Contractor scope request
Three contractors given three different phone calls will produce three proposals you cannot compare. Handing each of them the same written starting point is the cheapest way to fix that, and it takes one page.
This turns your planner into that page — your facts, your questions, and space for them to write what they found and what they could not reach.
Checking this browser for a saved planner…
How to use it
- Fill in the planner. Unknowns are answers — leave them as unknowns rather than guessing.
- Print two copies: one for you, one to hand over. Contractors write on paper far more readily than they fill in a form.
- Give the same document to everyone you ask. That is what makes the resulting proposals comparable.
- Ask them to complete the bottom half before they leave, while it is fresh.
- Keep the completed copies with your system record. Two of them a year apart is a history nobody else on your street has.
What goes on the page, and what does not
The document is built from your planner, but not all of it. Some fields are useful to you and are nobody else’s business by default.
| Included | Left off |
|---|---|
| What is prompting the project, and the transaction context | Your ZIP code |
| Property type, occupancy and household water-use context | Your property-age and system-age estimates |
| Which components you know about, and how you know | Every note you typed into the planner |
| What you have observed, when, and whether it comes and goes | Anything identifying you or the address |
| Recent changes, records available, access constraints | Contractor names, prices or proposal wording |
| The questions you selected, with space for answers | Any conclusion from SepticOwner about your system |
Your typed notes stay in the planner rather than on the printed page because this is a document you may hand to several people. If something in your notes matters, say it out loud during the visit — that is a deliberate choice rather than a default.
Why the bottom half is blank
The lower part of the document is space for the professional to complete: what they observed directly, what they could not access, what they think needs further evaluation, and what they propose next.
That structure is doing something specific. The distinction between what was observed and what could not be reached is the most consequential thing in any septic assessment, and it is the thing most likely to go unrecorded when someone is summarising verbally at the end of a visit. Giving it a box on a page makes it much more likely to get written down.
- Ask them to fill it in before they leave, while it is fresh.
- If they would rather send a written report, that is better — ask for both the report and a note of what could not be assessed.
- Keep the completed sheet with the proposal it produced. The pair is what makes the proposal readable in six months.
- If you are getting several opinions, the completed sheets are the closest thing you will get to a like-for-like comparison of what each person actually looked at.
Common questions about the scope request
Is this a contract or a bid request?
Neither. It is a homeowner-prepared summary of what you know, what you have noticed, and what you would like looked at. It creates no obligation on anybody and it does not define a scope of work — that is the contractor’s job after they have been on the property.
Does it tell the contractor what is wrong?
No, and it says so on the page. It lists what you observed, not what those observations mean. Nothing on the printed page is a conclusion of ours about your system.
Why is my ZIP code and my notes left off?
The printed document is something you may hand to several people. Your typed notes and ZIP stay in the planner because they are yours to share deliberately rather than by default — and the contractor is standing on the property anyway.
Can I give the same document to more than one contractor?
That is much of the point. Giving each of them the same starting information is how you end up comparing proposals for approximately the same requested work rather than three different interpretations of a phone call.
Is anything sent when I print it?
No. The page reads your planner from this browser and formats it. There is no network request, no upload, and nothing is stored on our side at any point.