Describe the services your utility or municipal office provides. Makeform turns the brief into an online application that gathers customer identity and contact details, service and mailing addresses, requested start dates, occupancy information, and the documents your staff needs to review before opening an account.
Route new-service applications to email, Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a complete prompt, adapt the details, or send it to the Makeform builder. Each structure is an example you can edit before publishing.
Audience
Residents starting water and sewer service
Format
New-account application with address and occupancy details
Prompt size
328 chars
Example form structure
New-account application with address and occupancy details
Applicant name, phone, and email
Service address and unit number
Requested service start date
Do you own or rent the property?
Supporting documents requested by the office
Suggested routing tags
Water service
Electric service
Needs review
Ask separately for the service address and mailing address. A simple same-as-service-address choice prevents duplicate typing without losing billing information.
Step 1
Apply
customer, property, service, and start-date details
Step 2
Route
water, gas, or electric request reaches the right queue
Step 3
Review
staff checks addresses, documents, and access needs
Step 4
Follow up
customer receives the office's next steps
Why move applications online
Phone calls and scanned forms leave staff retyping addresses and chasing missing dates. A structured application gathers the routing details at the start while keeping activation decisions with the provider.
Required customer, address, occupancy, service, and start-date fields help staff identify incomplete requests before they enter the setup queue.
Conditional sections reveal meter, access, new-construction, or property-owner questions only when an applicant's selections make them relevant.
Use service choices and customer type to tag submissions for water, electric, gas, residential, commercial, or document-review workflows.
Applications by service type
Start with the closest application pattern, then replace labels, document requests, contact instructions, and service options with the provider's actual process.
Collect service location, unit or parcel details, start date, occupancy, mailing address, and owner contact when a tenant applies.
Distinguish existing meters from new construction and ask for the meter identifier, connection date, and access information where relevant.
Gather meter status, access instructions, appointment availability, pets, and an on-site contact for service workflows that require property entry.
Capture business identity, billing and operational contacts, requested utilities, anticipated use, and people authorized to discuss the account.
Build the intake workflow
Describe the application once, inspect the generated fields, and publish a clear path from new request to staff follow-up.
Name the utilities offered, residential and business applicant types, required account details, document requests, and how staff handles new construction or tenants.
Replace generic service choices with local options, make essential address and contact fields required, and show service-specific questions only when needed.
Tell applicants the request was received without promising activation, then notify the relevant inbox or team when a complete submission arrives.
Submit tenant, owner, commercial, and multi-service test cases. Check conditional paths, file uploads, mobile layout, routing, and confirmation language before sharing the link.
Choose an intake method
A downloadable application can carry the right wording, but it cannot adapt to a selected service or place structured submissions directly into a review queue.
Field guide
The useful fields identify the applicant and property, define exactly what is requested, and give staff enough context to review and schedule the next step. Configure requirements to match the provider's own policies.
Applicant
Begin with structured contact information and the account name the provider will use. Separate an individual applicant from a business so the form can request the right contacts without making every customer navigate irrelevant fields.
Property
The service location drives the operational request, while the mailing address drives account communication. Ask for both, offer a same-address choice, and capture unit, parcel, or meter references the office actually uses.
Service request
Let applicants choose water, sewer, gas, electric, or other available services and provide a preferred start date. Keep the wording clear that the requested date is subject to the provider's review and scheduling process.
Occupancy
Owner and tenant applications may follow different review paths. A single occupancy choice can reveal a move-in date, owner contact, property manager, or other locally required information without burdening every applicant.
Access and scheduling
When a connection or meter visit may be needed, ask how staff can reach the equipment and whom to contact. Conditional questions can collect these details only for services and situations that require them.
Documents and acknowledgment
Add uploads for documents the office has decided are necessary, explain accepted formats, and state how staff will follow up. End with an accuracy acknowledgment rather than implying that a submission automatically creates or activates an account.
Related tools
Pair new-service intake with account, address, billing, payment, and general request forms using existing Makeform tools.
Collect reusable contact and customer-profile details before routing a person into an account workflow.
Open toolGather structured address details when the service location needs a dedicated verification step.
Open toolCreate a broader account-opening intake for workflows that extend beyond utility activation.
Open toolHandle follow-up service needs and route customer requests after the account is established.
Open toolCollect account, charge, and explanation details for a separate billing-review queue.
Open toolBuild an authorization intake when the provider has a defined payment workflow and wording.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for utility providers, cooperatives, and municipal offices moving new-customer applications online.
It is an intake form used by a utility provider or municipal office when a customer asks to start water, sewer, gas, or electric service. It typically records the applicant, service address, requested utilities, start date, occupancy, billing contact, access information, and any documents the provider chooses to request. Submission starts the provider's review; it does not need to promise immediate activation.
A practical core includes full name, phone, email, service address, mailing address, customer type, owner or tenant status, requested services, preferred start date, and preferred contact method. Depending on the provider, add meter details, new-construction status, property-owner contact, authorized business contacts, access instructions, and clearly labeled document uploads.
Yes. Present the available utilities as checkboxes, then use conditional logic to show the questions associated with each selection. A water request might ask for parcel details, gas might ask about meter access and appointment availability, and electric new construction might need a different routing path. Staff can receive one submission without applicants seeing every possible question.
Ask whether the applicant owns, rents, manages, or is otherwise authorized for the property. When tenant is selected, reveal only the additional fields the provider requires, such as move-in date and property-owner or manager contact. The office should set its own documentation and review requirements rather than relying on a generic rule.
Yes. Add file-upload fields for the specific documents your office has chosen to collect and label each field plainly. Explain accepted formats and what happens after submission. Avoid requesting unnecessary sensitive material, and configure access, retention, and internal handling according to the provider's own policies and systems.
Not unless the provider's real workflow says so. A safer confirmation explains that the request was received and is pending address, document, scheduling, or account review. Include the office's next step and contact channel, and avoid presenting a requested start date as confirmed until staff has processed it.
Yes. Makeform is unlimited free for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting responses with the Makeform badge. The paid tier removes the badge; it is not required to keep using the form.
Submissions can arrive in the Makeform inbox and trigger notifications or connected workflows. Use service type, customer type, construction status, or missing-document answers as routing tags, and send structured rows to a spreadsheet when that matches the office process. Test each branch and keep final account decisions in the provider's system of record.
Replace incomplete new-service paperwork.
