File 05 — QA checklists & evidence
Evidence first, invoice second.
Most invoice disputes are not about dishonesty. They are about memory — the customer's memory of what the wall looked like before, against your crew's memory of what they found. Photo evidence ends that argument before it starts. This file is the pack's evidence set and its three QA gates: the rule that no job closes, and no invoice issues, until the proof is filed.
The evidence set
Five artifacts every job files.
For the plumbing pack, the set is: a source-of-issue photo — the failed pipe, fitting, or component, taken before disassembly; it is the core dispute-prevention artifact. Before/after repair photos on every work order, side-by-side condition documentation. A water-shutoff confirmation — photo or note proving the main supply was secured before work began. Diagnostic capture — pressure readings, sewer camera video stills, moisture-meter readings around leak sites. And customer sign-off — a digital signature on the approved estimate before work, and on the completed work order after, with the test results shown. Every trade has its own five; the pattern is identical: condition before, condition after, one safety confirmation, one measurement, two signatures.
The gates
Three gates: before, during, closeout.
Before work
The approved, signed estimate is on the job. The safety condition is confirmed on arrival (for plumbing, the shutoff location). The problem area is photo-documented before anything is touched. Fail any one, and work does not start.
During work
The repair follows the playbook for its service line. Any change in scope stops and goes back to the customer as a written, priced change order — signed before it is executed, never absorbed silently and billed later.
Closeout
The work is tested in front of the customer — water back on, fixtures run, leaks checked. The customer signs the completed work order. Only then does the invoice issue. The gate order is the business model: evidence first, invoice second.
Callbacks
A callback is data, not an embarrassment.
When a customer calls back inside the warranty window, the pack auto-links the callback to the original job — its photos, its playbook, its tech. Track the callback rate per tech as a quality metric, and the pattern teaches you things no pep talk will: which service line drifts, which playbook step gets skipped, which new hire needs a ride-along. Shops that hide callbacks repeat them. Shops that file them fix the step that caused them — usually by changing the checklist, which is exactly what the checklist is for.
Why gates, not reminders
A reminder asks. A gate decides.
“Don't forget to take photos” fails by the third busy Friday. A gate — the project template will not close the phase while its evidence is missing — does not rely on memory, mood, or workload. That is the difference between a QA checklist as a poster and a QA checklist as machinery. When you build your own, build the second kind: attach each checklist item to the phase it guards, require the artifact itself (the photo, the reading, the signature), and let the system hold the job open until it exists.
From the pack
File 05 ships the evidence set and the three gates for your trade, wired into the project template so a phase cannot close early. Once the job is closed and paid, the system asks for the only evidence money can't buy — read File 06 — ask once, at the right hour.
Straight answers
Asked about QA and evidence.
What photos should a contractor take on every job?
At minimum: the problem before anything is touched, the condition after the repair, a safety confirmation relevant to the trade, one measurement or diagnostic reading, and the customer's signature on the estimate before work and on the completed work order after. File all of it on the work order, not on a phone.
What is a QA gate?
A QA gate is a point in the workflow that a job cannot pass until its required evidence exists — signed estimate before work, tested repair and signed work order before invoicing. A reminder asks someone to remember; a gate makes the system hold the job open until the proof is filed.
How should callbacks be handled in the system?
Link every callback inside the warranty window to the original job, and track the callback rate per technician as a quality metric. The pattern shows which playbook step is being skipped — fix the checklist, not just the job.
End of shift
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