Define the outcome first
The survey should improve preparation, not transfer diagnosis to the resident.
A pre-visit survey is successful when it reduces uncertainty for the office and attending team while remaining straightforward and proportionate for the resident.
The resident can explain access, who will be present, what they can see, what has changed and whether there are practical constraints in the property. They should not be expected to identify the technical cause of a fault, choose a trade or decide the final scope of work.
Start by listing the decisions your team must make before attendance. Those decisions may include whether the visit can proceed, whether specialist equipment or a second operative may be needed, whether access requires coordination and whether existing photographs clarify the work area.
A good pre-visit survey should help the team
- Confirm that the resident still expects the appointment and understands the visit purpose.
- Identify who will provide access and how the operative should enter the property or building.
- Understand practical constraints such as parking, restricted access, pets or mobility needs.
- Capture plain-language information and photographs relevant to the planned work.
- Recognise obvious safety or welfare information that changes how the visit should be prepared.
- Review the answers before attendance and record any follow-up action or clarification.
Core resident information
Use a stable core checklist across planned appointments.
Core questions create consistency. They should cover the information that matters for most visits, with job-specific questions added only where relevant.
Appointment and contact
- Resident or responsible contact name.
- Preferred telephone number and email address where appropriate.
- Confirmation that the appointment date or expected visit period is still suitable.
- Who is expected to be present during the visit.
- The best route for contacting the resident if the attending team is delayed or cannot gain access.
Property and access
- Confirmation of the property address and flat or unit number.
- How the operative should enter the building and property.
- Door-entry, concierge, key-safe or communal-access arrangements that can be shared securely.
- Parking, loading, height, permit or vehicle-access restrictions.
- Whether stairs, lifts or long internal routes affect equipment movement.
- Any known appointment-time restrictions, building rules or quiet hours.
People, pets and practical needs
- Pets that may need to be secured before entry.
- Language, communication, hearing or visual-support needs relevant to the appointment.
- Mobility or access needs that affect how the operative should approach the visit.
- Whether a representative, carer, support worker or authorised person will attend.
- Any safeguarding or lone-working information that should be handled through the organisation's approved process.
Keep the journey relevant
Add job-specific questions through templates and conditions.
A heating visit, roof inspection and kitchen repair should not present the resident with the same long questionnaire. Use the job type and earlier answers to show only the questions that support that visit.
Describe the issue or planned work in plain language
Show the known job description and ask the resident whether it still reflects the current situation. Provide space for changes or additional context without requiring a technical diagnosis.
What is the cause of the boiler fault?
What happens when you try to use the heating or hot water, and are any warning lights or error codes visible?
Ask for dimensions only where they support preparation
Residents may be able to provide approximate dimensions or photograph a label, but measurements should not be treated as a substitute for professional verification when accuracy affects safety, specification or ordering.
Request photographs with clear instructions
Explain what the image should show. One close-up can capture damage, while a second contextual image can show the surrounding area, access and scale. Make photographs optional unless the team has a clear and proportionate reason to require them.
Examples of job-specific prompts
- Heating: current service loss, visible controls, error codes, appliance location and access around the unit.
- Leak: visible source area, when it occurs, affected rooms, current water flow and whether the condition is worsening.
- Electrical: affected outlet or fitting, whether other circuits work and any visible damage, smell or heat.
- Windows and doors: which opening is affected, whether it can be secured and photographs of the frame, hardware and surrounding area.
- Bathroom or kitchen work: appliance or fitting location, clear working space, existing finishes and access for materials.
- External or roof work: access restrictions, known internal signs, photographs from safe ground-level positions and relevant building contacts.
Prepare the process behind the form
The team setup matters as much as the resident questions.
A well-designed survey still fails if nobody owns review, incomplete answers are ignored or submitted evidence is unavailable to the attending team.
Before launching a survey template
- Define the job type and the decisions the pre-visit answers should support.
- Separate stable core questions from conditional groups and one-off job-specific questions.
- Mark fields as required only when the appointment cannot be prepared without them.
- Confirm who reviews new submissions and how quickly that review should happen before attendance.
- Decide which answers and photographs the engineer or operative is authorised to see.
- Provide a route for correcting an appointment, contacting the resident or escalating a safety concern.
- Test the survey on a mobile phone using realistic resident details and photographs.
- Confirm what happens when the resident does not respond or cannot use the digital route.
Keep job records and survey answers connected
The secure link should resolve the correct planned job without exposing an internal identifier. The resulting submission should remain attached to the appointment record so office users can review the answers, evidence, notification history and status in context.
Review before the information becomes stale
A survey completed several weeks before attendance may no longer describe the current condition or access arrangement. Decide when reminders, reconfirmation or direct contact are needed, particularly for jobs where conditions can change quickly.
The FSEngage pre-visit survey workflow uses reusable templates, job-specific questions and protected evidence to keep this handover tied to the planned appointment.
Collect proportionately
Explain why information is requested and keep sensitive details controlled.
A pre-visit survey can contain contact details, photographs of a home, access arrangements and information about occupants. The collection and review process should reflect that sensitivity.
Privacy and security checks
- Use a secure, time-limited or revocable resident link associated with the correct job.
- Provide privacy information at the point where personal information is collected.
- Explain why optional photographs or access details may help the visit.
- Store evidence outside any public web directory and deliver it through protected routes.
- Limit submitted information to authorised office users and attending personnel with a genuine need.
- Avoid copying sensitive access or occupant information into broad email notifications.
- Define how long abandoned, duplicate and completed survey information should be retained.
- Record failed notifications without exposing provider errors or private details to the resident.
The survey should distinguish between information required to arrange the visit and optional details that may improve preparation. A resident should not be forced to provide a photograph of their home simply because the form technically supports uploads.
From invitation to attendance
Use a clear pre-visit workflow with an owner at every stage.
The process should remain understandable when the survey is completed, partially completed, ignored or submitted with information that changes the visit.
- 01
Create or confirm the planned job
Attach the correct job type, resident contact details, expected visit and known scope before issuing the survey.
- 02
Generate the secure resident link
Use a protected token with an appropriate expiry and send it through the approved communication route.
- 03
Guide the resident through relevant questions
Present core, conditional and job-specific sections in a logical mobile-first sequence.
- 04
Store the submission and evidence
Keep answers attached to the job and protect photographs or sensitive access information from public access.
- 05
Review and follow up
Give the responsible office user a clear view of new information, missing essentials and anything that changes preparation.
- 06
Make the right information available for attendance
Share only the authorised, relevant details with the engineer or operative and retain a controlled record of the handover.
Check the operational result
Measure whether the survey changes preparation and visit outcomes.
Completion rate alone does not show whether the questions are useful. Review what teams do with the answers and whether the information prevents avoidable uncertainty.
Useful measures for a pilot
- Survey delivery and completion rate by job type.
- Percentage of completed surveys reviewed before attendance.
- Percentage containing the essential access and appointment information.
- Number of follow-up calls made only to obtain information the survey was intended to collect.
- Appointments rearranged early because access or resident availability changed.
- Visits where photographs or job-specific answers changed equipment, trade or preparation.
- Avoided failed-access visits or better-documented reasons where access still failed.
- Resident feedback about clarity, relevance and confidence in how information would be used.
Review the questions that are frequently skipped, misunderstood or answered without affecting any decision. Simplifying the survey often improves both resident completion and office review.