Work Order

A work order — also called a service request — is a written record of a specific task: what was asked for, when it was asked, and what was done about it. In a property-management or facilities context, it is the standard way anything outside a fixed schedule gets tracked from request to completion.

Why written beats verbal

A verbal request handed to whoever happens to be on site that day leaves no record. If it gets missed, there is no way to confirm it was ever made, and no way to show a tenant or building owner that it was handled. A work order fixes that: it exists whether or not the person who received it is the person who acts on it, and it can be checked afterward against what actually happened.

How one-off requests sit alongside a recurring schedule

A commercial cleaning program runs on a fixed scope of work — the same tasks, at the same frequency, every visit. A work order is how anything outside that scope gets handled: a spill that needs an unscheduled response, a one-off request from a tenant, a carpet spot that cannot wait for the next rotation. The program covers what is expected; work orders cover what comes up. Keeping the two separate is what keeps the recurring schedule from drifting — an ad hoc request gets logged and handled on its own terms instead of quietly becoming an unwritten addition to the regular scope.

What makes a work order easy to act on

Location specific enough to find without a follow-up call — building, floor, unit, or room. Access information, since a crew that cannot get in cannot do the work. A real urgency level, so a same-day spill and a can-wait-until-next-visit request are not treated identically. And a contact who can answer a question if one comes up, rather than a request that goes silent once it is submitted.

If you manage a property and want a work-order process that plugs into a standing schedule rather than starting from scratch each time, our property managers page covers how that works, or you can reach out directly with a specific request.