ElectricalBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Dispatch

From Approved Estimate to Scheduled Job: Booking Electrical Work Without Retyping

In a lot of electrical shops, the gap between “the customer said yes” and “the job is on the calendar” is a person retyping. The estimate was written in one place, the customer replied by email or phone, and then somebody copies the address, the work and the price onto the schedule. That copy step is where details get lost: the wrong amp rating, a missing line item, the access note nobody carried over.

Where This Fits

The last three guides covered booking big jobs, ending with Booking Whole-House Generator Install Days on the Dispatch Board. Every one of those jobs starts the same way: an estimate the customer approves. This guide is about the moment the estimate turns into a job.

The Estimate Already Has the Details

In ElectricalBossPro, estimates are built from your own service list: service call, troubleshooting, outlets, GFCIs, breakers, ceiling fans, light fixtures, recessed lighting, dedicated circuits, smoke detectors, surge protectors, EV charger installs, panel upgrades, generator installs, rewires priced per square foot, or whatever you have set up. Each line has your price.

Equipment details can be filled in on the estimate too. A panel upgrade estimate can include the new main panel's brand, model and amp rating. A generator estimate can include the generator's brand, model, kW rating and fuel type, plus the transfer switch. Those details travel with the estimate.

Estimate templates make common jobs faster. A standard EV charger install or a standard panel upgrade can start from a template and be adjusted for the house.

The Customer Approves Online

The customer gets the estimate and approves it online. No printing, signing, scanning or emailing back. If they have not responded, estimate follow-up emails go out to nudge them, which matters for big purchases like generators that homeowners like to think about.

When the customer approves, the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job. The client, the address, the line items and the equipment details are all already on it.

Picking the Van and the Day

The office's job is just the scheduling decision: which van and which day. For installs, that is usually the install van. A common setup is one van on service calls and another on installs, inspections and generators. Pick a day with room, check the dispatch board to see what else that van has, and set the route order if there is more than one stop. For panel upgrades in particular, see Booking Panel Upgrade Days Around Service Work.

Before you lock the day in, a quick two-way text to the customer to confirm it works saves a reschedule later.

What the Tech Gets

Because the job came from the estimate, the tech app shows everything on the job card: the line items the customer approved, the new equipment from the estimate, the equipment already saved on the house, and the access notes on the address. The crew does not need to call the office to ask what was sold.

When the crew records the new equipment on the job, it flows back to the house. Next time anyone visits, the equipment list is current.

What the Customer Gets

Once the job is on the schedule, the customer's alert choices take over: the night-before reminder, the text when they are next and the arrived text. In the customer app, they can see the route on the day and their place in line.

Billing Follows the Same Path

The line items on the approved estimate carry all the way through. When the tech taps Complete, the invoice is created from the job's line items with sales tax. If anything changed on site, the office adjusts the line items before sending. A card on file can be charged, or the customer can pay from the customer app.

That is the whole chain: estimate, approval, scheduled job, completed job, invoice, payment. Nobody retyped a thing.

Service Calls Can Do This Too

Estimates are not only for installs. A service call that turns up more work, like a homeowner who wants recessed lighting added or a surge protector installed, can produce an estimate on the spot. If the customer approves later, the approved estimate becomes its own scheduled job, often on the service van if it is a short one.

One Less Copy Step

Every time information is copied by hand, something gets lost. Turning an approved estimate straight into a scheduled job removes the step where most of those losses happen. To see how this fits with the dispatch board and routing, visit the ElectricalBossPro electrician scheduling software page.