A new customer and an unfamiliar panel
A property company moves the fire alarm servicing for several of its buildings to you. The first visits are booked. Your engineer arrives at the first building: a panel from a manufacturer you see less often, a zone chart that does not match the building, no device list, no record of what the last company found, and no idea whether the system is monitored.
The engineer spends much of the visit working out what is there. The certificate at the end has gaps. The office has nothing to plan future visits from, and the customer asks for a summary of what you found, which will take another afternoon to write.
Why takeovers start from zero
The outgoing company has little reason to help, and customers often do not hold the records themselves.
- Previous service records and certificates are not passed on.
- Zone charts on site are out of date or missing.
- Device lists do not exist or are held by the previous company.
- Monitoring arrangements are unknown.
- Open defects from previous visits are not known.
What condition a system is in, and what it needs, is for your competent engineers to assess. We build the process for recording what they find.
What a poor start costs
The first visit overruns or ends incomplete. Without a proper record, the second visit is almost as slow. The customer wanted reassurance that the move to you was a good decision, and a patchy first certificate does not give it. And you may miss issues that were known to the previous company, which then look like your omissions.
A takeover survey on the first visit
We build a takeover survey that engineers complete on their phone during the first visit to any system new to your firm.
- The survey is triggered automatically for any system with no previous record in your system.
- It walks the engineer through the panel details, zones with descriptions, devices by zone and type, interfaces, monitoring arrangements, access and any visible issues, with photos.
- Any documents found on site, such as old certificates or zone charts, are photographed and attached.
- The customer is asked, through a link, for any records they hold from the previous company, which are attached when received.
- The survey creates the system record, the site pack for future engineers and the device list your certificates need.
- A takeover report is generated for the customer: what you found, what records were missing and any issues your engineer recorded, for your review before sending.
| Item | Received from previous company | After the takeover survey |
|---|---|---|
| Panel and zones | Rarely | Recorded with photos |
| Device list | Seldom | Built on the first visit |
| Monitoring | Unknown | Recorded |
| Previous findings | Rarely | Collected where available |
| Customer summary | None | Takeover report |
A takeover visit with the survey
At the first building, the engineer sees that this is a new system and starts the survey. They record the panel, walk the zones, list devices, photograph the out-of-date zone chart and note two issues. The system turns out to be monitored; the details are on a label inside the panel and are recorded. That afternoon, the office reviews the takeover report and sends it to the property company with the certificate. The next visit starts from a complete record.
Several buildings at once
Takeovers rarely come one site at a time. When a customer moves a portfolio, the office sees a takeover board listing every system, whether its first visit is booked, whether the survey is complete and whether the takeover report has gone. Surveys can be prioritised by what the customer tells you about each building, and the customer receives reports as each site is done rather than waiting for the whole portfolio.
What you end up with
First visits that produce a proper record. A customer who receives a clear takeover report and feels the move was worth it. Engineers who can cover any taken-over system on the next visit. And a repeatable process for every new customer.
Signs your takeovers need this
- First visits to taken-over systems overrun.
- Device lists for many systems do not exist.
- Customers ask for summaries of what you found at takeover.
- Monitoring arrangements on new systems are unknown.
- Second visits are almost as slow as the first.