# Your customer can't see what you see. Hand them a report.

Source: https://garagedoorscience.com/academy/show-homeowners-what-you-see/an-inspection-the-customer-can-read · part of [Show homeowners what you see, keep your crew sharp, and get found](https://garagedoorscience.com/academy/show-homeowners-what-you-see) · 5 min

Your tech is on a ladder looking at a frayed cable. The homeowner is in the kitchen. Twenty minutes later they get a number, and the only thing they saw was the ladder. A written report closes that gap: what was checked, what was found and what it means, in words the customer can read after your truck has gone.

The Inspections app turns a walk around the door into that report.

## Start from a list, not from memory

A list means every tech checks the same things, and the customer sees what passed as well as what failed. In the app, a manager sets up the company's own list. It starts as a copy of our free 24 point homeowner inspection. Rename it, change the items and their order, and make it the one new inspections start on.

Two checks belong on any list, because the makers say so.

- **The reverse test.** Chamberlain, an opener maker, says the safety reversal system must be tested every month, and again after any adjustment.
- **The balance.** Chamberlain also warns that an unbalanced garage door may not reverse when required.

When a customer asks why the photo eyes matter: the federal rule, 16 CFR 1211, requires a residential opener to have built in entrapment protection plus a second device, such as a photo eye.

## Write it so the customer can read it

Each item gets one of three marks: OK, Watch It or Fix It Now. The note beside a mark is what the customer reads, so write it for them. "Cable frayed at the bottom of the door, left side" says what you saw. Clopay, a door maker, says frayed cables are in danger of breaking and could cause serious injury or property damage. That is the reason, in one line, and it is the maker's, not yours.

When every item is marked, the tech completes the inspection and the customer's report is ready:

- **Fix It Now first, then Watch It,** each with its note, then every item with its mark.
- **A count, not a score.** It says how many items were OK, so nothing reads like a grade.
- **Your company's name and logo.** The tech's name, your internal notes and the checklist's name stay off it.

Download it as a PDF, copy its link, or email it to the customer from the job. Your report covers the day you were there, so point the customer to the monthly checks for the months in between.

## Try this

Open [Inspections](/developers/team/inspections) and run one on your own door before you run one for a customer. If you manage the team, the Manage the checklists button on that page sets up your company's list first. The app needs you signed in, on a company team whose plan includes it. If you are signed out, the link opens the sign in page, and once you are in it takes you straight to Inspections.

## Go further

- Lab: [Garage Door Anatomy](https://garagedoorscience.com/labs/garage-door-anatomy)
- Video: [Free Garage Door Inspection Tool — Catch Problems Before They Find You](https://garagedoorscience.com/videos/inspection-tool-intro)
- Article: [Which garage door part fails first? What to watch](https://garagedoorscience.com/blog/which-garage-door-part-fails-first)
- Article: [Your garage door, part by part: which parts actually break](https://garagedoorscience.com/blog/garage-door-parts-diagram-what-breaks)

## Sources

- [How to Test the Safety Reversal System](https://support.chamberlaingroup.com/s/article/How-do-I-test-the-Safety-Reversal-System-1484145519301)
- [How to test the balance of a garage door](https://support.chamberlaingroup.com/s/article/How-to-test-the-balance-of-a-garage-door-1484145605074)
- [Garage Door Maintenance Guide](https://www.clopaydoor.com/residential/buyingguide/service-and-replacement)
- [16 CFR Part 1211, Safety Standard for Automatic Residential Garage Door Operators](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-II/subchapter-B/part-1211)