Experience Files

The critical nature of your job notes isn't just about covering your ass; it's about creating multiple layers of protection for you, your managers, and every employee's memory. The reality is, nothing is forever. Most of us struggle to recall details from yesterday morning, let alone six months ago. Industry standards often dictate a 2-5 year workmanship warranty on our work, and a lot can happen in that time. Employees might leave, or tragically, even pass away. Entire staffs can turn over.

Not all of us have fancy, cloud-based CRM software to help with this. However, most of us do have smartphones with internet connections. A simple email to the office and anyone involved will work perfectly fine.

What Makes a Great Job Note? The 5 W's + How

To ensure your notes are comprehensive and useful, focus on answering these key questions:

• Who:

  • Who is updating the diary (and when)?

  • Who from your company was onsite (list employees)?

  • Who (non-employee) was onsite (e.g., plumbers, adjusters) including their arrival and departure times?

  • Who (clients) was onsite (arrival and departure)?

• What:

  • What did you specifically do?

  • What did others (e.g., subcontractors) specifically do?

  • What equipment was onsite (record arrival and departure counts, and ID numbers if applicable)?

  • What problems or unexpected things were discovered?

  • What did you do to resolve them?

• When:

  • When did everyone arrive and depart?

• Where:

  • Be specific as to where work was performed (e.g., "removed baseboards in the living room and half of the dining room").

• How:

  • In some situations, how something was accomplished is important (e.g., "opted to drill 1" holes in the toekicks, as boroscope inspection showed cabinets are on plastic shims").

• Why:

  • Explain why you did what you did (e.g., "This was to pack out the china hutch in the dining room").

  • Explain why the situation is different than expected (e.g., "Discovered 2 layers of sheet vinyl under the laminate in the kitchen").

An Example of Comprehensive Job Notes

Here’s an example of job notes:

June 6th, 2018 @ 9:15 AM: Craig H. arrived onsite w/ James S. & Sally M. Molly Homeowner was onsite. Ricky with DR Pipe Doctor was onsite capping water lines to allow us to remove bathroom vanities. Ricky w/ DR Pipe Dr. left at 9:45 AM and left an invoice for work performed ($245.34 total). Craig H. & Randy R. removed the 2 vanities. Sally M. worked on content packing & inventory into boxes & moved them to the unaffected bedroom floor. This was to pack out the china hutch in the dining room. Sally M. was picked up by Randy R. @ 11:30 AM.

We blocked & tabbed furniture and moved it away from walls. James S. monitored equipment for about 2 hours. Craig H. removed all of the quarter round in affected areas, and baseboards in the living room & half of the dining room. Craig & James S. removed the laminate floor & foam from the Living Room, Dining Room, Hallway, & Kitchen. Discovered 2 layers of sheet vinyl under the laminate in the kitchen, which we also removed. We decided against removing the toe kicks and opted to drill 1" holes in them, as inspection with a boroscope showed the cabinets are on plastic shims. Vacuumed up sawdust before starting equipment. We applied disinfectant to all affected areas.

Equipment on arrival: 12 fans (9 AAM & 3 CAM) and 3 EVO dehumidifiers. Same on departure. Noted DH 301 doesn't seem to be performing as well as the other 2; we should keep an eye on it.

Molly Homeowner was friendly & offered us homemade wine, which we politely declined and explained it was against company policy to accept gifts from clients. She seemed upset but understood.

Craig H. & James S. left at 3:30 PM.