Work Order Templates: How Top Tree and Landscaping Business Use it to Win More Jobs

As a tree care and landscaping business owner, you well understand that unclear job requirements can lose thousands in revenue and waste time.

Field crews show up unprepared, customers get confused about what they’re actually paying for, and your business struggles to maintain any kind of consistency. It’s an issue that keeps many tree services stuck in the cycle of firefighting.

The most successful companies know there’s a simple fix – work order report. These aren’t just boring paperwork, they’re the backbone of profitable tree service operations.

So, what elements should you include when creating work orders that actually deliver results? Let’s break down the practical steps to make your daily operations easier, and help you win more client bids.

Proposals and Work Orders: Your Business Power Pair

Before we dive in, you might ask: “If I already have invoices for clients, why do I need a work order as well?”

Well, not only your client want it, your field crew, insurance company, and subcontractors all need it too. The answer lies in their different functions: proposals promise the service, work orders prove its delivery.

We talked about how to create a perfect proposal before. Your first professional impression on potential customers comes from proposals. These complete documents outline costs for custom or complex jobs. The documents detail client responsibilities, payment terms, and sometimes include testimonials from previous satisfied customers.

A work order transforms those overviews into actionable field instructions. They bridge sales promises with accountability by specifying exactly what tasks crews need to complete.

Your business operations become stronger through connecting these two. Clients get service that matches what they agreed to pay for, and crews receive detailed, site-specific instructions.

Essential Components of an Effective Work Order Form

Customer and job information sections

The foundation starts with rock-solid customer data. Your template must have spaces for the client’s name, multiple contact methods, and the exact property address.

Besides, don’t forget to give space to verify property ownership. Many service businesses don’t realize how important it is. This step prevents legal issues when tenants try to approve work without proper authorization.

Beyond simple contact details, good templates have:

• Unique work order numbers to track jobs
• Exact job start and completion dates (not vague timeframes)
• Parcel and subdivision information for large properties
• Customer signature spaces to confirm authorization

Tips: Demographic tracking help you learn which service areas bring in the most business. This data proves valuable when you evaluate marketing results and plan future growth.

Service details and specifications

This sits at the core of your work order. It should tell the specific story of what work you’ll complete, how you’ll do it, and any special requirements or limits.

Make sure your service details include:

• Precise tree identification (species, location, size measurements)
• Specific work methods (climbing, bucket truck, crane assisted)
• Overall equipment to be used on site
• Debris management approach (chip, haul away, leave firewood)
• Property protection measures
• Timeline expectations with weather contingencies
• Any relevant arborist recommendations

The work order form should also have room to expand on the scope of work. Don’t just write “tree removal.” Instead, describe removal methods, stump handling plans, and disposal arrangements. These details help prevent customer misunderstandings about the work you’ll do.

Tree service miscommunication burns time and money. That’s why experts recommend loading your templates with visual explanations, photos, or satellite maps that precisely mark which trees need attention.

Try ArborNote’s GPS mapping to mark trees directly on work orders. This shows crews precisely where to work and gives clients a clear picture of what they’re paying for. These visual guides prevent costly mistakes and keep everyone on the same page.

Materials and equipment tracking

Good work orders have sections to track the materials and equipment needed to complete jobs. This part helps crews prepare right, tracks inventory, and shows how you’ll use resources.

For tree care and landscaping, listing required equipment directly on the work order eliminates early morning confusion, and ensures teams are ready to work safely. Your template should specify:

• Equipment needed (with hourly recovery rates for profitability tracking)
• Materials required with exact quantities
• Labor allocation and specialized crew assignments
• Production expectations and realistic completion times

Pricing and payment terms

Though your proposals and invoices have given clients a picture of cost, things can change during the actual work. So it’s a plus to give a detailed costs and who pays for what. Whatever your payment policies, writing them down protects everyone and reduces payment disputes.

Some costs can include:

• Itemized breakdown of costs (crew labor, materials, equipment)
• Tax information when applicable to your state
• Deposit requirements and remaining payment schedule
• Late payment consequences (typically 1.5-2% monthly interest)
• Cancelation policies and associated fees

Including cancelation fees (typically 33% of contract price for less than 24 hours’ notice) protects your business when customers cancel last minute after you’ve already scheduled crews and equipment.

Similarly, clearly stating overtime rates for work outside normal business hours (usually Monday-Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) prevents disputes when weekend or evening work costs more.

By incorporating these four critical components into your work order template, you create a document that does multiple jobs, guiding your crew, setting clear client expectations, and creating legal protection for your tree service. The companies pulling ahead aren’t necessarily the biggest, they’re the ones who’ve standardized their processes with the right documentation.

Free Template, and How to Use it to Elevate Your Business

A good work order template can reshape your daily operations and benefit both your company and your clients. Here are some practical tips for making the most of it.

Download Free Template

Reducing miscommunication with clients, also insurance

Clear communication improves service delivery. Our work order template eliminate confusion by clearly outlining client expectations and providing documentation for insurance purposes.

Use these three steps for better client communication:

• Before starting: Send the initial work order to confirm expectations
• During the job: update it when changes occur
• Afterward: provide the completed version as proof of delivery

Work order templates give clients all the details about service scope, materials, and timelines instead of relying on memory or quick notes. This openness builds trust and cuts down on arguments after the job is done.

Improving field team coordination

Field teams work best with structure and direction. Templates also help by giving detailed instructions since supervisors can’t be at every job site.

Here’s how to maximize your work order for better team coordination:

• Morning briefing tool: Have team leads review work orders during kickoff meetings to align everyone before heading out
• Equipment verification: Include checkable equipment lists so crews can confirm they have everything needed onsite
• Safety checkpoints: Embed job-specific safety protocols that must be acknowledged before work begins with insurance coverage
• Field safety guide: Ensure digital work orders are accessible offline so teams always have critical information available

Team meetings and supporting documents set clear expectations. Your team feels confident about doing their work right, and you trust them to represent your brand well.

With ArborNote’s work order system, you can simply drag and drop to edit schedules directly on the calendar. This visual interface makes planning intuitive and automatically syncs updates to all team members in real-time. See how this streamlines your workflow in our demo.

Tracking job progress efficiently

You can’t spot problems or track progress without a good system in place. Templates give you a way to watch how jobs move along in real time.

Knowing your field team’s progress helps set realistic goals and deadlines. Clients get accurate, up-to-date information. Make it documented for teams to report:

• Weather conditions affecting work
• Clock-in and clock-out times
• Milestone completions
• Issues requiring immediate attention

Teams can fix problems as they come up rather than finding them after missing deadlines.

Final step: Using Work Order Data to Improve Performance

To generate valuable performance data that can reshape how you run your business. This information reveals operational insights that directly affect your profits when analyzed properly.

Monthly Tracking of completion times and efficiency

Your business’s strengths and weaknesses become clear by monitoring job durations against original estimates.

No need to make this analysis too overwhelming. Simply set aside an afternoon to sit down and calculate the time spent on each component of your projects. As you review these numbers, you’ll naturally identify outliers and understand their causes. These metrics deserve your attention:

• Job completion rates with client satisfaction scores (target >90% completion with 85%+ satisfaction)
• Equipment utilization versus downtime (keep equipment downtime <10%)
• Response times to service requests and incidents (idealy 30 minutes or less)

It’s OK if you use manual spreadsheets, but sometimes it creates accuracy problems in tracking work hours. ArborNote now lets you measure productivity more accurately with our tree care work reports. We give you detailed breakdowns of real expenses and hours for each project. These aren’t just statistics, they’re your roadmap to higher profits.

Identifying upsell opportunities from past work

Here’s another common misconception: investing heavily in acquiring new customers while neglecting to mine your work order history for additional business opportunities. Statistics show you’re 3-14 times more likely to upsell (sell additional services) to existing customers than new prospects. Even better, loyal clients are 5 times more likely to buy again and 7 times more likely to try your new services.

Look through past work orders to find natural service combinations that complement your main offerings, here are some point you can start to think of:

• Services that really help customers and make you good money
• Quick, easy services that don’t cost much to provide
• Services that fit perfectly with your slow/busy seasons
• Extra services customers already ask for all the time

After doing the analysis, make a list of those valuable additional service. But remember, balance is also crucial. Experts recommend showcasing only 2-3 high-impact services rather than overwhelming clients with every possible option. The right balance of targeted offers based on actual property needs converts at dramatically higher rates.

Tree injections can yield up to 400% profit when charged at $8.50 per injection site, but only if you’re tracking which properties have susceptible species. Start this month by reviewing your recent work history to uncover these hidden insights!