Introduction
Preventative maintenance programs can often feel overwhelming for electrical contractors, with the perception that it’s an all-or-nothing endeavor. However, at Condoit, we believe there’s a more approachable way to ease into these programs. By taking a gradual “crawl, walk, run” approach, contractors can develop a sustainable and profitable preventative maintenance program.
Read more about the monetary benefits of digitizing your customer’s data at my last post here.
Why Preventative Maintenance?
Offering routine electrical maintenance contracts presents a tremendous opportunity for contractors to establish a steady, recurring source of revenue while building deeper relationships with their customers. Preventive maintenance not only addresses the immediate needs of electrical systems but also sets the foundation for long-term engagement and growth.
By implementing these contracts, you ensure that your team is consistently monitoring and maintaining customers’ electrical infrastructure. This regular presence on-site allows you to build trust and strengthen your working relationship with customers. Familiarity with their systems positions you as a trusted partner, not just a vendor, creating a pathway to additional sales, equipment rentals, and larger service contracts.
Recurring Revenue
Preventive maintenance contracts provide predictable, recurring income, offering financial stability for your business. Instead of relying solely on one-off installation or repair projects, these agreements create a subscription-like revenue stream. For example, conducting quarterly or annual compliance checks under standards like NFPA 70B or NFPA 70E ensures ongoing engagement while adding value to your customers’ operations by reducing the risk of costly outages or compliance penalties. Recurring revenue through preventative maintenance contracts can represent up to a 4X multiplier. It’s good for your customers and your company’s valuation.
But how do you get started?
Crawl - Identify and Gather Data
The first step is to make a list of potential customers who have outdated as-builts or will eventually need NFPA 70B or 70E compliance. Look for customers who lack a clear understanding of their electrical systems, where you often find yourself helping them identify and understand the assets they own. We recommend you make a list of 15 to 30 customers you regularly work with. Write them down.
Once you’ve identified these potential customers, the next step is to reach out to each of them individually and set up a discussion. You’ve worked with these facilities before you know they don’t have up to date electrical records. Go with a plan to solve that problem for them. The Condoit team can help you with those discussions with marketing materials and talking points.
➔ Click here to get these marketing materials.
Once you’ve had these touch points, you’ll send personnel for basic data collection, including cataloging equipment at the facilities, building a single line, taking photos, and assessing what is on-site for upcoming maintenance issues and/or projects. Many of our customers generate thousands in work orders just walking facilities and reconnecting with the management there.
At the end of the crawl phase, if the assessment and data collection are done in Condoit, you will have generated a basic single-line diagram that can be sold to the customer, either as a digital view-only access to the Condoit platform or as a PDF export for their records, delivering value early in the relationship.
More important than a single deliverable, you have reengaged with a customer and have a much better plan for moving forward and growing your business with them.
At the end of the Crawl Phase you should have identified and gathered data.
Walk - Plan for Monetization
With the foundational information gathered during the crawl phase, you can now start building stronger relationships with your customers. This phase involves leveraging the data collected to offer initial insights and services, laying the groundwork for potential preventative maintenance contracts, work orders, code updates, renovations and so on. During initial assessments, your electricians will likely find equipment that is out of code or needing service. They’ll be in direct contact with the facilities’ maintenance personnel, addressing immediate fixes, updates, and upcoming projects.
Now you have a bank of reliable, current data about a facility infrastructure, a relationship with the people responsible for that infrastructure, and knowledge about what that infrastructure needs in the near and long term. From here, you can structure work orders and begin to lay out the plan for preventative maintenance on only the most critical equipment at the facility.
The Condoit platform can track and catalog preventive maintenance procedures at electrical equipment. We also have partners in our network that can consult with your team to help you make larger plans with customers. People and companies that have done it before.
➔ Click here if you’d like an introduction to our preventive maintenance partners.
At the end of the Walk Phase, you should have a plan for monetizing the data.
Run - Scale your Revenue
With all the data collected, a solid relationship established, and a plan for monetizing the data, it’s time to offer your customers comprehensive preventative maintenance contracts and consistent compliance assurance for 70E and 70B.
The real sales motion here is all about spreading out their costs across many years and assuring electrical system resiliency. A great place to start these conversations is finding out how much their last arc flash analysis (NFPA 70E) cost them. They are required to have up-to-date arc flash labels every 5 years (and they’re likely out of date). Say it cost $100k 6 years ago. They would rather pay you $25k/year than have to cut a check for $100k. Put this in your proposal along with any work orders that need to be completed, and hours for maintenance of their critical equipment we outlined above.
Do this for one of your customers, then for 10 of your customers, and then for 100. Work the muscle and make it strong. Refine your processes and build your data base. Following this crawl, walk, run approach will absolutely yield scaling, high quality, and predictable revenue with a new, shiny profit margin on top of it.
