Contractor Work Order Template
One order that fixes what the contractor is doing, what it costs and who accepted it.
- Agreed price and variations on one order
- Insurance and RAMS checked before mobilisation
- Acceptance signature gates invoice approval
- Retention and VAT carried to a total payable
Contractor Work Order
Issue, price and accept external work
| # | Compliance check | Done | Evidence | Verified by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Public liability insurance in date | |||
| 2 | Employer's liability insurance in date | |||
| 3 | RAMS received and approved |
The document you will get. Download for the full, editable file.
Who this contractor work order is for
Four people read this document, and each of them wants a different line out of it.
Contract or FM manager
You are answering whether the work was done to the price agreed. The priced lines and the variations register are the two entries that tell you, and both sit on the order rather than in an email chain.
Compliance or safety lead
You are answering whether this contractor should have been on site at all. The checks in Part A are the record that says yes, with a name and a date against each one.
Contractor's supervisor
You are the one working to it. The scope and the exclusions decide what you priced, and the variations register is where the extra gets agreed while you are still on site rather than after the invoice.
Finance or accounts payable
You are matching an invoice to something that was authorised. The PO number, the order value summary and the acceptance signature are what let you pay it without opening a conversation.
Which field matters the most in your sector
The order is the same shape everywhere. What changes is which field gets scrutinised, and that is usually the one your auditor or your contract manager asks about first. If you run one of these, the sector page goes further than the template does.
- Commercial real estate
Most of the work is subcontracted. The framework reference and the retention line are what a service charge audit is held against.
Portfolio maintenance software - Healthcare
Permits are not paperwork. The compliance block is the record that a contractor was cleared to work in a live clinical area, years after the fact.
Healthcare maintenance software - Retail and malls
Trading hours decide the visit. Access arrangements and the out-of-hours exclusion are what stop a fixed price being reopened.
Retail maintenance software - Education
Safeguarding and term dates. Site induction and the sub-contractor declaration matter more here than the rate does.
Campus maintenance software - Data centres
Isolation and permit to work decide whether the order can be released at all. The shutdown line is the one that gets scrutinised.
Data centre maintenance software - Corporate facilities
Many suppliers, one budget. The PO reference is what keeps committed spend visible across every open order.
Corporate facilities software
What a contractor work order should include
A contractor work order is the document that instructs an external contractor to carry out a defined piece of work at an agreed price. It carries the purchase order or contract reference, the scope and its exclusions, the priced lines, any variations, the compliance checks made before mobilisation, and the acceptance that closes it.
A. Fields specific to a contractor work order
| Field | What goes in it | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase order number | The PO raised against this order | The link between work and committed spend. Without it, finance has an invoice and nothing to match it to. |
| Framework or contract reference | The agreement the rates come from | Establishes which rate card applies. Disputes about price are usually disputes about which rate was in force. |
| Agreed scope of work | What the contractor will do, in specifics | The half of the order that gets read. Vague scope is what turns a fixed price into a negotiation. |
| Specifically excluded | What this order does not cover | The half nobody writes and everybody needs. Making good, waste removal and out-of-hours access are the usual three. |
| Permits required | Hot work, confined space, isolation, height | Tells the contractor what to arrange before travelling, and tells you what to check before releasing the work. |
| Insurance and RAMS checks | Public liability, employer's liability, RAMS approved | A missing RAMS is the most common reason a contractor invoice is disputed after an incident. |
| Agreed price lines | Description, qty, unit, rate, amount | Line-level pricing is what makes a variation visible. A single lump sum hides every change inside one number. |
| Variations | Reference, date, reason, approver, cost | The register that decides the invoice conversation. Every line needs a name against it. |
| Acceptance decision | Accepted, accepted with defects, or rejected | Three outcomes, not two. Accepted with defects is the one that keeps retention meaningful. |
| Retention | Percentage held and the date it is due | Money you keep until defects are cleared. Recorded on the order, or forgotten at the point it mattered. |
If you cut the form down, keep the PO number, the exclusions and the variations register. Those three are what an invoice is argued about. Everything else can be reconstructed; a variation agreed verbally cannot.
B. What it looks like filled in
The same fields above, on a real order. This is what the Excel version totals for you.
| Line | Detail | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Order | CWO-2026-0148, AHU-03 supply fan bearings | Mechanical |
| Agreed price | Six hours labour at 48.00 | 288.00 |
| Variation V1 | Corroded pipework behind panel, approved by R. Mehta | 165.00 |
| Subtotal | Agreed price plus variations | 453.00 |
| Retention | Five per cent held until defects are cleared | 22.65 |
| Total payable | 430.35 net, VAT at 20 per cent | 516.42 |
Order CWO-2026-0148, AHU-03, mechanical. Read the variation line rather than the total: 165.00 agreed on site, with a reason and an approver against it, is the difference between an invoice that clears in a minute and one that takes five emails. The retention is held against the whole 453.00, not just the original price.
Word to edit the scope, Excel to total the price, variations and retention, PDF for the site copy. Free, and yours to rebrand.
How do you fill in a contractor work order?
Fill Part A before the contractor travels, Part B as the money changes, and Part C before anyone approves an invoice. Six steps, and the fifth is the one that gets skipped.
Raise the order against a PO, not a conversation
Get the purchase order number onto the form at the point of raising. An order issued without one is work you have authorised and finance has not, and that gap is discovered at invoice stage rather than now.
Write the exclusions, not just the scope
Say what is not included: making good, waste disposal, out-of-hours access, materials you are supplying. Scope tells the contractor what to quote. Exclusions stop the quote being reopened.
Clear the compliance checklist before mobilisation
Public liability and employer's liability in date, RAMS received and approved, permits issued, site induction done. Release the work only when every line is signed. A contractor already on site is a bad time to discover the insurance lapsed.
Price it in lines, so a change is visible
Description, quantity, unit, rate, amount. A lump sum cannot be compared to an invoice. Lines can, and the comparison takes about a minute.
Write every variation down while it is being agreed
Reference, date, the reason it was needed, who approved it, the cost. This is the step that gets skipped, and it is the one that decides whether the invoice conversation takes five minutes or five emails.
Accept the work before you approve the invoice
Inspect, record the decision, note defects and the date they must be cleared by, and sign. Approving payment before acceptance removes the only leverage you have to get defects fixed.
How is this different from an in-house work order?
Both authorise work. Only one of them has a supplier on the other side who will send you a bill, and that difference shapes most of the form.
| Aspect | In-house work order | Contractor work order |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | An employee on your maintenance team | An external company under a contract or framework |
| What the cost is | Labour hours at an internal rate, plus parts | An agreed price, plus variations, minus retention |
| Before work starts | Assign it and go | Insurance, RAMS, permits and induction all verified first |
| When scope changes | The technician does what is needed and notes it | It becomes a variation, priced and approved, or it is not paid |
| What closes it | A completion note and a supervisor signature | An acceptance decision that releases the invoice for approval |
| What it feeds | Asset history and internal labour cost | Supplier performance, committed spend and the payment run |
The difference is leverage. An in-house job that goes wrong is a conversation. A contractor job that goes wrong after the invoice is approved is a favour you are asking for. Everything in Part A and Part C exists to keep that leverage on your side of the table.
When the template starts to feel limiting
A form manages one order well. It manages a contractor base badly, and the gap shows up in the same four places.
It cannot hold the compliance dates
Insurance expires. RAMS get superseded. A form records that you checked once, on one order. It cannot tell you that a contractor you are about to instruct went out of cover last Tuesday.
Variations live in the wrong place
The register only works if the person on site fills it in. In practice variations are agreed verbally and reconstructed later from memory, against an invoice that already has a number on it.
Invoice matching is manual
Somebody opens the order, opens the invoice and compares them line by line. It works until you have forty open orders, at which point invoices get approved on trust.
It says nothing about the supplier
One order tells you nothing about whether this contractor is habitually late, habitually over, or habitually disputing. That pattern only exists across orders, and a folder of documents will not show it to you.
What running contractor work in Facilio looks like
The template is the paper version of a control. Facilio keeps the same control, and applies it across every order and every supplier rather than one sheet at a time.
Contractor Work Tracker
Track the order and the supplier, not just the job
The fields on this form become tracked state: the PO reference, the agreed price, the variations, the compliance dates and the acceptance decision. Because it holds every order rather than one, it can also answer the questions a document cannot, such as which contractor is running over on price and which is late more often than the framework allows.
Audit Report Intelligence
Check the invoice against the order automatically
Line-by-line invoice matching is the manual step that stops happening under load. Audit Report Intelligence reads what was ordered, what was varied and what was invoiced, and surfaces the differences rather than waiting for someone to spot them.
Work Completion Validator
Make acceptance a gate rather than a formality
On this form, acceptance is a signature that can be added after the invoice has already been approved. Work Completion Validator checks the completion evidence against what was ordered, so acceptance means the work was verified, not that someone reached the bottom of the page.
Audit-trailed. Every answer Atom AI gives traces back to the record it came from, so a claim in a report can be followed to the visit that produced it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a contractor work order?
A contractor work order is the instruction you issue to an external contractor to carry out a defined piece of work at an agreed price. It records the purchase order or contract reference, the scope and exclusions, the priced lines, the compliance checks made before mobilisation, any variations, and the acceptance that closes it.
What is the difference between a contractor work order and a purchase order?
A purchase order is a finance instrument: it authorises spend against a budget and gives the invoice something to match to. A contractor work order is an operational instrument: it says what will be done, under what conditions, to what standard, and records what actually happened.
You generally need both. The PO commits the money; the work order describes and evidences the work the money was committed for.
Should the price be agreed before the work starts?
Yes, and in lines rather than as a lump sum. A priced schedule makes a variation visible: you can see that six hours became nine, or that a part was substituted. A single agreed figure hides all of that, and the first time you learn the work changed is when the invoice does not match.
How should variations be handled?
Write each one down as it is agreed, with a reference, the date, the reason it was needed, who approved it and the cost. The register is only useful if it is filled in on site, at the moment of agreement.
A variation agreed by phone and recorded nowhere is the variation that gets argued about.
Why check insurance and RAMS before the contractor mobilises?
Because after mobilisation you have no leverage and, if something goes wrong, no defence. Public liability and employer's liability in date, RAMS received and approved, permits issued and induction completed are the four that matter.
A missing RAMS is also the most common reason a contractor invoice is disputed after an incident.
Can the invoice be approved before the work is accepted?
It can, and that is the failure this form is designed to prevent. Once payment is approved, the only remaining incentive to return and clear defects is goodwill.
Keep acceptance as the gate. Record one of three outcomes, accepted, accepted with defects, or rejected, and where there are defects record the date they must be cleared by.
What is retention and should I use it?
Retention is a percentage of the order value held back until defects are cleared, typically for a defined period after completion. It exists so that the last few per cent of the money is still available when you need the contractor to come back.
Whether it is appropriate depends on the value and the relationship, but where it is used it belongs on the order rather than in a side agreement.
Can I edit and rebrand this template?
Yes. It is free to use, edit, rename and put your own logo on, internally or for clients. No attribution required.
The Word version is the one to edit if you want to change the scope, the exclusions or your own terms; the Excel version is the one to use if you want the priced lines, variations, retention and VAT to total themselves.
In one paragraph
A contractor work order instructs an external company to carry out defined work at an agreed price. Raise it against a purchase order, write the exclusions as carefully as the scope, and clear insurance, RAMS and permits before the contractor mobilises. Price it in lines so a change is visible, and record every variation with a reason and an approver at the moment it is agreed. Then accept the work, accepted, accepted with defects, or rejected, before the invoice is approved, because acceptance is the only leverage you have left once the money is out.
The template is the floor, not the ceiling
Take the template; it will carry one order from raised to accepted. When one form per order stops being enough, a connected CMMS controls a contractor base: live compliance dates, variations captured against the order, and invoices matched to what was actually authorised.
