ElectricalBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Dispatch

Booking Whole-House Generator Install Days on the Dispatch Board

A whole-house generator install is a project, not a service call. There is the generator itself, a transfer switch or interlock, often a fuel connection that involves another trade, and a homeowner who has been thinking about this purchase since the last long outage. It may take one day or several. Scheduling it well means giving it room on the calendar, keeping the homeowner in the loop, and making sure the customer ends up on a yearly maintenance plan when it is done.

The Third Kind of Install

Panel upgrades and EV chargers are covered in Scheduling EV Charger Installs So They Don't Eat the Service Route and the guide before it. Generator installs are the biggest of the three and usually the one with the most moving parts.

From Estimate to Scheduled Job

Generator installs start as estimates built from your service list. The generator install line, the transfer switch, and anything else you include go on the estimate with your prices. The generator's brand, model, rating in kW and fuel type can be filled in on the estimate, along with the transfer switch details, and they carry onto the job.

Estimate follow-up emails help with generators in particular. Homeowners often take their time on a big purchase. When they approve online, the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job, ready for a van and a day.

Blocking Out the Install Van

Generator installs belong on the install van, never on the service route. Put the job on the install van for its day and keep that day clear of anything else. If the install needs a second day, schedule a second job on the next day for the same van, with a note such as “Day 2 of generator install.” Each day shows on the dispatch board, and the tech app shows the crew where they are going each morning.

Other trades sometimes need to be part of a generator job. Coordinating those is between you and them, but the dispatch board gives you one place to see which day your crew is on site, so you can line the other work up around it.

Filling the Edges

Install days do not always fill a whole day. If the crew wraps up early, the office can look at the Waiting List for a due generator maintenance visit or a safety inspection nearby and add it to the end of the route. That turns a short install day into a full one without touching the service van.

The reverse matters too. If a generator install runs long and spills into the next day, anything flexible on the install van tomorrow moves. Recurring visits are easy to push: move them on the board and text the customers. For the mechanics, see Rescheduling Electrical Jobs: Moving a Call to Another Day or Another Van.

Keeping the Homeowner Informed

A generator install is a big event at the house. The homeowner will want to know which days the crew is coming, roughly when, and when the power might be off. The office should tell them plainly and leave the technical details to the electrician on site.

The customer's alert choices handle the daily heads-up: a reminder the night before, a text when they are next and the arrived text. Two-way texting lets them send questions to the office without calling the tech.

The Generator Joins the House

On the job, the crew records the new generator and transfer switch as equipment on the house: brand, model number, serial number, year installed, rating, fuel type, location and access notes. That information flows back to the property record. From then on, every job at that house shows the generator on the card, and every future tech knows it is there.

Before-and-after photos from the install day stay with the job.

Start the Maintenance Plan

The best time to sell a yearly generator maintenance plan is the day the generator goes in. Add generator maintenance to the client as a recurring service at 365 days, at your price, such as $189 per visit. The customer can also sign up from the customer app. Either way, the maintenance visits come due on the Waiting List on their own, and the cycle runs from there. For the scheduling side, see Scheduling Yearly Generator Maintenance Without a Wall Calendar.

After the Install

When the crew taps Complete, the invoice is created from the job's line items with sales tax. A card on file can be charged, or the customer can pay from the customer app.

Generator installs are among the best jobs an electrical company does, and they come with years of maintenance work attached. Giving them a clear spot on the dispatch board is how you make sure they go smoothly. To see how install days fit with the rest of the schedule, visit the ElectricalBossPro electrician scheduling software page.