Maintenance is how we ensure things from clothing, jewelry, housing, electronics, and every other valuable thing don’t depreciate and lose their value. So, maintenance can not be an afterthought, you have to be proactive about it.

Maintaining your valuables doesn’t just ensure they look good, it’s how you avoid expensive repairs and safety hazards. For example, a simple leaky faucet in a building if not fixed could lead to water damage that would cost more.

A maintenance request is a document that allows people who use the equipment, property, or facility to report any maintenance problems. The form simplifies the repair process by directly linking the request and the maintenance crew responsible for fixing the problem. Let’s look at how to create efficient maintenance forms with templates to get you started.

What is a Maintenance Request Form?

A maintenance request is a standard document that helps report and request repair for equipment, facilities, or general maintenance problems. It also serves as a clear line of communication between the person experiencing the issue and the maintenance crew responsible for resolving it.

These forms come in various formats:

• Digital Forms: Many organizations use online forms or mobile apps for submitting maintenance requests. This allows for easy submission, faster response times, and the ability to attach photos or videos for better problem descriptions.
• Paper-Based Forms: traditional paper form requesters have to fill out by hand and submit to a drop box or facility manager’s office. This is not so common anymore but people still use them for maintenance requests. 

You can use maintenance request forms in various settings, including:

• Residential Properties: Tenants in apartment buildings or rentals can use the form to report issues. For example, they can report and request repairs for leaky faucets, malfunctioning appliances, or electrical problems.
• Commercial Buildings: Office buildings, retail spaces, and other commercial properties rely on maintenance request forms to address issues like air conditioning malfunctions, lighting problems, or elevator repairs.
• Schools and Universities: These institutions use maintenance request forms for repairs in classrooms, dormitories, libraries, and other campus facilities.

Why You Need to Carefully Design Your Maintenance Request Form

• Streamlined Process:  Having a maintenance form eliminates the back-and-forth communication you would have to go through to collect requests and resolve them. It allows people to easily submit a request, and specify the issue, location, and urgency of the request. 
• Accurate and Complete Information: Carefully designing your form ensures the form collects all the necessary information about the request. It covers the type of issue, its severity, and any relevant observations.  This allows maintenance staff to arrive with the appropriate tools and materials, reducing wasted trips and delays.
• Enhanced Communication:  A well-designed form enables tenants/staff to explain the problem in detail. They could also attach pictures for reference, and list preferred contact options. This creates a collaborative atmosphere where both parties clearly understand the situation.
• Improved Efficiency and Response Times: using maintenance forms also allows maintenance staff to receive requests quickly and respond just as fast. This results in quicker turnarounds and a better tenant experience.

Essential Elements of a Maintenance Request Form

The primary goal of creating a maintenance form is to ensure that maintenance requests are dealt with quickly and effectively.

However, you won’t be able to achieve this goal if your maintenance request form isn’t well designed; you will only still be stuck with the same loop of outstanding requests and long resolution times. So, here’s a breakdown of the key elements a maintenance request form should contain:

• Contact Information: name, address, phone number, and email of maintenance requester (the person submitting the request).
• Request Date: the date and time of requests. This helps you prioritize requests and response times.
• Location of the Issue: the specific equipment of the facility that needs to be fixed. For example, the showerhead in the master bathroom in room 102. This ensures the maintenance crew knows exactly what to prepare for and avoids multiple trips to fix the problem.
• Description of the Problem:  This is where requesters explain the problem in detail. The description should cover the type of issue (e.g. clogged drain, dim light, trickling faucet, etc.), when the issue started, and other information that could help the maintenance staff diagnose the issue.
• Requester’s Signature: The signature of the requester to ensure only people who are authorized to request services can do so. For example, only paying tenants of an apartment building should be able to request repairs.

More Instructions for the Maintenance Staff

Your maintenance request forms should also collect this information to make  repairs easier for the maintenance crew:

• Photos or Videos (optional): Photos and videos to help maintenance staff understand the problem more clearly.

• Priority Level:  This is a section that allows requesters to categorize the urgency of the maintenance issues. You can use a range of low-medium-high. Where low refers to non-critical maintenance issues that can be fixed at a scheduled time. Medium refers to issues that need to be fixed within a specified time frame (e.g. 24-72 hours). High are urgent maintenance issues that must be fixed quickly such as water leaks, safety hazards, etc.
• Access Instructions: This enables requesters to specify the time they would be available to grant access to the property for repairs. For example, if you want to repair a leaky faucet in an apartment building, the maintenance staff would need the security code or key and the time they would be available to give the maintenance staff access to the building.
• Previous Maintenance History: This allows the request to state if the request is a recurring issue and helps the maintenance crew find a permanent fix to the problem.

Additional Features to Consider

Here are some other features you can add to your maintenance form to make it more efficient:

• Tracking Number: Assigning unique tracking numbers to each request to make it easier for requesters to follow up with you and get updates on the repairs.
• Status Updates: set up a notification system to keep requesters updated on the status of their maintenance requests. You can use email or text notifications that let the requester know when a technician is scheduled to arrive, when repairs are being made, and when the problem is resolved.
• Feedback Section:  This helps you see how well your maintenance request process is and helps you identify improvement opportunities.
• Emergency Contact:  While most repairs can be done in a few minutes, some cases require a more in-depth response. Add an emergency contact to the form so requesters can quickly contact you if there’s an emergency or an after-hours problem.
• Automated Submission:   You can also link your maintenance forms to customer support tools, which automatically generate tickets, set reminders to resolve issues, and update requesters on the progress.

Best Practices for Using Maintenance Request Forms

Here are some tips to ensure your maintenance forms make the repair process easier and do not further complicate the already existing process:

• Accessibility: Make sure the forms are readily available to requesters. For example, if you manage a property, you can add a downloadable version on the property website, add the QR code of the form to flyers in common areas, add the link to social media pages, and email the link to tenants.
• Clear Instructions: Include clear instructions on how to fill out the form, highlighting required fields and explaining how to submit photos or videos if applicable.
• Training for Accurate Information: Train staff to always collect comprehensive and precise request information. This helps you to evaluate urgency, prioritize repairs, and communicate effectively with technicians.
• Continuous Improvement: Review the form regularly to ensure it has all the necessary information and reflects any changes to maintenance processes. For example, you could add new sections to deal with common problems or feedback sections to guide your maintenance request process improvement.

Digital vs. Paper-Based Forms

If you are thinking of either using digital or physical forms for your maintenance request, here are some tips to help you choose:

• Paper Forms:
  • Pros: Familiar, readily available, more accessible for people with unstable or no internet access.
  • Cons: Easy to lose or misplace, hard to track responses, and makes it hard to find repairs historical data.
• Digital Forms:
  • Pros: More efficient and streamlined submission process, improved searchability for past requests, integrations for better managing requests. It also makes tracking and managing requests easier. Requesters could also attach photos and documents to describe maintenance requests more accurately. 
  • Cons: Requires internet access and some level of digital literacy, may require initial investment in software

Here are some tips to help you switch effortlessly from traditional paper forms to online request forms:

• Communicate the change: Inform potential requesters about the switch to digital forms well in advance. Also, provide them with instructions on how to access and submit the forms. This could include a video guide on your website or the form itself.
• Offer alternative options: Consider offering a printable version of the digital form for those who prefer a paper copy.
• User-friendly form templates– instead of spending days creating your maintenance form from scratch, use a pre-built template that only has all the information you need to collect requests effectively.

Conclusion

A well-structured maintenance request form enables tenants to communicate with property managers and makes the repair process faster. This means quicker response times, less frustration for tenants, and a better-maintained property that will save you massive repair costs.

However, maintenance request forms are only effective when carefully designed. This will ensure it reflects the urgency of requests and make maintenance staff tasks easier.  So, take the time to create a user-friendly and informative maintenance request form; here’s a request template to get you started.