ElectricalBossPro Blog — Commercial Accounts

Before-and-After Photos as Proof for Commercial Electrical Accounts

A homeowner usually sees the work. They are standing in the kitchen when the new fixture goes up, or they flip the switch after the tech leaves. A commercial account almost never does. The property manager is at another property. The retail head office is in another city. The owner has never been inside the electrical room. For those people, a photo is the closest thing to being there.

Proof for the Person Who Approves the Bill

Getting an estimate approved and onto the schedule is covered in Getting a Commercial Electrical Estimate Approved Online and Onto the Schedule. Once the work is scheduled and done, the next question from the account is simple: did it actually happen, and does it look right?

In the ElectricalBossPro tech app, techs take before-and-after photos on the job, and the photos stay with that job at that address. The office sees them as soon as the job is completed. They are there when the manager asks a question next week, and they are there a year from now when the same fixture comes up again.

What to Photograph on Commercial Jobs

Not every job needs a dozen photos, but some shots are almost always worth taking:

• The problem before the fix. The dark fixture, the cracked cover, the outlet that would not reset.
• The finished work. The working light, the new cover, the installed device.
• The panel, closed up. A shot of the panel with the cover back on and the area tidy, after any panel work.
• Lighting from a distance. On relamping visits, a wide shot of the lot or sign lit up says more than a close-up.
• Anything you are recommending. If the tech notes something that needs attention later, a photo makes the recommendation real.

Short and consistent beats long and random. Techs learn the habit quickly when the shots are the same every time.

Keep tenants and customers out of the frame where possible, and avoid shots of anything private in an occupied unit or office. The point is the electrical work, not the space around it.

Photos on Turnovers and Relamping

Two kinds of commercial work benefit the most from photos. Turnover jobs, because the manager needs to know the unit is ready without driving over. Relamping visits, because they repeat every 14 or 30 days and an account can easily forget whether anyone actually came. A photo of the lit sign or the working poles from each visit settles it.

Both kinds of work also end up on monthly statements, so the photos sit behind statement lines. When an accounting office asks about a line, the office opens the job and the answer is there. More on that in Address-Labeled Statement Lines: Making a Commercial Electrical Bill Easy to Approve.

Sharing Photos With the Account

When a manager asks how a job went, the office can pull up the job, look at the photos and answer through two-way texting. The conversation stays attached to the client. For inspection visits, photos sit alongside the checklist, readings and recommendations, so the office has everything in one place when it prints the Electrical Safety Inspection report for the owner.

Some shops make it a habit to send a photo after every visit to certain accounts. Others only send them when asked. Either way, the photos are already there.

Photos Protect You Too

Photos are not only for the account. They protect your shop. If a tenant later claims something was damaged, or a manager says a fixture was never replaced, the before-and-after photos on the job show what the space looked like when your tech was there. Notes and photos together make the job's record hard to argue with.

They also help your own techs. The next tech sent to that building can look at past jobs and see what the space looks like, where the panel is and what was done last time.

Making It a Habit

The hardest part of job photos is getting techs to take them every time. A few things help:

• Keep the list short: before, after and anything recommended.
• Make it part of the routine between tapping Start and tapping Complete.
• Show techs when a photo saved an argument with an account. Nothing sells the habit faster.

Photos are taken in the same app the tech already uses for the job card, navigation and the time clock, so there is no extra app to open.

Seeing Is Believing

For accounts that never see your work, photos are the work. They make bills easier to approve, recommendations easier to accept, and your shop easier to trust. For the rest of the commercial tools, see the commercial electrical software page.