A work order is the quote, rewritten for the crew.

The quote's accepted. Now someone has to go and do it: the right address, the right materials, the gate code, and what the customer was promised. If that lives in your head or a text thread, the crew calls you from the driveway.

The short answer

A work order is the written record of an approved job that hasn't started yet¹.

It covers what's being done, where, by whom, with what, and the customer's sign-off when it's finished.
It comes after the quote is accepted and before the invoice¹.
The invoice asks for payment for work already done¹.
Copy the template below and fill it from the accepted quote.
Keep the prices on the office copy if you'd rather the crew didn't carry them.

Quote, work order, invoice: three papers, three moments

How Jobber's work order page tells them apart, read 28 October 2026¹
Paper	When	Who reads it	What it says
Quote	Before the yes	The customer	What you'll do and what it costs
Work order	After the quote is approved, before the work starts¹	Your crew	What job to do¹: where, when, with what, and anything they need to know on site
Invoice	After the work is done	The customer	What's owed, for services already completed¹

The work order is the hand-off.

The detail

Everything the crew needs that the quote didn't say goes here, and everything the invoice needs comes back on it: the hours, the materials used, the changes the customer agreed to, and the signature.

A work order you can copy

Paste it into your own document, fill the brackets from the accepted quote, and delete any line your jobs never need.

Work order

Work order #[number]. Issued [date]. From quote #[number], accepted [date].
Customer: [name], [phone]. Site: [address, unit, buzzer].
Getting in: [gate code / lockbox / key pickup]. Parking: [notes]. Pets: [notes]. Who's home: [name or nobody].
Scheduled: [date], arriving between [time] and [time]. Crew: [names]. Lead on site: [name], [phone].
The work, in the quote's words: [what's being done, area by area or room by room].
Not included: [what the quote left out, so nobody does it for free].
Materials: [items and quantities], picked up from [supplier, order #]. The customer supplies: [items].
Before you start: [locate ticket #, if digging], [permit #], [shut-offs], [hazards on site].
What we told the customer: [finish by Friday / quiet before 9 / cover the floors].
Changes: nothing outside this order without the customer's yes first. Write it here: [change], [price], [who agreed], [when].
Photos: before, during, after. Saved to [where].
On site: arrived [time], left [time]. Materials used: [list]. Left over: [list].
Done and checked by the customer: [name], [signature], [date]. Still to do: [notes, or none].
Office copy only: price as quoted $[ ], changes $[ ], invoice #[number] sent [date].

What the free templates put first

Smartsheet's list of common elements is built around who and when².

The detail

It lists a work order number, who asked for the work, a description, the people assigned, a priority, materials and costs, and a deadline². Jobber's template is built around the money: line items, discount, tax, tip, a total, and space for the customer's signature¹. Both are free and download as a document you can print²¹. Neither one knows your gate codes, so the access and promises lines above are the ones to keep.

Digging? The locate goes on the order

In Alberta, utility locates go through Utility Safety Partners.

The detail

It asks for at least three full working days' notice for a routine request, five for a large project, and recommends a longer lead time from May to September³. Request the locate when the job is booked, not when the crew is loading the truck, and write the ticket number on the work order.

From finished job to invoice, the same day

Walk it with the customerYou
Before the crew leaves, go through the order line by line with whoever's home.
Take the after photosYou
The same angles as the before photos, so the difference shows.
Get the sign-offYou
Name, signature and date on the order, with anything still to do written down, not promised out loud.
Price the changesYou
Every change the customer agreed to goes from the order onto the invoice, at the price written beside it.
Invoice from the orderA system
Send it while the job is fresh, with the photos.
The detail
Software can build the invoice from the finished order, so nothing is typed twice.

Where we fit

On the systems we build and run, the accepted quote becomes the job, the crew sees it on their phone with the access notes, and the invoice goes out from the finished job with the photos, in your name.

The detail

If a template and a shared folder do the job for you, we'll say so.

All answers