ELECTRICAL
The panel is done. The paperwork is why you are not paid yet.
Electrical work moves through estimates, permits, inspections, and sign-offs, and every one of those is a handoff someone has to remember. We connect estimate follow-up, permit tracking, inspection scheduling, material lists, customer updates, and job-close documentation so the job finishes on paper the day it finishes in the field.
A day that will sound familiar
A Wednesday with two inspections
The rough-in inspection on the remodel is booked for the morning window, which means sometime before noon. The lead electrician is on site waiting, which means he is not at the panel upgrade across town. The office gets a call from the general contractor asking whether the permit for the new build has been pulled. It has. The permit number is on a printout in a truck.
On the desk are four estimates from last week that nobody has called about, a material list for tomorrow written on the back of a takeoff sheet, and a service-call customer who wants to know when someone is coming. The final on the remodel passed nine days ago and the invoice has not gone out, because the as-built and the inspection card are still in a photo on someone’s phone.
Five workflows
What changes for electrical contractors.
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01Estimate follow-up
TodayEstimates go out by email. The follow-up happens when the estimator drives past the house and remembers.
ConnectedEach estimate has a follow-up schedule. The customer gets the check-in messages on set days, the estimator sees which ones have gone quiet, and an approval turns into a scheduled job without retyping.
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02Permit tracking
TodayPermit numbers live in email threads, city portals, and the glovebox. Someone asks "did we pull that one" at least once a day.
ConnectedEvery job that needs a permit carries a permit status on the record: applied, issued, inspections passed, closed. The office sees which jobs are waiting on the city before a crew is scheduled to them.
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03Inspection scheduling
TodayThe inspection is called in when the crew says they are ready. The crew waits on site for the window, or the inspector shows up and nobody is there.
ConnectedWhen the crew marks a phase complete, the inspection request is created and the window goes on the schedule. The crew and the customer both get the window. A failed inspection reopens the phase with the correction noted.
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04Material lists
TodayThe list is written from the takeoff by hand the night before. The wrong breaker size goes on the truck and someone drives to the supply house at nine.
ConnectedThe material list is built from the estimate line items when the job is scheduled. The lead sees it on his phone, marks what is already on the truck, and the shortlist goes to the supply house before the crew leaves.
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05Customer updates and job-close documentation
TodayCustomers call the office to ask when the crew is coming. At the end, the photos, the inspection card, and the invoice go out in three separate emails over two weeks.
ConnectedCustomers get the arrival window, the inspection result, and the completion notice as they happen. When the final passes, the close-out packet is assembled from the job record and the invoice goes out with it.
Where it breaks
Four places the process usually fails.
- THE PERMIT IN THE GLOVEBOXThe number exists. It is just not where the person who needs it is standing.
- THE MORNING WINDOWA licensed electrician spends half a day on site waiting for an inspector because the office could not tell him whether the window had been confirmed.
- THE SUPPLY-HOUSE RUNOne missing part on the list turns into an hour of drive time and a crew standing around. It happens because the list was made from memory, not from the estimate.
- THE CLOSE-OUT THAT DRIFTSThe final passed. The customer is happy. The invoice waits for the photos, the photos wait for the phone, and the phone is on a new job.
One handoff, before and after
A panel upgrade from approved estimate to paid invoice
- The customer emails "let’s do it" to the estimator. The estimator forwards it to the office two days later.
- The office pulls the permit and writes the number on a sticky note on the job folder.
- The crew is scheduled. The material list is written the night before from the estimate PDF.
- The rough-in is done. Someone calls the city for an inspection and the crew comes back the next day to wait for it.
- The final passes. The invoice goes out when the photos and the card are found and the estimator has time to build it.
- The customer approves the estimate by tap. The job is created with the line items, the address, and a permit-required flag.
- The permit is applied for and its number lives on the job record where the lead can see it from the truck.
- The material list is built from the estimate and checked off on the phone before the truck leaves the shop.
- When the crew marks rough-in complete, the inspection is requested and the window goes to the crew and the customer.
- When the final is marked passed, the close-out packet is assembled from the record and the invoice goes with it.
What to track
The numbers that tell you whether it is working.
We do not promise a percentage. We show you which numbers to watch, and we measure them before and after.
- Estimates with no follow-up in seven daysA quiet estimate is usually a quiet decision to hire someone else.
- Jobs scheduled before the permit was issuedEach one is a crew that might get sent home by the inspector.
- Crew hours spent waiting on inspectionsThis is licensed labor sitting in a truck. It is invisible unless you count it.
- Supply-house runs during the workdayEvery mid-day run is a material list that was wrong before the truck left.
- Days from final inspection to invoice sentThe job is done and the money is not. The gap is a paperwork habit.
- Customer calls asking for a statusEach one is an update the office should have sent before it was asked for.
Questions electrical contractors ask us
01What does AI for electrical contractors do that our estimating software does not?
Your estimating software makes the estimate. This handles what happens after: the follow-up messages, the permit status, the inspection request when the phase is done, the material list built from the line items, and the close-out packet when the final passes. The estimator still sets the price and the licensed electrician still makes the calls on site.
02Can it track permits across different cities?
It tracks the status you record: applied, issued, inspection scheduled, passed, closed. Where a city portal allows it, updates can be pulled in. Where it does not, the office updates the status once and everyone sees it, instead of asking.
03Our inspections depend on the city’s schedule. What can you actually change?
Not the inspector. What changes is that the request goes in the moment the crew marks the phase complete, the window is on everyone’s schedule, and the crew is not sent to wait on site unless the window is confirmed.
04We do mostly commercial and new construction with a GC. Does this still apply?
Yes, and the handoffs are heavier. The GC wants permit numbers, inspection results, and change orders in writing. The job record becomes the place those live, so the office is not rebuilding the answer every time the GC calls.
05How does electrical contractor automation handle change orders on site?
The lead adds the extra work to the job from his phone with a photo. The customer or the GC approves it in writing before it is done. The invoice at the end includes it without anyone reconciling a text thread.
START WITH ONE PROCESS
Bring us the job that passed final and still is not invoiced.
We will map how it works today, find where it waits or gets repeated, and tell you whether fixing it is worth the effort.
- The mapOne process in your business, drawn end to end on a single page
- The waitEvery place it stalls or gets repeated, and who is carrying it today
- The answerWhat fixing it would take, or a straight answer that it is not worth fixing