Customer self-survey before installation: how to run it remotely

When a customer self-survey is enough

A self-survey works when the open questions are facts somebody on site can read off or measure: the width of a doorway, whether a drain exists at the installation point, which voltage is available, whether the foundation is finished. It does not replace engineering judgment — structural questions, unclear electrical capacity or a route that needs rigging still call for a person who knows the equipment.

• Good fit: repeat installations of known models, where the manufacturer's requirements are clear and the same handful of points decide every job.
• Use it as a filter: the self-survey shows which sites are straightforward and which need a call or a visit, so travel goes where it is needed.
• Not enough on its own: first-of-a-kind installations, sites the customer cannot access yet, and anything the manufacturer's documents reserve for a qualified inspection.

Ask what a site contact can actually answer

The person answering is usually a facility manager, a kitchen manager or a lab coordinator — not an installer. Every question should be answerable with a tape measure, a look at the wall or a yes or no.

• Measurements with a unit: “narrowest doorway on the delivery route, in millimetres or inches” instead of “is access sufficient?”.
• Yes/no confirmations for conditions that stop the job: drain at the installation point, foundation complete, route clear on the day.
• Choices instead of free text where the answer feeds a comparison, such as the available voltage. An “other” answer goes to a person on your team.
• Photos as context, not as a condition: a picture of the narrowest access point or the installation area helps your team judge an answer, but a missing photo should not hold up the survey.
• Only the questions that apply: follow-up questions should appear when an earlier answer makes them relevant, not for everyone.

Equipment data — shipping width, required voltage, service clearance — should come from your own catalog, not from the customer. The customer measures the site; your data describes the machine.

Make the answers reliable enough to plan on

• Ask for an explicit confirmation that the values were measured on site and entered accurately. It separates a measurement from a guess and gives your office a clear basis if a value later turns out to be wrong.
• Compare, do not interpret: a doorway is either at least as wide as the shipping width or it is not. A rule should flag the shortfall the moment the answer is saved.
• Let the customer stop and continue: measuring takes a walk through the building. A survey that loses its progress gets finished from memory.
• Keep it to one link per job that works on a phone without an account, in the customer's language.
• Set a decision date a few days before the installation and remind the customer before it passes.

A self-survey records what the customer states. It does not verify the site. The decision that a site is ready stays with a person on your team.

Worked example: a dishwasher and a 20 mm problem

Fictional example. The model is from InstallCue's demo catalog, whose manufacturers are invented; your own catalog holds your real models.

A dealer plans to install a Frostline WashCore D60 dishwasher in a hotel kitchen. The coordinator sends the kitchen manager one link; the model's shipping width (700 mm, about 27.6 in) comes from the dealer's catalog.

1. MondaySent
   The kitchen manager starts on a phone

   No account and no app. Utilities are answered right away; the measurements wait until the afternoon, and the progress is saved.

2. TuesdayBlocked
   The kitchen door is too narrow

   The narrowest doorway is entered as 680 mm — 20 mm below the shipping width. The request is Blocked with exactly that reason, before a crew is booked.

3. WednesdayNeeds review
   A second route is measured

   The hotel measures the service entrance at 850 mm and adds a photo. A reviewer at the dealer resolves the blocker and records the reason: delivery through the service entrance.

4. ThursdayReady
   A person decides

   The reviewer reads the answers and the on-site confirmation and marks the site Ready. The crew gets the install pack with answers, photos and notes.

How InstallCue runs a customer self-survey

• One secure customer link per job, without a customer account, in English, German, French or Italian, with save and resume and optional photo upload from the phone camera.
• Starter templates for industrial, laboratory and commercial equipment with conditional questions — all editable.
• Measurements compared with your equipment catalog; a shortfall or a “no” on a blocking confirmation is flagged with the reason.
• Ready is a human decision by an admin or reviewer and is written to the audit trail. Photos are never approved by AI.
• Decision deadlines and automatic reminders to the customer before the installation date.

Send your first survey from your own workspace: get started, see the plans and prices or read the full site readiness checklist.