Enquiry handling
Site Visit Brief Template for Service Businesses
A site visit brief explains why a visit is needed, what can be checked and what remains uncertain. Use it to prepare a useful assessment and a clear follow-up, not as a technical inspection certificate.
Before the visit: copy this brief
- Request and purpose: the customer’s description and the decision the visit should support.
- Location and contact: confirmed address, authorised contact and arrival arrangements.
- Known scope: work being considered and explicit exclusions.
- Inputs: relevant photographs, plans or existing information, with permission to use them.
- Constraints: access, operating hours and known restrictions the visitor must discuss.
- Questions: facts needed before preparing an estimate.
- Follow-up owner: who communicates the findings and next step.
Do not put access codes or unnecessary personal details into a widely shared note. Use the appropriate secure process for restricted information.
During the visit: separate observation and assumption
Use four headings: observed, reported by customer, not checked and action required. “Customer says the wall was altered” is not the same as a confirmed technical finding.
Record measurements only when taken by a competent person using an appropriate method. Where specialist assessment is needed, name that dependency. Do not convert a visual impression into a safety statement or a fixed-price commitment.
A fictional completed example
Request: discuss a kitchen refurbishment. Purpose: understand the proposed layout before deciding what an estimate requires. Reported: the customer wants to move a partition. Observed: current room layout and access route. Not checked: suitability of structural changes. Action: obtain the appropriate professional assessment before confirming that scope.
Follow-up: send a summary listing the requested work, missing decisions and assessment dependency. No start date or technical approval has been agreed merely because the visit happened.
Close the loop with the customer
Send a summary the customer can correct: what was discussed, what is still unknown, who supplies missing information and what happens next. Identify whether the next output is an estimate, another assessment or a decision that the work is unsuitable.
Store the brief with the relevant customer conversation so another colleague can understand the limits. The completed note should make uncertainty visible rather than hiding it under “visit completed”.
Continue with a related resource
Use the example with your own facts, assign an owner and review the result before relying on it. These resources are available without creating an account.
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