What to document before requesting a home repair estimate

Describe what you want to work better, look better, or stop happening. “Replace damaged trim and repaint the room” is more useful than a symptom-only description such as “the wall looks bad.”

Take one wide photo for context and two or three close photos for each issue. Include adjacent walls, floors, ceilings, fixtures, and access points when they may affect the work.

Note approximate room dimensions, opening sizes, trim lengths, fixture counts, and the number of locations involved. Mark estimates as approximate rather than presenting them as exact field measurements.

Include pets, occupied rooms, parking or access limits, preferred timing, material decisions, and anything that must remain usable. Mark each item as urgent, important, or optional so the scope can be sequenced.