What is a client intake form for a contractor?

It is a link you send before you price the job. The customer adds photos, describes the work, answers a short set of questions, and leaves contact details. In Handy Bro you create that link from Tools, then Client Intake, on iPhone or Android. When they submit, you turn it into a project and an estimate.

Does the customer need the Handy Bro app?

No. They open the link in a browser on any phone. You are the one using the iPhone or Android app to create the link, watch the answers come in, and start the estimate.

How long does the link last?

30 days. After that the customer sees that the link has expired. If they have not finished, create a new intake and send a fresh link. Name it clearly so you do not mix it up with the expired one.

What do I get notified about?

You get a notification when they first open the link, and another when they submit. The intake detail also updates while they are in the middle, so you can see photos and answers before the final submit.

How do I turn an intake into an estimate?

Open the intake after the status is submitted and tap Create project from intake. On iPhone the button reads Create Project from Intake. Handy Bro creates the project and starts the estimate from the photos, description, and answers. You price it from there the same way as any other job.

Can I save their info as a client?

Yes. If the intake is not already tied to a client, tap Save as client once they have entered their info. If it is tied to a client and they typed something newer, tap Update client info to copy the non-blank fields onto that client. Only the name is required on the form, so the phone number may still be empty.

Is client intake on both iPhone and Android?

Yes. Both apps have Client Intake under Tools. The customer form is the same web page either way. Button capitalization differs slightly: iPhone says Create Intake and Create Project from Intake; Android says CREATE INTAKE and Create project from intake.

Job Intake

Send a Client Intake Link Before You Price the Job

The visit goes faster when the photos are already on your phone. Client intake is the link Handy Bro sends so the customer collects them, and you price the job from what they sent.

By the Handy Bro teamUpdated October 13, 202612 min read

The short answer

A client intake form in Handy Bro is a link you create under Tools, then Client Intake, on iPhone or Android. The customer opens it in a browser, adds up to 10 photos, describes the job, answers questions one at a time, and leaves contact info. Only their name is required. You are notified when they open it and when they submit. Create project from intake turns that into a project and a starting estimate.

The link expires after 30 days. It works for US and Canadian contractors. The customer never installs the app. You do the rest from whichever phone you already use.

What a client intake link collects

An intake is a public form tied to your company. You name it, send the link, and the customer walks through photos, a description, a handful of questions, and their contact details. You watch the same record fill in on your phone. When they submit, you have enough to start an estimate without first spending an hour on a mystery job.

It is not a quote, and it is not a contract. The customer is showing you the work. You still decide the price. If the job is already done and you only need a bill, voice to invoice is the shorter path. Intake is for the job you have not priced yet.

Handy Bro client intake collecting photos and project details from a customer

They send the photos. You send the price.

The link is a normal web page. Photos, a description, and answers land on the intake in your app, ready to become a project.

How contractors use it before the visit

A handyman gets a text: “can you look at my deck?” Before driving forty minutes, they create an intake named after the street, and send the link with one sentence — please add photos of the boards that feel soft, and the stairs. The customer submits that evening. The handyman opens the photos, sees rot at the ledger, and shows up with the right materials question already in mind. The visit is a confirmation, not a discovery.

A remodeler uses it when the lead is real but the schedule is not. The intake sits with the client’s desired start date and the room photos. When a gap opens, they tap Create project from intake and price the job from what is already there, instead of asking the customer to describe the bathroom a second time.

You also get a notification the moment they open the link. That is useful even before they finish. An opened intake that never gets photos is a customer who needs a nudge. A submitted one is ready for a number.

Send an intake from either phone

iPhone and Android both keep Client Intake on the Tools tab, in the Clients section. The steps below are the same on both. The last two sections call out the button labels that differ.

1
Open Client Intake
In Handy Bro, open the Tools tab and tap Client Intake. The Home screen also shows a banner for it after the account has existed for a day. The empty list explains the steps and offers a create button. The + button opens the same sheet.
2
Create the intake
Give it a name, pick the company, and optionally pick a client you already have. The company is required. The name is how you will find it in the list later, so name it after the job or the address.
3
Share the link
Send the link by text, email, or the share sheet. It works in the customer’s browser. You do not ask them to install anything. The link lasts 30 days.
4
Watch it come in, then create the project
You get a notification when they open the link and another when they submit. The detail screen updates with photos, the description, and their answers. When the status is submitted, tap Create project from intake. That starts an estimate from what they sent.

On the detail screen you can copy the link or share it again. Photos open large when you tap them. The description and the answered questions are on the same screen, so you can read the job without waiting for the final submit. The overflow menu edits their contact info or deletes the intake.

If you created the intake without a client, Save as client appears once they have entered their info. It makes a client and attaches it. If you picked a client up front and they typed a newer phone or address, Update client info copies the fields they filled in onto that client. Blank fields are left as they were.

What the customer fills out

The page is mobile-first and works on a laptop too. Your company name is at the top. They move through the steps in order. The link expires 30 days after you create it. An expired link tells them so, and they cannot keep editing it.

Step	What they do
Photos	They add pictures of the job, up to 10. A faucet, a crack, a full room — whatever you asked for in the text that carried the link.
Description	They describe the work in their own words. That description is what the questions are based on.
Questions	The form asks one question at a time. They answer before Next enables. Some choices are marked as a suggested answer. They can still pick another.
Contact	Name is the only required field. Email, phone, address, a desired start date, and how they prefer to be contacted are optional. Browser autofill can fill the contact fields.

Questions are generated from the description, so a vague sentence produces vague questions. The text you send with the link is what gets you useful photos: “the whole wall, and a close-up of the stain” beats “send some pictures.” They submit at the end. You can still read a half-finished intake, and you create the project after they submit.

Turn a finished intake into an estimate

The button stays off the screen until the status is submitted. Then it is pinned at the bottom. Tap it and Handy Bro creates the project and opens the estimate, with the photos and the description already attached. From there you answer any remaining pricing questions and send a proposal the way you do for a job you typed in yourself.

That estimate is the start of the normal path: price, proposal, invoice. Intake does not skip pricing. It skips the part where you reconstruct the job from a single text message. If you want a sense of what happens after the project exists, the estimating guide covers how the price gets built.

Labels on iPhone

The Tools row says Client Intake, with the subtitle “Send intake forms to your customers.” The empty-state button says Create Intake. On a submitted intake the bottom button says Create Project from Intake. Save as Client uses that capitalization too.

A notification for an opened or submitted intake opens the detail screen. The Home banner does the same, and it appears after the account is a day old.

Labels on Android

The Tools row says Client Intake, with the subtitle “Send a client a link to collect project details.” The empty-state button says CREATE INTAKE. On a submitted intake the bottom button says Create project from intake. Save as client and Update client info use that capitalization.

Notifications open the same detail screen. The customer’s link is identical to the one an iPhone user would send. Which phone you used to create it does not change what they see.

Tips that get the form finished

Send the link before the visit, in the same text where you confirm the time. A link sent after you have already driven over is a diary, not a time saver.
Name the intake after the job or the street. “Intake” and “New” are how the list becomes useless by Friday.
Tell them which photos you need. Ten pictures of the front door will not price a leak under the sink.
Put your phone number in the text you send. The form only requires their name, so you may not get a number back unless you ask.
A 30-day link goes stale if the customer waits. If they open it and stall, one reminder is enough. After it expires, send a new intake rather than hoping the old link revives.
Save them as a client when the info looks complete. The next job should not start with you typing their address again.

Frequently asked questions

What is a client intake form for a contractor?: It is a link you send before you price the job. The customer adds photos, describes the work, answers a short set of questions, and leaves contact details. In Handy Bro you create that link from Tools, then Client Intake, on iPhone or Android. When they submit, you turn it into a project and an estimate.
Does the customer need the Handy Bro app?: No. They open the link in a browser on any phone. You are the one using the iPhone or Android app to create the link, watch the answers come in, and start the estimate.
How long does the link last?: 30 days. After that the customer sees that the link has expired. If they have not finished, create a new intake and send a fresh link. Name it clearly so you do not mix it up with the expired one.
What do I get notified about?: You get a notification when they first open the link, and another when they submit. The intake detail also updates while they are in the middle, so you can see photos and answers before the final submit.
How do I turn an intake into an estimate?: Open the intake after the status is submitted and tap Create project from intake. On iPhone the button reads Create Project from Intake. Handy Bro creates the project and starts the estimate from the photos, description, and answers. You price it from there the same way as any other job.
Can I save their info as a client?: Yes. If the intake is not already tied to a client, tap Save as client once they have entered their info. If it is tied to a client and they typed something newer, tap Update client info to copy the non-blank fields onto that client. Only the name is required on the form, so the phone number may still be empty.
Is client intake on both iPhone and Android?: Yes. Both apps have Client Intake under Tools. The customer form is the same web page either way. Button capitalization differs slightly: iPhone says Create Intake and Create Project from Intake; Android says CREATE INTAKE and Create project from intake.

The bottom line

Create the intake, name it after the job, and send the link with a sentence about which photos you need. Read what comes back. When they submit, create the project and price it.

Do that from iPhone or Android. The customer only needs the browser. The link lasts 30 days, and the name on the form is the only field you can count on unless your text asks for the rest.