ElectricalBossPro Blog — Electrical Contractor Software

Recurring Electrical Work: Yearly Inspections, Generator Maintenance and Relamping Plans

Service calls pay the bills, but they come and go with the weather and the economy. Recurring work is different. A customer on a yearly generator maintenance plan is a customer you will see again next year, and the year after. For a small electrical shop, a base of recurring visits is what makes slow months less slow.

How Recurring Plans Work

Every recurring visit eventually shows up on the map described in The Waiting List: Every Electrical Visit That Has Come Due, on One Map. This article is about setting up the plans that feed it.

In ElectricalBossPro, a recurring service is set by a minimum number of days between visits. When a visit is completed, the clock starts. When that many days have passed, the next visit comes due and appears on the Waiting List. Nobody has to create next year's job by hand, and nobody has to remember.

Using minimum days rather than a fixed date means the schedule follows real life. If this year's inspection happened two weeks late, next year's comes due a year after the one that actually happened.

Yearly Safety Inspection Plans

A yearly safety inspection plan is set at 365 days. Each visit uses the safety inspection checklist in the tech app: panel, breakers, AFCI and GFCI, grounding and bonding, surge protection, connections, outlets and switches, detectors, exterior outlets, meter base and service drop, generator and transfer switch, and EV charger, with readings, a condition and recommendations. The office prints an Electrical Safety Inspection report for the homeowner afterward.

Price it the way you price any service, such as $149 a visit, and put it on your service list. Homeowners can sign up for it through the customer app or a website sign-up form with their card captured, or the office can add it to their account.

Yearly Generator Maintenance

Whole-house generator owners are some of the best recurring customers an electrical shop can have. A yearly generator maintenance plan is also set at 365 days, priced at whatever you charge, such as $189 a visit.

The generator lives on the house record with its brand, model number, serial number, kW rating, fuel type (natural gas, propane or diesel), location and access notes, along with the transfer switch or interlock. When the visit comes due and is scheduled, all of that is on the tech's job card. Many shops put generator maintenance on the same van as installs and inspections so the right tech handles them.

If you install generators, offering the maintenance plan at the install is natural. The equipment is already on the house from the install job, so the plan starts with a complete record.

Commercial Lighting Maintenance and Relamping

Commercial customers such as gyms, retail chains and property managers often want lighting checked on a short cycle. Relamping or lighting maintenance can be set every 14 or 30 days, or whatever fits the account.

These customers usually have many addresses. One client can hold all of them, and each address can carry its own plan. When the client is set to Monthly, they get one statement each month covering every address, with each line labeled. See Monthly Account Billing for Property Managers, Gyms and Retail Chains With Many Addresses.

Billing Recurring Visits

Recurring visits bill like any other job. When the tech taps Complete, the invoice is created from the service on the plan. If the customer has a card on file, it can be charged automatically on completion. Monthly accounts collect their visits onto the monthly statement.

Customers on plans can see their invoices and pay in the customer app, update their card when it expires, and request extra service if something comes up between visits. Past-due follow-up catches the invoices that sit.

Keeping Plan Customers Happy

A recurring customer stays because the visits are easy. Customers choose their alerts: a reminder the night before, an alert when they are next and an alert when the tech arrives. Automatic on-the-way and arrived texts mean fewer surprises at the door. The customer app shows the van on a live map on visit day.

Then do the visit well and show the work. A clear inspection report or a short note with photos after a generator visit reminds the customer why they signed up. The customer app also lets them rate and refer, which is how plan customers bring you more plan customers.

Building the Base Over Time

Recurring work builds slowly and keeps paying. Offer the yearly inspection after a service call. Offer generator maintenance with every generator install. Offer relamping to every commercial account. Each one lands on the Waiting List when it comes due, so the plans you sell this year fill the vans next year.

To see how recurring plans fit with dispatch, the tech app and billing, go back to the ElectricalBossPro electrical contractor software page.