Simpro Form Builder: Draft Job Sheets and Safety Checklists With ChatGPT

In Simpro Premium, Form Builder (System, Setup, Forms Setup) lays out the job, quote and invoice documents you print or email. Checklists technicians fill in on site are built in Simpro Digital Forms, a separately licensed add-on. ChatGPT can draft the questions for both; you build them, test them and have safety content signed off.

Simpro's older eForms app still appears in the Help Guide, but Simpro stopped updating and supporting it from 28 February 2025 and no longer signs up new customers, so do not start a new checklist there. And ChatGPT drafts wording, not compliance: it does not know your hazards, your insurer's conditions or the rules that apply to your work.

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Form Builder, Digital Forms and eForms: where each form belongs

Simpro's Help Guide describes three ways to make a form, and they do different jobs. The table sets out what the help says about each, read on 1 November 2026, and what to confirm before you commit time to one.

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So the safety checklist in this tutorial is built in Digital Forms, and Form Builder comes in only for the printed face of a job sheet. Everything before the build step (the drafting, the question rules, the test and the sign-off) applies whichever tool you end up in, including a forms app outside Simpro.

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Check what your account includes before you write a single question

I could not find a plan-by-plan feature table in Simpro's public pages, so the reliable answer is your own account plus Simpro's written reply. It takes about ten minutes.

1. Look in Forms Setup. Log in as an administrator, go to System, Setup, Forms Setup, choose Job, and look for the Form Builder Templates tab. If it is missing, check your security group before blaming your plan: the help says Form Builder needs the Email/Form Setup check box on the group's Setup tab, plus permission to view and print jobs.
2. Look for a Digital Forms log-in. Digital Forms is licensed separately and your Premium log-in does not work there, so if nobody in the business has a Digital Forms account, you do not have it yet. Whoever registers first holds the admin role and adds other users while seats are available.
3. Search the Help Guide for the exact titles. Use the Simpro Help Guide and search Form Builder Templates, About Simpro Digital Forms and Manage Digital Forms. Some builds say work order where others say job card.
4. Ask in writing. Send the message below to Simpro support or your account manager, and keep the reply with your records.

Hello, we use Simpro Premium. Please confirm in writing:
1. Whether our plan includes Form Builder, and whether Simpro Digital Forms is licensed for us.
2. The licence and per-seat charge for Digital Forms, if we add it.
3. Whether completed Digital Forms attach to the job automatically, and how photos and signatures are stored.
4. Any limits on forms, fields or submissions we should design around.
Thank you, [your name], [company].

Simpro quotes by request, so the written reply is also your protection if a feature turns out to cost extra. If you are still comparing the cost of Simpro as a whole, what to ask when Simpro pricing is quote-only lists the other questions to put to them.

Start from the hazards, not the form: the brief ChatGPT needs

The commonest failure in AI-drafted checklists is generic content. The assistant fills the form with hazards typical of any trade job, and your real ones get lost among them. Prevent that by writing a short hazard brief before you open the chat, taken from your own risk assessment. If you do not have one yet, start there: drafting risk assessments with AI, and what a human must check covers it.

The running example, invented for this tutorial, is a small air-conditioning installer that wants a pre-start safety check for fitting a split system to a first-floor external wall. The owner writes the brief below from the firm's existing risk assessment, using placeholders instead of customer details.

Job type: wall-mounted split system installation, first-floor external wall, occupied home.
Who completes the form: the lead installer, on a phone, before unloading the van.
Hazards from our risk assessment: work at height from a ladder or platform; isolation of nearby power; drilling through the external wall; manual handling of the outdoor unit; occupants, children and pets near the work area; suspected asbestos in older ceilings or soffits; trip hazards on the route to the work area.
What the form must do: stop the job and call the office if any critical answer is No.
Format: Yes / No / N/A questions, one fact each, a photo of the work area, and a drawn signature.
Do not include: hot work, confined spaces, anything not in the hazard list above.

Every line of that brief is a decision the owner made: the hazards, the stop rule and the exclusions. The assistant's job is only to turn decisions into clear questions.

Prompt one: draft the questions, then fix the ones that fail

Using the brief above, draft a pre-start safety checklist of no more than 12 questions.
Rules: one fact per question; each answerable Yes, No or N/A; no question that mixes two checks; no question that asks whether something is safe or adequate without saying how to tell; mark any question where a No must stop the job with STOP.
Add no hazard that is not in my brief. If my brief is missing something an installer would normally check, list it under QUESTIONS FOR THE OWNER instead of adding it.

A realistic first draft looks like this (illustrative):

1. Is there a clear, dry route from the van to the work area?
2. Has the ladder or platform been inspected today, with feet, rungs and locks checked? STOP if No.
3. Is the ladder on firm, level ground and either footed or tied off?
4. Has power to the circuits near the drilling position been isolated and confirmed dead? STOP if No.
5. Have you checked behind the drilling position for pipes and cables?
6. Is the outdoor unit being lifted by two people or with a lifting aid?
7. Are children and pets kept away from the work area?
8. Is the work area marked off, and is the customer aware of the noise and dust?
9. Does anything in the ceiling or soffit near the work look as if it may contain asbestos? STOP if Yes.
10. Have you photographed the work area before starting?
11. Is the site safe to start work?
12. Is the PPE adequate?

Now the fixing, which is mostly wording and nearly all of it is the same few faults.

• Questions 3 and 8 hide two checks each. "Firm and level" and "footed or tied off" are separate facts, as are marking off the area and warning the customer. Split them, because a single tick cannot record a half-pass.
• Questions 11 and 12 say "safe" and "adequate" without a test. Delete them, or replace them with specifics such as "Are gloves, eye protection and hearing protection on?".
• Question 9 reverses the polarity. Every other STOP answer is No, but this one stops on Yes. Mixed polarity makes tired people tick the wrong box, so rewrite it: "Have you checked the ceiling and soffit near the work and found no suspect material?"
• The owner's list. Anything the assistant puts under QUESTIONS FOR THE OWNER is a prompt for you, not an instruction. Add an item only if it belongs on your jobs.

None of those fixes is a safety decision. Whether question 4 is the right isolation question, and whether the stop rule is strict enough, belongs to the competent person who signs the form off.

Prompt two: turn the questions into a build sheet

Once the wording is fixed, ask for a build sheet: a table you work down while the Digital Forms editor is open on the other half of the screen. It also becomes the specification you file with the version record.

Convert the final checklist into a build sheet, one row per question, with these columns: Section | Question text | Answer type | Required | Follow-up if No | STOP.
Answer types may only be: Yes/No/N/A, text, number, photo, signature.
For every STOP question, write the instruction the installer will see, for example: Do not start. Call the office on [number].

Match each answer type to the nearest control your tool offers. Digital Forms lists signatures, annotated photos, time stamps and conditional logic among its features, so every column of the build sheet has somewhere to go, and the Follow-up if No column becomes a field that appears only when the answer is No. Form Builder, by contrast, lays out a document from job data for printing or emailing; its help describes merge fields, loops and conditional sections, not questions a technician answers on site.

Building it in Digital Forms: the sequence that avoids rework

Simpro's Digital Forms articles describe the path below. Menu names can change between releases, so About Simpro Digital Forms and the articles it links to win over this summary.

1. Log in to the Digital Forms web portal with a Digital Forms account. You need the Department Admin or Department Designer role to create forms.
2. Open Forms and look at what is already there before building from scratch. The help names default forms such as an Accident Report and a Variation & Extra Works Approval Form, and describes a wider library that includes audits and safety checks. Copy one if it is close.
3. Create the form and add one element per build-sheet row, a section at a time, pasting the question text exactly. Add the conditional logic so each follow-up shows only on the answer that triggers it, and save before starting the next section.
4. Use the Simpro Premium integration so a job number on the form pulls in job, customer and site details, and the submitted form lands in that job's attachments.
5. Preview it on the desktop, then Publish: set the email options, switch on Dispatch if you want to send it out on a schedule, and assign the user groups who should see it in the Digital Forms mobile app.

Name the form so nobody guesses which one is current, for example "Pre-start check, split system install, v1, Nov 2026". Digital Forms keeps a Form Edit History with the date, version and editor of each change, but keep your own one-line register as well, because the edit history does not record who approved the safety content: template name, version, date approved, approver, next review date, and what changed. When a technician says the form asked something odd, the register tells you which version they were holding.

The printed face of a job sheet is the one task left for Form Builder. Go to System, Setup, Forms Setup, choose Job, open the Form Builder Templates tab and click Create New Template. Start from a System Template if one is close, otherwise a Blank Template, and click Continue. Give it a Template Name and an Email File Name, tick the job types it should be offered for, and lay out the fields. To test it, open a dummy job, go to its Forms tab, pick the template from the Templates list and click View before anyone emails it. The Form Builder Templates article covers the rest, including a shared header and footer for every template.

The job sheet: what the technician carries away, drafted the same way

A job sheet records the visit, not a safety gate, so its questions are about facts the office will need later: what was found, what was done, what was used and what is still open. The same method works. Write a short brief, ask for a table, fix the wording, then build it in Digital Forms beside the checklist so the completed sheet attaches to the job.

Draft a job sheet for a service visit to a commercial kitchen extraction fan by a small HVAC firm. The technician completes it on a phone at the end of the visit. Maximum 12 fields. Use structured fields (Yes/No, number with unit, short text, photo) instead of one big notes box. Include a Follow-up needed Yes/No field that opens a text field when Yes. List any field you were unsure about at the end.

A filled-in version of the result, with illustrative entries:

Before and after matters here. The old version was one notes box: "fixed fan, belt loose, cleaned filters, customer wants quote for duct". The office cannot filter that. With a Follow-up needed field, whoever books the work can list tomorrow's call-backs in seconds.

Testing the form on a dummy job before any technician sees it

A form that looks right in the builder can still fail on a phone in a van. Spend an hour on this script before release.

1. Use a dummy job. Create one with a test customer name so no real customer record is touched.
2. Fill it in as your least technical person would. Use the device they carry and the signal they get, not the office PC.
3. Answer No to each STOP question in turn. Confirm the follow-up instruction appears every time. If it does not, the stop rule exists only on paper.
4. Leave a required field empty. You should not be able to finish the form.
5. Produce the printed or PDF version and read it the way a customer or an insurer would. Is it readable, and are the photos attached?
6. Time it. Aim for under four minutes on the pre-start check. If it runs longer, cut questions or move the rare ones into job-specific follow-ups.
7. Pilot it for a week with one technician. Ask two questions at the end: which question did you skip, and which one confused you?

The answers to that last pair are worth more than any AI redraft. A question people skip is either irrelevant or badly worded, and you can tell which by asking.

Reviewing the first month of completed forms

A form is not finished at release. After four weeks, pull the completed forms and look at five numbers. Illustrative figures for a six-technician firm that did 70 jobs in the month:

Treat a question that never produces a No with care. Remove it only when the competent person agrees that it no longer matches a real hazard, and record the change as a new version in your register. The missing forms are the bigger finding. Eight jobs without a form in a month means the habit has not stuck for some visits, and that is a coaching conversation, not a template edit.

What ChatGPT must not decide

Drafting is where the assistant helps. The following stay with you and a competent person, because a plausible-sounding draft can be wrong in ways only experience spots.

• Which hazards matter on your jobs. That comes from your risk assessment and your own incident history.
• Stop-work rules. When a No halts the job, and who the technician calls, is a management decision.
• Legal and insurance requirements. The assistant does not know the rules that apply to your work or the conditions in your policy.
• Safe limits and test values. Any figure on the form, such as a reading or a distance, should come from a source you can name.
• Protective equipment specifications. The form can ask whether it is worn, but what counts as suitable is not for a chat assistant.

Put a sign-off block in your version register so every live template carries its approval.

Form: Pre-start check, split system install
Version: 1   Effective: [date]   Next review: [date]
Drafted with: ChatGPT (draft wording only)
Reviewed and approved by: [name, role]
Changes from previous version: [none / list]

On privacy, drafting a template needs job types and hazards, not names or addresses, so keep customer details out of the chat altogether. The main chat assistants' business plans say they do not train on business content by default, but plan terms change, and that is no reason to paste more than the task needs.

Twenty-six questions and a column of N/A ticks

An invented case shows the opposite problem. A ten-person electrical firm asked ChatGPT for a comprehensive safety checklist and received 26 questions, including hot work permits and confined-space entry for jobs that involved neither. Two weeks later the office reviewed the completed forms. Every technician had ticked N/A on most rows, including the ladder check, because the long list had taught them to tick down the column without reading.

The firm cut the form to eight questions that apply to every visit and moved the rest into follow-ups that appear only when an answer needs one. Completion time dropped, and the questions that remained were answered with Yes and No again, which is the signal that people are reading them. The lesson is the one from the prompt: a shorter form with real stop rules is safer than a long one nobody reads.

If you want ready-made starting points for the form types, Simpro forms templates for job cards, safety checks and sign-offs is the place to look. For smaller crews who are not on Simpro, a site visit checklist built in Google Forms uses the same drafting method with a free tool. For capturing the job notes themselves, turning on-site voice notes into job sheets and the handyman checklist template show two lighter ways to get facts out of the van.

Simpro forms questions before you start

Is Simpro's Form Builder included in every plan?

I could not confirm that, because Simpro's public pages show no plan-by-plan table. The Help Guide describes Form Builder as part of Simpro Premium's Forms Setup, opened through the Email/Form Setup permission, and Digital Forms as a separately licensed add-on with its own log-in. Ask Simpro to confirm in writing what your plan includes.

Does ChatGPT need to be connected to Simpro to draft the questions?

No. This tutorial drafts the questions in ChatGPT, outside Simpro, and you type or paste them into Digital Forms or Form Builder yourself. The hazards, stop-work rules and sign-off stay with you and a competent person, whoever or whatever drafted the wording.

How long should a pre-start safety check be?

Short enough that people read every question. Around eight to twelve questions that apply to every job, plus follow-ups that appear only when an answer needs one, tends to work better than a 25-question form people tick without reading. Time it on a dummy job; under four minutes is a good target.

Can I paste customer details into ChatGPT when drafting forms?

You do not need to. Drafting a template needs job types and hazards, not names or addresses. Use placeholders such as [Customer] and [Site]. If you later paste real job data for other tasks, use a business plan and check its data settings first.

Who should approve a safety checklist?

A competent person for your type of work, meaning someone with the training and experience to judge the hazards. Record their name, the date and a version number on the form, and set a review date. What counts as competent depends on your work and the rules that apply, so ask your safety adviser.

Further reads

• Simpro for Contractor Billing: A ChatGPT Check Before Each Invoice — The billing side of Simpro: staged invoices and a ChatGPT check.
• Simpro Electrical Reviews: Is It Worth It for a Small Firm? — Whether Simpro suits a small electrical firm at all.
• Can AI Write Toolbox Talks? What a Competent Person Must Check — What a competent person must check in AI-written toolbox talks.
• Can AI Write RAMS for Electrical Work? Who Must Sign It Off — Who signs off electrical RAMS when AI drafts them.
• Roofing RAMS Template: AI Drafts, a Competent Person Signs It Off — A roofing RAMS template, drafted by AI and signed by a person.
• Water Heater Installation Checklist: Photo Proof and Handover Pack With AI — A completion checklist with photo proof and a handover pack.
• Best AI App for a Construction Company: Logging Near Misses — Five ways to log near misses from site, compared on photo capture, voice notes and corrective-action follow-up, with a two-week trial plan.
• Job Hazard Analysis Template: Draft One per Job Type With AI — A worked job hazard analysis for one job type: the AI's first draft, what the supervisor changes, and a table you can reuse for each job type you do.
• Lone Working Policy for Trades Firms: Check-In Rules Drafted With AI — A two-page lone working policy for a small trades firm: tasks needing two people, check-in rules, an escalation ladder and an AI drafting prompt.
• Can AI Answer Building Code Questions? A Builder's Safe-Use Routine — A builder's routine for using ChatGPT or Claude on building code questions: find the section, check the edition, confirm with the building department.
• Can AI Design a Fire Alarm System? What an Installer Must Still Do — AI can draft fire alarm paperwork and checklists, but design, commissioning and certification stay with a competent person working to the applicable standard.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: Simpro Help Guide articles Form Builder Templates, Forms Setup, Job Card Forms Setup, eForms, eForms Form Designer, About Simpro Digital Forms, Manage Digital Forms and Sign up and login to Digital Forms, read 1 November 2026; Simpro's Digital Forms marketplace listing.