A contract is a promise that repeats
You maintain the emergency lighting and fire alarm at a care home, two schools and a row of shops. Some are on one frequency, some another, some have extra visits in term time. The schedule is a diary and a spreadsheet the owner updates. When the owner is on holiday, a visit gets missed, and the client's fire risk assessor notices before you do.
On site, the engineer asks for the logbook, finds last visit's fault about a failed fitting in the stairwell still open, and has no idea whether a quote was ever sent.
Why maintenance contracts drift
Each contract has its own frequency, its own site quirks and its own open faults. The information lives in three places: your diary, the site's paper logbook, and the office's email. Nothing links them. A fault found on one visit becomes a quote only if someone remembers, and becomes a repair only if someone chases the approval.
| Contract element | Where it usually lives |
|---|---|
| Visit frequency | Owner's diary or spreadsheet |
| Site access and contacts | Engineer's memory |
| Test results | Site logbook, sometimes photographed |
| Open faults | Last visit's notes |
| Remedial quotes | Email, if sent |
Sites also change between visits. A school refurbishes a corridor and adds fittings. A shop moves its stockroom and a fitting ends up behind racking. Unless the device list is updated when the engineer spots these changes, the next visit is planned around a building that no longer exists.
The cost of a missed visit
Clients depend on these visits for their own responsibilities, and they notice when you're late. Faults that aren't quoted aren't fixed, which is lost work for you and a lingering issue for them. Contracts that feel disorganised don't get renewed, and they are among the steadiest income an electrical firm has.
A missed visit is also hard to recover quietly. The client's logbook shows a gap, and your next visit starts with an apology rather than a routine check.
The contract schedule we build
- Contract setup: each client site is set up with its systems, visit types and frequencies, and any seasonal rules such as school holidays.
- Visit generation: visits are created automatically for the months ahead and offered to the site contact to confirm.
- Engineer view: on the day, the engineer sees the site's contacts, access notes, device list, previous results and open faults.
- Test record: results are recorded device by device, with photos. The client gets a record in your format, and a copy for their logbook if they still keep one.
- Fault to quote: any fault found creates a remedial item. Your office prices it from your rates and sends a quote with an approve link.
- Contract view: the owner sees every contract, visits done and due, and open faults by age.
Test regimes and frequencies are set by your client, their advisers and the standards you work to. We build the schedule around them.
We usually start by loading your existing contracts and device lists from the spreadsheets and logbook photos you already have. Your engineers then correct the device lists on their first visit with the new system, so the records get more accurate with each round of visits.
A schedule that doesn't depend on one person's diary
Visits happen whether or not the owner is in. Engineers arrive knowing the site. Faults become quotes the same day. Clients get tidy records they can show their assessor, and renewals become easier conversations.
It also gives you better information when a contract comes up for renewal. You can show the client every visit, every result and every fault closed over the contract, rather than a pile of logbook pages.
Are your contracts run like this?
- Visit schedules live in a diary or spreadsheet.
- Visits have been missed when someone was away.
- Faults from last visit are still open, with no quote sent.
- Engineers rely on the site's paper logbook for history.
- You couldn't quickly list every open fault across all contracts.