ElectricalBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Extra Work Found on Site: Getting It Onto the Electrical Invoice the Same Day

Every electrical shop gives away work without meaning to. The tech swaps an extra switch because the customer asked nicely, replaces a cover plate that was cracked, or adds an outlet in the garage “since I'm already here.” None of it makes it onto the invoice, because the invoice was written from the original work order, or because nobody told the office. Over a year, that is a lot of free electrical work.

The Service Call Is Where It Happens Most

The previous guide, Invoicing a Residential Service Call: The Trip Charge, the Repair and the Add-On, introduced the “while you're here” add-on. This guide is about making sure that extra work reliably lands on the bill, on every kind of job.

In ElectricalBossPro, the rule is simple: if it was done, it goes on the job, and if it is on the job, it goes on the invoice.

Why Extra Work Goes Missing

Extra work slips off invoices for a few predictable reasons:

• The invoice is written from the original ticket. The office bills what was scheduled, not what was done.
• The tech forgets to mention it. At the end of a long day, the small add-on at the third stop is gone from memory.
• Nobody wants to bring up money. The tech is happy to help and uncomfortable telling the customer it costs extra.
• No price is set. The tech is not sure what to charge, so they charge nothing.

Each of these has a fix, and none of them require the tech to become a salesperson.

Prices From Your Service List

The “not sure what to charge” problem goes away when every common add-on is already on your service list with a price: outlets, GFCI replacements, switches, smoke detectors, ceiling fans, light fixtures, surge protectors. Nobody has to make up a number on the spot. The price is the price, whether the owner, the office or a newer tech is on the job.

That also takes the awkwardness out of the conversation. “Sure, an extra GFCI is $165, want me to add it?” is a much easier thing to say when the number comes from the company rather than from the tech's head.

Getting It on the Job

The extra work needs to be recorded on the job before it is completed. The tech can note the request in the job notes, and the office adds it as its own line item from the service list. Because the office sees jobs as they happen, the line can be added the same day, before the invoice goes out.

Adding it as a separate line, rather than adjusting the price of something already on the job, keeps the invoice honest. The customer sees the original work at the original price and the add-on clearly marked as its own item.

Before-and-after photos of the extra work help too. If the customer later asks what the extra line was for, the office opens the job and shows them.

When the Add-On Is Really a New Job

Some “while you're here” requests are not small. A customer who asks about an EV charger, a panel upgrade, recessed lighting throughout the main floor, or a generator is asking for a new job. Those deserve an estimate, not a line squeezed onto today's service call.

The office builds the estimate from your service list, the customer approves it online, and the approved estimate becomes its own scheduled job with its own invoice. Equipment details can go on the estimate and carry onto the job. That keeps today's invoice clean and gives the bigger job the paperwork it needs. See From Approved Estimate to Electrical Invoice Without Retyping a Line.

Findings From an Inspection

Safety inspections produce extra work by design. The tech works through the checklist, records readings and a condition, and writes recommendations. When the condition is Needs attention or Repair recommended, those recommendations are the basis for follow-up work.

The office can print the Electrical Safety Inspection report for the homeowner and follow up with an estimate for the recommended work. The inspection is billed as the inspection, and any repairs the customer approves become their own job. More in Backing Up an Electrical Invoice With Photos and the Safety Inspection Report.

Same-Day Billing Protects the Add-On

The longer the gap between the work and the invoice, the more likely extra work is forgotten. When the tech taps Complete and the invoice is created right then, there is no gap. Whatever is on the job is on the invoice, and if the card on file is charged at completion, the customer pays for the add-on the same day they asked for it.

Bill What You Do

Extra work is good work. Customers ask for it because they trust the tech in front of them. Pricing it from your service list, putting it on the job as its own line, and billing at completion means you get paid for it instead of giving it away. To see how add-ons fit with line items and charging at completion, visit the ElectricalBossPro electrical invoicing software page.