Job Completion form

[Chuck7772]

Do you have your customers sign a job completion form when doing installs? I want to make one up but not sure how to make one. If you have one can i see a sample of it?
Thank you in advance.

 

[Stacey K]

If the customer is there when I do the switch they sign the invoice when they pay for it. Often they are picking up after hours so I usually make a phone call the next day to check in with them and they never sign anything. I shouldn't do that but I try to be as flexible as possible. That does not help you at all, sorry LOL

 

[Gino]

Depends on a lotta things. Type of job, size of job, track record, type of person/company, paid upfront or 2 parts and the list can go on.

Some people picking up components of a job, won't know til some time later.

 

[Z SIGNS]

I have a form the customers fill out. It's something like this.
PAY TO THE ORDER OF..........
DOLLAR AMOUNT.............
SIGNATURE...............

 

[signage]

I have a form the customers fill out. It's something like this.
PAY TO THE ORDER OF..........
DOLLAR AMOUNT.............
SIGNATURE...............

What if they want to pay you with cash do they still need to fill out your form?

 

[Gino]

People generally are not carrying 8k or 9k around with them. If you need someone to sign off on a project, it ain't gonna be a $400 sign installation.

 

[Boudica]

unless you live in a state where certain business are not allowed to use a federally insured bank, because their business is technically illegal according to the feds (not the state).... they are forced to pay in cash for everything. a couple of pot shops around here come to mind.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

My job completion form is an invoice. That system has done me well for years. If someones not gonna pay, they're not gonna pay no matter what they signed. Generally, taking people to court over the amounts we are talking about here is a waste of money so why bother with all of the nonsense?

 

[Boudica]

My job completion form is an invoice. That system has done me well for years. If someones not gonna pay, they're not gonna pay no matter what they signed. Generally, taking people to court over the amounts we are talking about here is a waste of money so why bother with all of the nonsense?

We are pretty much the same way. No special form. If there is an issue after they drive away with their new vehicle graphics, then we will make it good, or my boss will point out that it's on them... Depending on the issue.

 

[Pauly]

No completion form.
When a job is complete, you'll get notified automatically via email stating your job is either ready for pickup or has been shipped.
If you're picking up, you'll fill out your name, date and signature on a clipboard.

 

[Chuck7772]

Maybe I worded it wrong. So we do jobs in schools and banks. We just had a Credit Union ask us to redo a job that another company did. It was really bad. What i was thinking about making is alike inspection / install complete and they are happy with the job form. This way if something happens at a school 4 days later we can say that it was looked over and the install was approved by Mr. Smith. make sense?

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Why though? You either do the job right or you don't. What will a form do? If they check off that all is good and then there's a problem do you rub the form that they signed in their face or go back and make it right? Or do you expect the installer to do a better job if there's a finished job form? If they did a crap job, is that gonna turn around their work ethic? Nope. Think about what you're asking for.

 

[Pauly]

Maybe I worded it wrong. So we do jobs in schools and banks. We just had a Credit Union ask us to redo a job that another company did. It was really bad. What i was thinking about making is alike inspection / install complete and they are happy with the job form. This way if something happens at a school 4 days later we can say that it was looked over and the install was approved by Mr. Smith. make sense?

Nothing wrong with a completion form.
sign here stating that the job is complete to the satisfaction of the customer. Which you would need to have terms and conditions written up.

Why though? You either do the job right or you don't. What will a form do? If they check off that all is good and then there's a problem do you rub the form that they signed in their face or go back and make it right? Or do you expect the installer to do a better job if there's a finished job form? If they did a crap job, is that gonna turn around their work ethic? Nope. Think about what you're asking for.

I think it's more if anything goes wrong that's not in your control.
Weather damage or something and you get the blame.
Or if customer doesn't like something 2 weeks later.

 

[Gino]

So, what happens if the sign falls down for no apparent reason and they signed off on it ?? Is that your scapegoat ?? What happens if two weeks later, they see a mistake you made ?? Is that your scapegoat ??

Seems kinda silly to me, to have someone sign off on paperwork, which isn't gonna be binding, if the customer feels they were wronged, knowingly or not.

 

[Pauly]

So, what happens if the sign falls down for no apparent reason and they signed off on it ?? Is that your scapegoat ?? What happens if two weeks later, they see a mistake you made ?? Is that your scapegoat ??

Seems kinda silly to me, to have someone sign off on paperwork, which isn't gonna be binding, if the customer feels they were wronged, knowingly or not.

How do you know if the sign fell off because there was an issue with the building or extreme weather caused it? and absolutely nothing wrong with the installation?
or someone else decided to "modify it" and now blaming the installer?

We've had a huge issue when a customer was damaging the product during pickup and blaming us for the damaged product.
Out of good will we replaced the damaged ones, made the customer inspect, sign and agree to the terms and conditions.

Customer comes back with the replaced products with damage once again.
Forms signed stating it was inspected and not damaged when picking up - Customer cannot argue the fact they didn't inspect the product, or product was damaged prior to pickup as we have proof of signature on the form.

We knew all along the customer was carelessly handling the product but it's not easy to prove without any evidence.
Having the customer sign the form upon initial inspection proved that they where damaging the product while handling.

 

[Stacey K]

I think the proof sheet is way more important than a completion form. I always look over all the larger jobs closely and take photos.

I think the best way to know if it's on the customer or on you is to post of a picture of it on here...you know very quickly if you're a winner or a loser LOL

 

[Gino]

There will be exceptions to everything.

As for my examples, that is why permits are obtained and a site survey beforehand. You need to know what you're doing. Now, if something happens, it is quite easy to compare notes, pictures and whatever else you might do for your records. It's hard to believe one could instal something properly and not know there was a faulty wall, structure or whatever you're going into. If you are putting up a pylon or whatever, you'd be responsible for the entire thing. I don't see your argument on a large project holding any water.

As for your episode, why not take pictures of the sign(s) and show proof, rather than depend on someone's signed statement ??

Someone being careless handling a sign you can carry out of the shop would work ONE time and one time only. After doing this almost 50 years, it's easy to tell someone..... you know your product and you know this was done either deliberately or by accident, but only after it left your shop. You can see in the photo, those dents were not there.

 

[Stacey K]

Gino sums it up. Photos are the best evidence. Heard it from friend that they are also great if you lose the computer file you can recreate the file from the photo...

Also heard from a friend if you forget to write down what color vinyl you used...then you can use the vinyl swatches to hold up to the computer and go back to see what vinyl you bought around that time...and take a gamble you guessed right...

 

[Notarealsignguy]

100% on the pictures. We take pictures of all packed pallets before they leave. We also take pictures and videos of trucks we sell before they are loaded and another set of pictures after they are loaded including how the driver chained them down.
When I worked for a rental company, they took outgoing pictures of the machine and had the customer sign them. Now they also take pictures of the machines when they pick them up before they even load them. Even still, you will get that one guy that argues that the pictures were old or have some other dumb excuse to not pay for their damages. Pictures do work, it makes freight claims much easier.

 

[Chuck7772]

Why though? You either do the job right or you don't. What will a form do? If they check off that all is good and then there's a problem do you rub the form that they signed in their face or go back and make it right? Or do you expect the installer to do a better job if there's a finished job form? If they did a crap job, is that gonna turn around their work ethic? Nope. Think about what you're asking for.

I agree we do all of our installs the right way. We have had a school call us to say that we left a rip in an install that was on the side of the lunch line. We went out and fixed to find out that really they moved a piece of equipment and it ripped into the lunch line graphic. Now i sent an employee out to fix it and for free for something that we didn't do. All is good for accountability for you're employees and if you outsource any installs.