The notebook in the van door
The consumer unit change finished at half three. The tester readings went into a notebook: circuit numbers, Zs values, insulation resistance, RCD trip times, a scribbled note about a borrowed neutral on the landing lights. At nine that evening the electrician is at the kitchen table typing it all into the certification software, squinting at his own handwriting.
Some nights he doesn't get to it. By Friday there are four jobs waiting, the customer on Tuesday's job has emailed twice asking for the certificate, and the office cannot invoice the final balance until it goes out.
Two copies of the same numbers
The readings exist the moment they appear on the tester screen. Everything after that is copying: tester to notebook, notebook to software. Each copy is a chance to transpose a figure, skip a circuit, or leave a field blank that the software then refuses to accept.
The software itself usually isn't the problem. Most certification packages are fine once the data is in them. The gap is that nothing links what happens at the board to what happens at the desk, so the admin lands on the one person who was there, at the worst time of day.
| Where the readings go | What goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Tester screen | Some testers store results, most teams never download them |
| Notebook or back of a job sheet | Handwriting, missing circuits, coffee |
| Certification software, evening | Transposed values, rushed observations |
| Qualified supervisor review | Happens late, or only when something looks odd |
| Customer email | Sent days after the job, sometimes lost |
The cost you don't see on the job sheet
Unpaid evening hours wear your best people down, and they notice when other firms don't ask it of them. Late certificates hold up final invoices. Errors found at review mean a phone call to an electrician who is now on a different job trying to remember a circuit he tested last week.
There's also the awkward conversation when a customer or a letting agent asks for a certificate that should have gone out days ago, and the honest answer is that it hasn't been written yet.
How we connect the board to the certificate
- On-site form: a phone or tablet form laid out the way your electricians test, circuit by circuit, so readings are entered once at the board. Where your testers can export results, we import those directly instead.
- Gap checks: the form flags missing fields, circuits with no readings, and values outside the ranges your qualified supervisor sets for review. It does not decide anything; it just stops blanks reaching the office.
- Photos and notes: the electrician photographs the board, labels and anything unusual, and dictates observations, which are transcribed and attached.
- Certificate draft: the data is pushed into your certification software where it has an import route, or used to produce a draft in your own template if not.
- Supervisor queue: drafts wait in a review list for your qualified supervisor, with anything flagged shown first. Nothing is issued until a person signs it.
- Issue and invoice: once signed, the certificate is emailed to the customer and filed against the job, and the job is marked ready to invoice in Xero, QuickBooks or your job software.
Which certificate types we cover first depends on your mix. Minor works and consumer unit changes are usually where the volume is.
Evenings back, invoices out
Your electricians finish the job with the readings already captured. The office sees drafts arrive the same day. Your supervisor reviews in batches instead of chasing people, and customers get certificates while they still remember the job.
The electrician is still responsible for the readings and the observations. What changes is that he only records them once.
Does this sound like your team?
- Certificates are written up in the evening or at weekends.
- Readings live in notebooks or on the back of job sheets.
- Final invoices wait for certificates to be finished.
- Your supervisor finds gaps and has to ring electricians about old jobs.
- Customers or agents chase you for certificates.