The Real Estate Job Intake SOP

Purpose

This procedure makes sure that before any tech is sent to a house under contract or for sale, the office knows who called and for whom, whether anyone lives there, what state the utilities are in, the deadlines the work must beat, who is paying and how that was confirmed, who gets the report, and how the tech gets in. Without it, the shop's real-estate work fails in four predictable ways: a tech stands at a locked door, a report goes to the wrong side of the deal, the job finishes after the buyer's deadline, or the invoice has no one willing to pay it. Every one of those is decided on the phone, before the job exists.

Scope

Covers any booking where the caller says, or the office learns, that the property is listed, under contract, being bought, being sold, owned by a relocation company, or held by an investor between purchase and resale. Covers inspections, bids and repairs.

Does not cover: entering and securing a vacant home on the day (see The Vacant-Home Access and Exit SOP); restoring water and heat to a winterized house (see Restoring a Winterized Vacant Home for Inspection); collecting payment through the title company at closing (see Getting Paid at Closing Without Getting Stuck); ordinary homeowner service calls at a house that is not in a transaction.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

1. Establish the caller's role and side. Ask: "Are you the owner, the buyer, or an agent, and if an agent, are you listing the house or representing the buyer?" Acceptance: one role recorded from the fixed list (seller, buyer, listing agent, buyer's agent, transaction coordinator, property manager, relocation company, investor) and, for an agent or coordinator, the side and the client's name. Wrong looks like "I'm the realtor" with no side, or a coordinator who cannot name the client; stop there and ask again, and do not proceed until the side is known, because every later step depends on it. Risk in its own clause: a caller who wants lockbox codes or a vacancy confirmation without a verifiable role may be casing the house, so access details are only ever given to a number the office calls back through the brokerage's listed line.

2. Record the property and who is living in it. Take the address and ask: "Is anyone living there now, and who?" Acceptance: occupancy recorded as seller-occupied, tenant-occupied, or vacant, with the occupant's name and phone when occupied. Wrong looks like "I think it's empty"; the stop rule is to confirm with the listing agent before booking, because a tech walking into an occupied house unannounced is a safety and trespass problem. For a tenant-occupied rental, the landlord must give the tenant whatever entry notice state law requires (California, for example, presumes 24 hours written notice reasonable under Civil Code section 1954; other states set different periods or none), so the office books no earlier than the landlord confirms notice was given. Hazard in its own clause: a vacant house means a lone tech, so the job is flagged for the shop's check-in call at arrival and departure.

3. Ask the state of the utilities. Ask whether water, gas and electricity are on, and whether the house has been winterized (water drained, lines blown out, antifreeze in the traps). Acceptance: each utility recorded as on, off or unknown, and winterized yes or no. Wrong looks like a heating inspection booked into a house with gas off at the meter; stop and either reschedule after the utility is restored by whoever controls the account, or book the restoration as its own job. Hazard in its own clause: the tech never turns gas back on at the meter or relights appliances on a vacant house as a courtesy unless they are gas-qualified and the job says so, and never opens the main water valve on a winterized house, because a split line floods an empty building for hours before anyone sees it.

4. Record the two deadlines and count the days. Ask for the closing date and the date the work must be done by, which is usually the end of the buyer's inspection or repair period. Acceptance: both written as calendar dates, plus the number of days between the earliest available slot (with report time added) and the work deadline. Wrong looks like "as soon as possible" with no date; ask the agent to read the date from the contract. Stop rule: if the earliest slot plus report time lands after the work deadline, say so on this call and do not book, because a report that arrives after the deadline is worth nothing to the person paying for it. See related: How a Home Sale Timeline Works for the Trades.

5. Confirm who is paying and how, before the slot is held. Ask: "Who is paying for this, and how will they pay?" Acceptance: a named payer and one confirmed method recorded: a deposit or card authorization taken from the payer directly, a written authorization from the payer to bill them, a relocation company work-order number, or a written payment instruction from the closing agent for work billed at closing. Wrong looks like "the seller will cover it," "it'll come out at closing," or an agent offering their own card for a client without saying so; stop rule: the slot may be pencilled for 24 hours, but the job is not booked and no tech is assigned until the payer is confirmed, and the office offers to contact the payer directly. Only the owner or manager can make an exception, with a written note in the job. Risk in its own clause: card numbers are never taken from a third party relaying them; the payer pays through the shop's own payment link.

6. Record who receives the report and the invoice. Ask the payer, not the caller if they differ: "Who should get the report besides you?" Acceptance: each recipient's name, role and email, and the payer's approval of that list in writing (an email reply is enough). Wrong looks like a buyer's agent asking for the report to be sent to "everyone on the deal," or a request to send the buyer's paid report to the seller; stop and send only to the payer and the names the payer approved, because a report delivered to the other side can change a negotiation the payer is paying you to support. See related: The Buyer and the Seller Both Want Your Report.

7. Settle the access method and window. Ask how the tech gets in and who will be there. Acceptance: method recorded (agent meets, occupant meets, lockbox through the showing system, or code given to the dispatcher by call-back), the window, and an on-site contact's phone. Wrong looks like "the code's always the same, I'll text it to the tech" or no on-site contact for a vacant house; stop, because access details live in the job record, not in a text thread, and no tech is dispatched without a confirmed method. Hazard in its own clause: the tech is told at dispatch that signs of forced entry or someone inside an empty house mean leaving, locking nothing, and calling the agent and, if needed, the police from the truck. The entry itself is The Vacant-Home Access and Exit SOP.

8. Read the scope back in one sentence. Say: "So we are doing X at this address, for this payer, by this date, with the report to these people." Acceptance: the caller says yes, and the job type is tagged (inspection only, bid, repair). Wrong looks like "and while he's there can he also look at..." from someone who is not the payer; stop and record the extra item as a separate request needing the payer's approval. Risk in its own clause: a scope agreed only out loud is a scope nobody can show later, which is why this sentence is typed into the job as said.

9. Send the written confirmation within one hour. Email the payer and the requester the address, date, window, scope, access method, deadline and recipient list. Acceptance: sent within 60 minutes of step 5 passing, and a reply or payment received. Wrong looks like no response by 24 hours before the slot; the office calls the payer, and if there is still no confirmation 4 hours before the slot, the slot is released and the requester told why. Risk in its own clause: a confirmation sent to the agent only, and not the payer, leaves the payer able to say later that they never agreed.

The record this produces

The job record carries one intake block with these fields: caller role and side, client name, address, occupancy and occupant contact, utilities (water, gas, electric, winterized), closing date, work deadline, days of margin, payer, payment method and its confirmation reference, report and invoice recipients with the payer's approval email attached, access method and window, on-site contact, scope sentence, job type, and the timestamp of the written confirmation. Any step that stopped records the stop reason.

Three people read it later. The tech reads occupancy, utilities, access and scope before arriving. The office reads payer, payment confirmation and recipients when it invoices and delivers the report. And if anything goes wrong after closing, the owner, the insurer or an attorney reads the whole block to establish who asked for what and who was told.

Worked pass

A buyer's agent calls on a Tuesday, April 8, about a furnace evaluation the home inspector recommended.

1. Role: buyer's agent, client named as the buyer. Pass.
2. Occupancy: seller-occupied, seller's phone recorded. Pass.
3. Utilities: all on, not winterized. Pass.
4. Deadlines: inspection period ends April 15, closing May 2. Earliest slot April 10, report by April 11, so 4 days of margin. Pass.
5. Payer: the agent says, "The seller agreed to cover it, just bill it at closing." No written instruction from the closing agent, and no word from the seller. Fail. The office pencils April 10 for 24 hours, assigns no tech, and tells the agent the job is held until the payer confirms. The agent texts the buyer, who calls the office and says they would rather pay now. A payment link goes to the buyer at 3:40 pm; the deposit lands at 7:15 pm. Step 5 is re-run: payer buyer, deposit received, reference recorded. Pass on second run, and the payer is now the buyer, not the seller the agent named.
6. Recipients: because the payer changed, the office asks the buyer, who approves sending the report to themselves and their agent only. Pass.
7. Access: listing agent's showing system, window 9 to 11 am, seller home. Pass.
8. Scope read back to the buyer: "furnace evaluation and written report by 5 pm April 11." Pass.
9. Confirmation emailed at 7:40 pm, within the hour of the deposit. The buyer replies. Pass.

Reading the general section against the pass: step 5 did what it exists to do. Had the office booked on "bill it at closing," the report would have gone to a buyer while the seller, who had agreed to nothing, held the invoice.

References

• California Civil Code section 1954, landlord entry and notice; check your own state's rental entry statute.
• See related: Who Is Your Customer in a Real Estate Deal
• See related: The Vacant-Home Access and Exit SOP
• See related: Getting Paid at Closing Without Getting Stuck
• See related: How a Home Sale Timeline Works for the Trades