Describe your excavators and site process. Makeform builds a mobile excavator daily inspection form with walk-around checks, defect photos, and an equipment-status decision.
Route submissions to Slack, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a workflow, adjust its prompt, and send it to the builder. Edit every example for your fleet and site.
Audience
Operators starting tracked excavators on a construction site
Format
Mobile checklist with defect escalation
Prompt size
375 chars
Example inspection structure
Mobile checklist with defect escalation
Operator, project, shift, and machine ID
Hour-meter reading
Walk-around and undercarriage condition
Defect notes and photos
Is the excavator ready for service?
Suggested routing tags
Ready for service
Defect reported
Supervisor review
Ask for machine ID and hours first. They connect defects to the correct excavator and service interval.
Step 1
Identify
operator, project, machine, hours, and shift
Step 2
Inspect
walk-around, engine bay, cab, controls, and attachment
Step 3
Escalate
failed item, notes, photos, tag-out, and notification
Step 4
Release
machine status and supervisor disposition recorded
A dependable pre-use record
Identify the machine, show what failed, attach visual context, and route the result to the person deciding the next step.
Required sections guide operators through leaks, tracks, engine bay, cab, controls, alarms, and attachment.
Failed responses reveal required notes, severity, photos, tag-out status, and the person notified.
End with ready, restricted, or removed-from-service status plus supervisor disposition.
Adapt it to the work
Use common checks plus conditional questions for machine type, attachment, shift, and defect outcome.
Branch to undercarriage checks or tires, steering, and stabilizers.
Show bucket, breaker, grapple, thumb, or coupler questions as needed.
Capture outgoing notes, maintenance references, fuel, and restrictions.
Use asset ID and hours to find recurring defects and service follow-up.
Build the workflow
Describe your checks and escalation rules, generate the form, and test it at the machine.
Name machine types, attachments, site checks, response choices, reviewer, and status labels.
Order the checks and reveal notes, photos, tag-out, and notification fields for defects.
Walk every check on the operator's phone and confirm labels match the machine and site conditions.
Share a link or QR code, notify supervisors, and route defects into maintenance.
Digital form vs paper checklist
Compare how each format collects checks, photos, and follow-up.
Field guide
Follow the operator's walk-around and startup sequence, then revise these six sections for the machine and site.
Inspection identity
Capture structured identifiers first. Use the asset ID recognized by dispatch and maintenance.
Ground-level walk-around
Arrange exterior checks in a physical path. Use satisfactory, defective, and not applicable choices.
Boom and attachment
Give the boom, stick, coupler, and attachment distinct responses. Branch by installed tool.
Engine bay and fluids
Use separate responses for each fluid and compartment item, with notes for unusual observations.
Cab and function test
Capture cab and startup results separately so a failed function is obvious.
Defect and disposition
Require enough defect detail for supervisor action. Authorized personnel decide use and repair.
Related tools
Use real Makeform tools for the wider equipment workflow, from general inspections and excavation-area checks to repair requests, daily site reporting, and incident capture.
Create a broader checklist for loaders, dozers, compactors, and other fleet assets.
Open toolDocument site conditions around excavation work, access, spoil placement, and protective measures.
Open toolCollect maintenance details and connect reported defects with the service process.
Open toolSummarize work completed, equipment activity, delays, weather, and next steps by project.
Open toolCapture event details, people involved, immediate actions, and supporting photos when an incident occurs.
Open toolGive operators and supervisors a direct way to request repair follow-up for a reported issue.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for supervisors building a repeatable pre-use inspection and defect-routing process.
It is an operator's pre-use record for one excavator and shift. It captures identity, hours, condition checks, defects, and resulting equipment status.
Cover leaks, tracks or tires, access points, boom, pins, hoses, coupler, attachment, fluids, cab, seat belt, controls, warnings, lights, horn, cameras, and alarms. Adapt the list to machine documentation and site procedures.
Reveal conditional fields after a defective response: description, severity, photos, tag-out status, notification, equipment status, and supervisor disposition.
Yes. Branch from the selected attachment. Show bucket wear, breaker tool and hose, or thumb pin and cylinder checks while retaining shared coupler and connection items.
Yes. Put file uploads inside the defect branch for close-up and context images. Keep a written description so supervisors can search and understand the report.
Yes. Makeform provides unlimited free forms and responses. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
Use submission notifications or route responses through email, Slack, Google Sheets, or Zapier. Include machine ID, defect summary, status, and submission link.
A shared structure supports consistency and can branch by shift, machine, attachment, or project. Capture outgoing notes, then have the incoming operator complete a fresh check.
Replace the clipboard with a routed pre-use record.
