The Unaccompanied Minor at the Door SOP

Purpose

This SOP guarantees that no one from the shop works inside a home where the only person present is under 18, whatever the child says and whoever is on the phone. It protects the child, who is alone with an adult stranger; the tech, who has no witness if anything is later alleged; and the shop, whose insurer and reputation take the hit if either goes wrong. Without it, the decision gets made at the door by whoever is there, under pressure from a polite twelve-year-old saying "Mom said to let you in," and different techs make it differently.

Scope

Covers: every visit to an occupied residence by any employee or subcontractor, including the office's booking and confirmation calls, from the moment the visit is booked until the last worker leaves the property.

Does not cover: judging whether the child is lawfully home alone, which varies by state and is not the tech's question; signs that the child is unsafe or neglected, which are owned by What a Tech Can and Cannot Do About a Welfare Concern; the borderline cases (a 16-year-old with a parent on the phone, an adult ten minutes away), which are worked through as policy choices in A Teenager Answers the Door and Says Come In. This SOP is the shop's default; any exception the owner approves is written down in advance, not decided on the doorstep.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

Step 1: Book the adult, by name. When booking, the office asks: "Who will be home for the visit? We need an adult, 18 or over, there the whole time we're inside." Record the adult's name and a phone number in the job record. Acceptance: both fields filled before the job is confirmed. Wrong looks like: "My son will let you in" or "The door code is 4410." The stop rule: say plainly that the shop cannot work inside with only a minor home, offer exterior-only work if the job allows it (Step 8) or another date, and do not confirm the job until an adult is named. Hazard in this step: a door code or hidden-key arrangement for an empty house is a separate, owner-approved arrangement; do not let it become the route by which a tech walks in on a child who happens to be home.

Step 2: Restate the rule on the confirmation call. The day before, the office confirms the named adult will be there for the full window. Acceptance: the customer says yes to the specific name. Wrong looks like: "Probably my husband, or the kids will be there." The stop rule: re-book with a named adult or move the date; an unclear answer the day before becomes a twelve-year-old at the door tomorrow. Hazard: do not leave the rule in a voicemail and treat it as confirmed; record whether a person heard it.

Step 3: At the door, ask for the adult by name, from outside. Before knocking, read the adult's name off the job record. When the door opens, stay outside the threshold and ask: "Hi, I'm Sam from the electrical company. Is Maria home?" Acceptance: the named adult, or another person who is clearly an adult and says they are 18 or over, comes to the door and says they will be there throughout. Wrong looks like: a minor answers, or the adult says "I'm just heading out, the kids know where everything is." The stop rule: go to Step 4. Hazard: a dog may come out the open door; stay where you are, let the household call it, and do not reach in to hold the door or the animal.

Step 4: If only a minor is present, do not enter, whatever they say. Step back about two paces from the door and say: "Thanks. I can't come in without a grown-up home, it's our rule. I'm going to call your mom from my truck. Please close the door and keep it locked." Do not question the child beyond "Is an adult home?", do not ask for the parent's number from the child, and do not ask them to open a garage or gate for you. Acceptance: you are outside, the door is closed, and you are walking to the truck. Wrong looks like: you are already inside because the child opened the door wide and waved you in before you asked, which is the most common failure of this procedure. The stop rule: step back out immediately, say the line above, and record that you entered and for how long; do not decide it "doesn't count" because it was a few seconds. Hazard: if you smell gas, see smoke or hear an alarm, tell the child to come out now and walk with you to the street, then call 911 from there; that is the one situation in which the child's location matters more than the rule.

Step 5: Call the booker from the truck, on the number in the record. Use only the number on file, never one the child hands you, because the child cannot verify who that is. Acceptance: you reach the booker within 10 minutes of arrival and they tell you when an adult will be there. Wrong looks like: no answer, or the parent says "Just go in, she's fine." The stop rule: if you cannot reach them in 10 minutes, call the office, which tries any second number on the account while you wait; if the parent asks you to go in anyway, say "I'm sorry, I can't, it's the shop's rule for everyone," and do not argue the reasons. Hazard: do not take the call standing at the door where the child can hear a dispute about them.

Step 6: Wait in the truck, or leave. If an adult will arrive within 15 minutes of the call, wait in the truck at the curb, not in the driveway blocking the garage the adult will use. If the adult will be longer than 15 minutes, or the time is unknown, tell the booker the office will reschedule, and leave. Acceptance: either an adult arrives and you return to Step 3, or you have left within 15 minutes of the call. Wrong looks like: waiting 40 minutes on "she's almost there," which costs the next customer their slot and keeps you parked outside a house with a child alone. The stop rule: at 15 minutes, call again, and leave if the answer is not "pulling in now." Hazard: do not wait with the truck idling in an enclosed or attached space or with exhaust aimed at an open window.

Step 7: When the adult arrives, confirm before you start. Confirm the arriving person is the named adult or another adult the booker has confirmed by phone, and that they will stay until you leave. Acceptance: they say they will be there throughout and you have the name. Wrong looks like: an older sibling, an unconfirmed neighbor, or an adult who plans to drop off and go. The stop rule: a neighbor or relative not in the record is fine only if the booker confirms them by name on the phone; anyone who says they are leaving goes back to Step 6. Hazard: none new; start the job.

Step 8: Exterior-only work, only with the booker's confirmation. Some jobs need no entry: a condenser, a pool, a lawn, gutters. They may proceed with only a minor home if the booker confirms by phone, the work does not require anyone to enter, and it does not interrupt power, water or gas to the house. Acceptance: the booker has said yes on the call, recorded with a time, and the work needs nothing from inside. Wrong looks like: the job turns out to need the breaker panel, the water shutoff or the thermostat. The stop rule: stop at the point entry would be needed, and go back to Step 6. Hazard: do not leave tools, chemicals, an open pool gate or an open access panel within reach of a child who comes out to watch; lock the truck and keep the gate latched.

Step 9: If the adult leaves partway, stop, close up and step out. If the adult tells you mid-job they are leaving and only a minor will remain, stop work and leave the site in a condition that is harmless with you gone: power off and locked at the disconnect or the panel cover back on, open pipes capped, gas valves you closed left closed with the appliance tagged off, and nothing energized or pressurized left open. Then go outside and call the booker. Acceptance: you are outside and the site is closed within 20 minutes of the adult saying they are leaving. Wrong looks like: "I'll just finish, it's ten minutes." The stop rule: you do not finish; you return only when an adult is back, under Step 6. Hazard: a house left without heat in winter, without water, or without power to medical equipment is its own hazard for the hours until the adult returns; if your close-up leaves any of those off, call the booker before you leave and agree when an adult will be back.

Step 10: Record it and call the office before leaving the address. Write the record below, call the office, and note the next date. Acceptance: the record is in the job, timestamped, before you drive to the next call. Wrong looks like: a note written that evening from memory. The stop rule: if you entered at all, the owner hears about it the same day. Hazard: write facts only; do not describe the household, the parenting or the child beyond what the procedure needs.

The record this produces

A short entry on the job record, which the office reads that day to reschedule and the owner reads when reviewing failed steps or answering a complaint months later. It answers who was at the door, whether anyone entered, who was called and when, and what happened next. An example of the shape:

VISIT NOT STARTED - NO ADULT PRESENT
Arrived 09:02. Minor answered, said age 11.
Named adult (Maria) not home. Did not enter.
09:04 called booker on file. Reached 09:06.
Adult ETA 25 min, over 15 min limit. Left 09:08.
Office notified 09:09. Rebook requested.
Entry: none. Exterior work: none.

The office copies the outcome into the rescheduling note; the owner's review looks at any line other than "Entry: none."

Worked pass

A two-person electrical crew arrives at 1:58 p.m. for a panel replacement booked with "Jen, mother," and a mobile number on file.

• Step 1 and 2: booking had Jen's name and number; the confirmation call at 4:10 p.m. the day before reached Jen, who said she would be home. Passed.
• Step 3: the door opens and a boy who looks about 12 says "Hi! Mom said come in, she went to get my sister," and swings the door wide.
• Step 4, failed. The helper, new to the shop, steps into the entry hall to set a tool bag down before the lead has spoken. The lead says, "Back out please," and both stand on the step. The helper was inside about 10 seconds. The lead says the line from Step 4 and the boy closes the door. Stop rule taken: the entry is recorded as "Helper entered entry hall approx. 10 sec at invitation of minor, exited at lead's request."
• Step 5: at 2:01 the lead calls Jen on the number in the record and reaches her at 2:02. She says she will be back in 30 minutes.
• Step 6: 30 minutes is over the 15-minute limit. The lead tells Jen the office will rebook and leaves at 2:05. Passed.
• Step 10: record written in the truck by 2:09, office called at 2:10, owner told the same day because of the failed step.

At the next huddle the owner walked the helper through Step 4. The fix was not discipline: the helper had been told the rule as "don't work with kids home" and heard it as a rule about working, not about entering. The owner changed the onboarding line to the wording this SOP now uses.

References

• See related: What a Tech Can and Cannot Do About a Welfare Concern
• See related: A Teenager Answers the Door and Says Come In
• See related: Flagging High-Risk Calls at Booking
• Your commercial general liability carrier's guidance on allegation exposure and entry policies