Staying the electrician for a whole property, not one socket

2 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Introduction

An electrician fits a socket, invoices for the socket, and leaves. Two years later that house has a consumer unit replaced, an outside supply run, an EV charger installed and a rewire in the loft conversion, and none of it was done by the person who fitted the socket — because nobody left a record and nobody made contact.

The work was always going to happen. The property has an ageing installation, an owner with plans, and a certification cycle. All of that is predictable, and most of it is written on paperwork you already produce.

Becoming the electrician for the whole property rather than for one job is mostly a matter of writing things down and coming back to them. Neither takes long and almost nobody does either.

1. Staying the electrician for a whole property starts with the record you leave

The document is the mechanism.

Note the whole installation, not the job

Age and type of consumer unit, earthing arrangement, presence of RCD protection, condition of accessories. Five minutes while you are there. Photograph the board while you are at it.

Leave the customer a copy

What is fine, what should be improved, what is urgent. Householders keep this and refer to it later. They also show it to whoever buys the house.

2. Turn observations into a priced list

An observation without a price is not a job.

Quote the remedial work before you leave

Each item, with a figure, grouped by urgency. A written quotation is acted on where a verbal mention is not. Hand it over before you drive away.

Explain the codes in ordinary language

Nobody outside the trade knows what a classification means. Say danger present, potentially dangerous, improvement recommended, and what each implies. Say what happens if it is left.

3. Diarise everything that recurs

Certification is a forward order book.

Record every expiry date you create

EICRs, landlord certificates, alarm servicing, PAT testing. Whatever applies where you work. A spreadsheet with two columns is enough.

Contact before the certificate runs out

Six weeks ahead. The electrician who asks first is the one who does the work. Set a calendar reminder as you issue the certificate.

4. Ask what they are planning

Householders have lists and nobody asks about them.

Ask before you leave

Extensions, a garden office, an EV charger, a kitchen, outside lighting. Ask about the next two years. Most people are waiting to be asked. One question at the end of the job.

Note the answer with a rough date

A conversation in March about a summer project is a job you can follow up in May. Put the date in the diary.

5. Stay findable and stay in touch

Two years is long enough to be forgotten.

Leave something physical at the board

A sticker with your number on the consumer unit. That is where people look when something trips. Keep it legible for years.

Make one contact a year

Brief, useful, and not a sales message. Enough to keep your name attached to the property. A note about a certificate due works well.

Conclusion

The work on any property is largely predictable — an ageing installation, an owner with plans, a certification cycle — and most of it is already written on paperwork you produce.

So record the whole installation rather than the job, leave the customer a copy of what is fine and what is not, and turn every observation into a priced item grouped by urgency, with the codes explained in ordinary words. Diarise every expiry date you create and contact people six weeks before, because whoever asks first does the work. Ask what they are planning before you leave, note it with a rough date, put a sticker on the consumer unit, and make one useful contact a year.