The Donated Work Intake SOP

Purpose

This procedure makes sure that every donated or discounted job is chosen against stated criteria, approved by the owner, scoped in writing, permitted and inspected exactly as a paid job would be, confirmed with the insurance agent, and closed out with a record the shop could hand an insurer or an inspector a year later. Without it, a generous yes on a Saturday becomes the job with no permit, no photos and no signed scope, which is the job a claim lands on. Free work carries the same code and liability as paid work, for recipients least able to absorb a failure.

Scope

Covers any job the shop performs free or at a discount for a charitable reason: referrals from a nonprofit home-repair program, requests from churches or neighborhood groups, and individual hardship requests that come straight to the office.

Does not cover how the crew is paid for a shop-organized volunteer day, which is the commitments procedure and the pay rule (see related: The Community Commitments Calendar SOP), or how the donation is treated for taxes (see related: The Tax Reality of Donating Services and Materials). A goodwill credit to a paying customer after a complaint is not a donation.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

1. Log the request as a job, not a favor. The office manager opens a job in the shop's software with the type "donated" or "discounted", the requester, the recipient's name and address, how the request arrived, and the problem in the recipient's words. Acceptance: a job number exists before anyone visits the site. Wrong looks like a tech agreeing to "swing by" on the way home; the stop rule is that no one visits until the job exists, and any visit already made is logged as the assessment in step 3. Risk: a visit that has no job record is one the shop cannot show happened the way it did.

2. Screen the request against the criteria. The office manager checks four things and records each answer: the recipient is referred by a partner nonprofit or the need is verified by the owner; the person consenting to the work owns the property, or the owner of record consents in writing; the work is within the shop's license and trade; and the estimated labor is at or under the per-job cap, a common starting point being 16 labor hours, tuned to your shop. Acceptance: all four recorded as yes. Wrong looks like a recipient who rents, or a deed in another family member's name; the stop rule is no assessment visit until the owner of record has consented in writing, and a request outside the shop's trade is referred to a partner shop in that trade rather than stretched to fit. Risk: work done on a property without the owner's consent is unauthorized work, whatever the motive.

3. Assess the site with a licensed tech and lead with hazards. The assessing tech visits, and before diagnosing anything checks for the conditions that stop the visit: on any gas odor, everyone leaves the house without operating switches and the tech calls the gas utility from outside; water near the electrical panel means nobody touches the panel and the power question goes to an electrician; in a house built before 1978, any work that will disturb paint is planned under lead-safe practices; suspected asbestos-containing material in the work area is left undisturbed until tested. Then the tech photographs the existing condition and drafts the scope. Acceptance: an assessment form with at least four photos (overall, the failed item, its connections, the surrounding area) and a draft scope listing every item and every exclusion. Wrong looks like a scope that grows on site into "while we're here"; the stop rule is that anything beyond the draft scope becomes a new request back at step 2. Risk: the hazard found on a donated visit is still the shop's to act on; a red-tag condition is red-tagged and reported exactly as on a paid call.

4. Put the scope and terms in writing and get it signed. The office manager turns the draft into a written scope: the items, the exclusions, the materials, the warranty (the shop's normal workmanship warranty unless the owner states otherwise in writing), and the full normal price shown with the donated or discounted amount stated. The recipient, or the owner of record, signs; the partner nonprofit signs where it is involved. Acceptance: signatures on file before scheduling. Wrong looks like a scope that says "fix bathroom"; redo it item by item. Stop rule: no signature, no schedule. Risk: an unwritten scope means the recipient's memory of what was promised becomes the scope.

5. Owner approval against the annual cap. The owner reviews the packet and approves against the shop's annual donated-labor cap, a common starting point being about 120 labor hours a year for a shop of ten to fifteen people. Acceptance: approval and the running total recorded on the job. Wrong looks like a job approved with the packet incomplete; the stop rule is that the owner sends it back. An over-cap job is approved only by deferring another or raising the cap in writing. Risk: an unlimited donation program crowds out paying work and gets cut entirely in the first slow month.

6. Resolve the permit exactly as for a paid job. The assessing tech determines whether the scope needs a permit under the jurisdiction's rules and pulls it if so, using the owner of record's signature where the jurisdiction requires it. Acceptance: a permit number on the job, or if the jurisdiction exempts the work, the exemption cited from its published list and noted on the job. Wrong looks like "it's free, nobody will check"; the stop rule is no permit, no work, and a jurisdiction that will not issue one for the scope means the scope changes. Risk: an unpermitted job loses the independent inspection that would have caught an installation error, and an insurer reviewing a later claim will see the missing permit first.

7. Confirm insurance in writing. The owner emails the shop's insurance agent the scope, the address and the fact that the work is donated, and asks whether the shop's general liability policy covers it as it covers paid work and whether the nonprofit needs a certificate naming it as additional insured. Acceptance: the agent's written reply filed on the job, and any certificate sent. Wrong looks like assuming coverage; the stop rule is no scheduling until the reply is in. The crew works on paid time and is covered by workers' compensation like any job (see related: Volunteering the Crew and the Pay Rule). Risk: the coverage question asked after a failure is asked too late.

8. Do the work under the shop's normal job procedures. The crew lead runs the job as a paid job: the same materials standards, the same tests and the same photos. Each trade's own hazards apply in their own steps: isolate and lock out electrical and verify dead before touching conductors; shut and verify the water supply and relieve pressure before opening a line; leak-test every gas joint before relighting; follow lead-safe practices with containment and cleaning verification where paint is disturbed in a pre-1978 house. Acceptance: every scoped item complete, with before and after photos and any test reading the shop's paid procedure requires. Wrong looks like a skipped test; the stop rule is that the job is not closed until the test is done. Before restoring water, gas or power, the crew confirms every joint is made up and tested, nobody is working on the system, and the recipient knows it is coming back on. Risk: donated work is not inspected by a paying customer who knows what to look for, so the crew is the only check before the inspector.

9. Close out with inspection, sign-off and the record. The crew lead schedules the inspection where a permit was pulled, walks the recipient through the work, leaves the warranty letter and any operating notes, and gets a signed acceptance. Acceptance: inspection passed or exemption noted, signed acceptance, warranty letter copy, all photos and readings attached, within 2 business days of completion. Wrong looks like a failed inspection; the stop rule is the crew returns to correct it before the job is closed, on the same donated basis. Risk: a job left open with a failed inspection is an unfinished job the shop is still responsible for.

The record this produces

One job file per donated job, in the shop's software alongside paid work: the intake, the four criteria answers, the owner-of-record consent, the assessment form and photos, the signed scope with full and donated value, owner approval and the running annual total, the permit number or exemption, the agent's written coverage reply, test readings and after photos, the inspection result, the signed acceptance and the warranty letter. The owner reads the running total, the bookkeeper the values, and an insurer or attorney the whole file if a claim comes.

A worked pass

A seven-person plumbing shop receives a referral from a housing nonprofit: an elderly homeowner's toilet has a cracked tank, the supply lines in the bathroom are corroded, and the nonprofit's occupational therapist has recommended two grab bars by the toilet. The nonprofit will reimburse materials only.

Step 1. Job opened as "discounted", because the nonprofit is paying for materials. The office manager records the referral.

Step 2. Fails on the second criterion. The nonprofit's file shows the house is titled to the recipient's son, who lives out of state. The stop rule applies: no visit until consent. The office manager emails the son the description and a consent form; he signs and returns it four days later. All four criteria are now yes, and the estimate is about 6 labor hours, two techs for 3 hours, under the 16-hour cap.

Step 3. No gas odor; the panel is dry and in another room. The house was built in 1962 and drilling for grab-bar anchors disturbs paint, so the job is planned under lead-safe practices. Because materials are reimbursed, the shop treats the job as compensated under the federal lead renovation rule (40 CFR 745 Subpart E), and runs its lead-safe setup regardless of how small the disturbed area is. Four photos taken. Draft scope: replace the toilet, replace two supply lines and stops, install two grab bars into blocking or with anchors listed for the wall type. Exclusions: the vanity drain, which drips slightly and is noted for the nonprofit.

Step 4. Written scope signed by the son (by email), the recipient and the nonprofit, showing the shop's normal price and the labor donated.

Step 5. Owner approves. Running donated total for the year: 74 hours before this job, 80 after, under the 120-hour cap.

Step 6. The city's published permit-exemption list covers like-for-like fixture replacement, and grab bars need no permit; the tech cites the exemption on the job.

Step 7. The agent replies the next day that the general liability policy covers the operation, and issues a certificate naming the nonprofit as additional insured.

Step 8. Two techs, 3.5 hours each on site. Water off and lines drained before disconnecting; the new stops and supplies are pressure-checked at operating pressure with no weep after 10 minutes; containment and cleaning for the drilling; grab bars installed into blocking found in the wall and pull-tested by hand with full body weight. Before turning the water back on, the lead confirms both stops are closed and every joint is made up, then opens the main and the stops and checks again.

Step 9. Walk-through with the recipient, signed acceptance, warranty letter left, photos attached. Closed the same day; labor actual 7 hours against 6 estimated, and the running total is corrected to 81.

References

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, 40 CFR 745 Subpart E (applies to renovations for compensation in pre-1978 housing)
• Your jurisdiction's permit requirements and published exemptions, as adopted
• See related: How to Donate Work Without Creating Liability
• See related: The Tax Reality of Donating Services and Materials
• See related: The Volunteer Repair That Came Back as a Claim