ElectricalBossPro Blog — Commercial Accounts

Getting a Commercial Electrical Estimate Approved Online and Onto the Schedule

Commercial estimates have a way of stalling. The property manager likes it but needs the owner's sign-off. The owner is traveling. The tenant wants to change one line. A week passes, then two, and by the time anyone says yes, your schedule is full. Getting an estimate approved quickly, and getting it onto the schedule the moment it is approved, is worth real money to a small shop.

From a Built Estimate to a Sent One

Building a commercial estimate from your service list is covered in Estimates for Tenant Improvements: Quoting Commercial Electrical Work From Your Service List. This article picks up once the estimate is ready to go.

In ElectricalBossPro an estimate is sent to the customer, who can review it and approve it online. There is no printing, signing, scanning and emailing back. The manager or owner opens it, reads the line items and approves. That alone removes a lot of the friction that slows commercial approvals down.

Make It Easy to Say Yes

An estimate gets approved faster when the person reading it can understand it without calling you. A few things help:

• Put it on the right address. An estimate for “Suite 300” or “Store 14” is clear about where the work will happen.
• Use your service list names. Consistent names are easier to read than shorthand.
• Separate optional work. Let them approve the essentials without having to argue about the extras.
• Mention timing. If the work has to be after hours or on a weekend, say so on the estimate.

If the account has questions, two-way texting from the office keeps the conversation in one place, attached to the client.

Follow-Up Without Nagging

Most stalled estimates are not rejected. They are forgotten. ElectricalBossPro sends estimate follow-up emails on its own, so the estimate comes back to the top of the manager's inbox without anyone in your office remembering to chase it. The follow-up is polite and automatic, which is easier on everyone than a string of phone calls.

The office can still reach out personally on big jobs. Automatic follow-up just makes sure smaller estimates do not slip through the cracks while you focus on the big ones.

It also helps to know who actually approves. Some managers can say yes up to a certain amount and need the owner above it. Write that down on the client, in the notes or a custom field, so the office knows who should receive the estimate in the first place. Sending it to the right person on day one saves a week of it being forwarded around.

Approved Means Scheduled

The best part of online approval is what happens next. When the customer approves, the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job. The line items carry over, so the job and eventually the invoice or statement match what was approved. Any equipment details filled in on the estimate carry onto the job too.

The office then puts the job on the dispatch board, on a day and a van. If the work needs to be after hours, the office orders the route so it comes last, and the access notes on the address tell the tech how to get in. Nobody retypes the estimate into a work order. For more on after-hours scheduling, read After-Hours Commercial Electrical Scheduling: Night and Weekend Work on the Dispatch Board.

Changes After Approval

Commercial jobs change. The tenant decides on two more fixtures halfway through, or the manager asks for an extra outlet while the tech is on site. The tech notes the request on the job, and the office adds the line items from your service list, so the bill reflects the actual work. Keeping changes on the job, not in a separate conversation, means the statement matches what was done.

For larger changes, the office can build a new estimate for the extra work and send it for approval the same way, so the account always signs off before the price goes up.

Billing the Approved Work

When the tech completes the job, it is billed the way the account is set up. A per-job customer gets an invoice and can have a card on file charged. A Monthly account gets the job as a line on their statement, labeled by address. Either way, line items and sales tax come from the approved estimate and any changes made on the job.

The Whole Path in One Place

Request, estimate, approval, scheduled job, completed work, bill. When each step hands off to the next on its own, commercial work moves faster and fewer jobs get lost between the quote and the van. For how estimates fit with the rest of commercial accounts, see the commercial electrical software overview.