HVAC Work Order Template
One record for a single HVAC unit, from the no-cooling call to the customer signature. It carries the unit's nameplate detail, the operating readings as found and as left, the refrigerant recovered and added, the component checks a return visit depends on, and the technician's certification number.
- As-found and as-left readings in the same row
- Refrigerant recovered and added, per cylinder
- Filter size recorded, not remembered
- Certification number against the sign-off
HVAC Work Order
Unit service record, readings and sign-off
| # | Work performed | Done | Hrs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Log the call, set the response due time | |||
| 2 | Read the nameplate: asset ID, model, serial, refrigerant | |||
| 3 | Record space temperature and setpoint on arrival | |||
| 4 | Take operating readings as found | |||
| 5 | Work the component checks, including filter size | |||
| 6 | Take the same readings as left, against spec |
A preview of the real document. The download is the complete file.
Download the HVAC work order template
Free, editable and yours to rebrand. Pick a format. You'll get all three, so you have the printable version too.
- Word (.docx) for editing the component checklist and adding your own terms.
- Excel (.xlsx) where the readings table, parts, labour and visit total calculate themselves.
- PDF print-ready, for the certified signature on site.
Who this HVAC work order is for
Four people read this document, and each of them wants a different line out of it.
Facilities manager
You are answering whether the unit is fixed or merely running. The as-left readings against spec, and the repair type (permanent or temporary) are the two fields that tell you whether to expect the same call next week.
Maintenance supervisor
You are scheduling and costing. Labour hours, the component checks that were skipped, and the recommendation (repair again, replace, or change the service interval) are what feed next quarter's plan.
HVAC technician
You are the one filling it in, on a roof, in the heat. The nameplate block and the filter size mean the next visit starts with the right part on the van instead of a second trip.
Contractor coordinator
You are matching an invoice to work you authorised. Parts with a charge-to, labour at an agreed rate, and the refrigerant quantity are the three lines that get queried.
Where an HVAC work order is used
The document is the same shape everywhere. What changes is which fields carry the weight.
| Setting | What the form has to capture there |
|---|---|
| Commercial office | Comfort complaints by zone. Space temperature on arrival against setpoint, and which floor or area was affected, matter more than plant-room detail. |
| Retail | Trading hours constrain everything. Response due by, access arrangements and whether the unit was left running decide whether the store opens. |
| Hospital | Certification and traceability. The technician's EPA 608 number, the leak test method and result, and the ventilation areas affected all have to survive an audit. |
| Data centre | Temperature split and redundancy. Supply and return air temperatures, external static pressure and whether the unit was left fully operational or limited are the load-bearing fields. |
| Multi-site facilities | Comparability across sites. The asset ID and the readings-versus-spec columns are what let one unit's history be compared with the same model on another site. |
What an HVAC work order should include
An HVAC work order is the record that authorises a heating or cooling service visit and documents what happened to one unit. It names the asset, captures the reported fault, records operating readings as found and as left, logs refrigerant recovered and added, and closes with a certified signature.
Fields every work order needs
- Work order number
A unique reference, e.g. HVAC-2026-0412
- Date and time raised
When the request came in, not when you got there
- Priority
Set at intake, from the contract, before anyone forms a view
- Site and location
Where the work happens, precise enough to find unaided
- Raised by and contact
Who asked, and how to reach them on arrival
- Target completion
The time you are committed to, so the SLA is measurable
- Parts and materials
Item, quantity, unit price and who it is charged to
- Labour
Date, who attended, hours and rate
- Sign-off
Both signatures, named and dated
Fields specific to an HVAC work order
| Field | What goes in it | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Asset ID and unit type | The tag on the equipment, and RTU, split, chiller, AHU, FCU, VRF, heat pump or boiler | Turns a pile of visits into unit history. Free-text descriptions drift; IDs don't. |
| Refrigerant type and factory charge | R-410A, R-32, R-134a, R-454B, and the nameplate charge | Determines what the technician brings and what the law requires them to record. Copy it off the nameplate, not from memory. |
| Operating readings, as found and as left | Suction and discharge pressure, superheat, subcooling, supply and return air temperature, temperature split, compressor and fan amps, external static pressure | The page's whole argument. One set of readings tells the customer nothing about what changed; two sets, against spec, prove the fix. |
| Air filter size and condition | The size as fitted, and whether it was changed | The single most requested detail on a return visit. Recorded here, the next van leaves with the right filter. |
| Refrigerant handling record | Recovered, added, cylinder ID, leak test method and result | A required record rather than a nicety. Every charge is logged against the unit and the cylinder it came from. |
| Thermostat calibration and schedule | Whether the stat reads true, and what it is programmed to do | A large share of comfort complaints are a schedule problem, not a mechanical one. This is where that gets ruled out. |
| Certification number | The technician's EPA 608 or local equivalent | Sits beside the signature because for refrigerant work the signature is only meaningful with it. |
If you cut the form down, keep as-found and as-left in the same row. It is the difference between a visit that can be defended and one that cannot. A customer looking at 98 psig on arrival and 118 psig on departure, against a spec of 118 to 124, can see what they paid for. A single column of numbers is just a technician's word.
What it looks like filled in
A real visit, filled end to end. This is the same job the Excel version totals for you.
| Reading | Unit | As found | As left | Spec or expected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suction pressure | psig | 98 | 118 | 118–124 |
| Discharge pressure | psig | 242 | 268 | 255–275 |
| Superheat | °F | 22 | 11 | 8–12 |
| Subcooling | °F | 4 | 10 | 8–12 |
| Supply air temp | °F | 64 | 55 | 54–58 |
| Return air temp | °F | 76 | 74 | n/a |
| Temperature split | °F | 12 | 19 | 18–22 |
| Compressor amps | A | 14.1 | 16.8 | 16–18 RLA |
| External static pressure | in. wg | 0.92 | 0.58 | 0.50–0.65 |
Work order HVAC-2026-0412, RTU-04, R-410A. Fault found: run capacitor reading 31µF against 45µF rated, compressor short cycling on a low charge. Work carried out: capacitor replaced (CAP-45-370, one, 18.50, billable), 2.40 lb R-410A added from cylinder CYL-7741, electronic leak detection, no leak found; filter changed. Labour 2.50 hours at 72.00. Technician D. Osei, EPA608-II-4471. Unit left fully operational, repair type permanent.
How do you fill in an HVAC work order?
Fill it in the order the visit happens, and take the second set of readings before you pack up. Six steps, and the fifth is the one that gets skipped when it is hot.
Log the call against a response time, not just a date
Date and time logged, priority, and response due by. Set them at intake, from the contract, so the SLA is measurable rather than reconstructed at the end of the month.
Copy the nameplate before you diagnose anything
Asset ID, make, model, serial, nominal capacity, refrigerant type and factory charge. It takes two minutes on the unit and saves a return visit later.
Record the space temperature and setpoint on arrival
Along with whether the unit was running, short cycling or locked out, and any fault code displayed. This is the evidence that the complaint was real.
Take the readings as found, before you touch anything
Pressures, superheat, subcooling, air temperatures, amps, static pressure. Numbers taken after an adjustment cannot establish what was wrong.
Work the component checks and write the filter size down
Coils, condensate, belt, blower, contactor, capacitor microfarads against rated, thermostat calibration. Filter size goes in the table, not in your memory. It is what the next technician needs.
Take the same readings as left, then close it out
Against spec, in the same row. Then the refrigerant record, parts, labour, resolution, and both signatures with your certification number.
HVAC work order vs HVAC PM checklist
They look similar and they are not interchangeable. One responds to a fault; the other prevents one.
| Aspect | HVAC work order | HVAC PM checklist |
|---|---|---|
| What starts it | A fault, a complaint or a request | A schedule: monthly, quarterly or seasonal |
| What it is for | Recording a single intervention on one unit, and proving it worked | Confirming a defined list of tasks was performed on time |
| The load-bearing fields | As-found and as-left readings, fault found, root cause | Task completed, date, technician, meter readings |
| Refrigerant | Recovered and added, logged against a cylinder | Usually a charge check only, unless a fault is discovered |
| How it closes | A repair type and a recommendation: repair, replace or change interval | A completion date and the next due date |
| What it feeds | Unit history, cost per asset, warranty and compliance evidence | Compliance schedules and PM completion rates |
In practice a PM visit that finds a fault should raise a work order rather than absorb the repair into the checklist. Absorbed repairs are how a unit accumulates cost that nobody can see, because the checklist records that it was serviced and never records what it needed.
Where a document stops working
A form handles one visit well. It handles a portfolio of units badly, and the failure modes are consistent.
There is no version control
Somebody edits the checklist, emails it round, and two versions of the same form are in use on the same site. Nothing tells you which visit used which.
The SLA clock isn't running
Response due by sits on a sheet in a van. Nothing warns you an hour before it breaches, which is the only moment the information is useful.
There is no audit trail
A signed sheet proves a signature existed. It cannot show who changed a reading, or when, which is the question an audit actually asks.
You cannot see the portfolio
One form tells you about one unit. Which model fails most often, and which site runs hottest, exist only across visits, and a folder will not show you.
What running this in Facilio looks like
The template is the paper version of this record. The fields below are the same ones; the difference is that they become state the platform can act on.
Work Completion Validator
The as-left readings become the completion test
On paper, a visit is complete when the last box is ticked. Work Completion Validator checks the completion record against what the job required, so a visit closed without the as-left column, or without the filter size, is caught while the technician is still on site.
Ops Performance Intelligence
Response due by becomes a live clock, not a column
The same field you write at intake drives an SLA that can warn before it breaches, and rolls up so you can see which units and which sites are running hot rather than discovering it in a quarterly review.
Audit Report Intelligence
The refrigerant record becomes evidence you can retrieve
Recovered, added, cylinder ID, leak test method and result, logged once against the unit and assembled into the report an auditor asks for instead of being searched for across a year of sheets.
Contractor Work Tracker
Parts and labour reconcile against what you authorised
The charge-to on every part and the rate on every labour line become the basis for matching an invoice to the order, and for seeing which contractor runs over on the same model of unit.
Permission-aware by default. Atom AI inherits RBAC from your Facilio config, so if a user cannot see it in Facilio they cannot see it via Atom AI.
Frequently asked questions
What is an HVAC work order?
An HVAC work order is the record that authorises a heating or cooling service visit and documents what happened to one unit. It captures the reported fault, the unit's nameplate detail, operating readings taken as found and as left, refrigerant recovered and added, the components checked, and a certified signature.
It differs from a general maintenance work order mainly in the readings. Mechanical work is proved by numbers against a specification, which is why the same measurements are recorded twice.
What should an HVAC work order include?
At minimum: a unique work order number, date and time logged, priority and response due by, the asset ID and unit type, make, model and serial, refrigerant type and factory charge, the reported symptom, operating readings as found and as left against spec, the component checks including filter size, refrigerant recovered and added with the cylinder reference, parts and labour, the resolution and repair type, and both signatures with the technician's certification number.
Why record readings as found and as left?
Because one set of numbers cannot show what changed. A suction pressure of 118 psig on departure means nothing on its own; 98 psig on arrival rising to 118 against a spec of 118 to 124 shows what the visit achieved.
It also protects the technician. A comfort complaint that recurs a week later is a very different conversation when the sheet shows the unit was left inside specification.
Where should filter size be recorded?
In the component checks table, on the work order itself. It is the single most requested detail on a return visit, and the one most often held in a technician's memory rather than written down.
Recorded on the form, the next visit starts with the right filter on the van instead of a measuring tape and a second trip.
Do I have to log refrigerant recovered and added?
In most jurisdictions, yes. Refrigerant handling is a required record rather than good practice, and it needs to tie a quantity to a specific unit and a specific cylinder.
The template captures date, refrigerant type, recovered, added, cylinder ID, leak test method and result, which is the shape that record normally has to take. Check your local requirement for retention periods and reporting thresholds.
What is the difference between an HVAC work order and a PM checklist?
A work order responds to something: a fault, a complaint or a request. It records one intervention on one unit. A PM checklist confirms that a scheduled list of tasks was performed.
The useful discipline is that a PM visit which finds a fault should raise a work order rather than absorb the repair into the checklist, otherwise the cost of keeping that unit running becomes invisible.
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 component checklist or the wording; the Excel version is the one to use if you want the readings, parts and labour to total themselves.
In one paragraph
An HVAC work order records one mechanical service visit against one unit. Log the call against a response time, copy the nameplate before diagnosing, and take operating readings as found before touching anything. Work the component checks and write the filter size down. Then take the same readings as left, against specification, in the same row. That pair is what proves the fix rather than asserting it. Close with the refrigerant record, parts and labour, a repair type, and both signatures with the technician's certification number.
The template is the floor, not the ceiling
A document records one visit. A connected CMMS runs the estate: readings that become unit history, response times that warn before they breach, and refrigerant records you can retrieve instead of search for.
