrong usually sit between two stages, with each side waiting on the other. Give every stage one owner and you can always tell whose move it is.

1. The request comes in

A tenant texts, calls, emails or uses your portal. Owner: the tenant, and whoever answers. The job is to get enough to act on the first time: the address and unit, what is wrong, since when, and a photo if it helps.

Where it gets stuck: requests left on a voicemail or a personal phone that never become a work order. If it isn't in your software, nobody will follow it up. The tenant maintenance request process covers intake in detail, and the request form lists the questions to ask.

2. Triage

Decide how urgent it is: an emergency tonight, urgent within a day or two, or routine. Ask your safety questions first. Is water near an outlet? Can the tenant shut it off? Owner: you, or whoever is on call at night. See triage and the emergency definitions.

Where it gets stuck: routine requests with no date. Give every request a time the tenant will hear back, even when the repair is next week. Your after-hours policy decides what counts as an emergency.

3. Assign and approve

Pick who does the work: your own technician if one is free, otherwise a vendor. Check the spend against the limit you set for that property, and whether the property owner has to approve it. Owner: you, and the property owner above their limit.

Where it gets stuck: job offers a vendor never answers, and owner approvals sitting in someone's email. Give each one a deadline. If the vendor hasn't replied by then, offer the job to the next one. A backup order says who is next, and the owner approval limits template sets the spend limit.

4. Schedule the visit

Find a time that works for the tenant and the vendor or technician, and confirm it with both. Owner: you, or whoever coordinates maintenance.

Where it gets stuck: phone tag. Scheduling takes more back-and-forth than any other stage, and it is where most requests lose days. Text both sides one specific time to confirm, and send a reminder the day before.

5. The work gets done

The vendor or technician does the repair. Ask for a note on what they did and a photo of the fix before the job counts as done. Owner: the vendor or technician.

Where it gets stuck: missed visits nobody hears about until the tenant complains, and parts on order with no date to come back. Check in on the day of the visit, and put the return date on the work order.

6. Confirm and close

Ask the tenant if it's fixed. If yes, close the work order in your software with the vendor's note, the photo and the invoice. If no, it goes back to stage 3 as a warranty callback to the same vendor. Owner: you. The work order template has a field for each of these.

Where it gets stuck: work orders marked done that nobody confirmed, and fixed work orders left open for weeks. Both make your reports wrong and hide repeat repairs, like the same sink leaking twice in a month.

To watch one request go through every stage, follow case #2071 from the first text to the close.

Two rules shape the middle of the process. Entry notice depends on your state: California presumes 24 hours of written notice to be reasonable, and Florida requires at least 24 hours’ notice for repairs. And for leaks, speed matters: the EPA says that in most cases mold will not grow if wet materials are dried within 24 to 48 hours.