Maintenance contract

[rich67577]

the chance has come up to get a maintenance contract on a big office up in London question is how do i price this do i charge them a monthly fee for unlimited amount of visits plus materials or pre hour when im needed if so what so of money should I be talking and what sort of things do I include and do under a maintenance contract do I need to just get log books to show emg lighting test have been do also how long between tests never really done much maintenance well not for myself should I get a contract draw up between me and them if so does anyone have a template one I could look at any info you can supply is apprenticed fell free to pm if you don’t want talk prices in a open forum
Many thanks

 

[IQ Electrical]

If you're considering maintenance and testing of emergency lighting and fire alarm systems then competence is key, a working knowledge of BS 5266 and BS 5839 are a must, a chap was prosecuted only a few weeks back for negligence on a fire alarm system.

Also check on your insurance cover-public liability and professional indemnity.

A contract is an absolute must, for the sake of you and the client, how would you know where your responsibilities ended?

Think very carefully here, you have to get this right!

 

[iconnect]

I used to charge a retainer monthly fee that was for the first 3 hours on site for maintenance any installation work was priced on top all materials got booked and invoiced monthly. You need to look at what equipment they have and how old the installation is, that will allow you to work out how many times you think you will get called out. I used to have a min amount of lights I would go out for as I did not want to be out every five mins changing one tube. Overall I won but beware some months you will feel like you are working for free, but helps with the cash flow!! Normally the maintenance contract would include testing and em lighting test and may fire alarm. You are best to keep a file on site with all log books, instructions, test sheets that way you have the information for reference or if someone new goes to site they have all they need, hope that helps as for cost we used to charge out at £28 plus VAT per hour but that was some years ago.

 

[accordfire]

the chance has come up to get a maintenance contract on a big office up in London question is how do i price this do i charge them a monthly fee for unlimited amount of visits plus materials or pre hour when im needed if so what so of money should I be talking and what sort of things do I include and do under a maintenance contract do I need to just get log books to show emg lighting test have been do also how long between tests never really done much maintenance well not for myself should I get a contract draw up between me and them if so does anyone have a template one I could look at any info you can supply is apprenticed fell free to pm if you don’t want talk prices in a open forum
Many thanks

You don't say what it is you're maintaining.....

However, most maintenance contracts are annual in advance. Normally, based on estimated number of hours to carry out BS recommended inspections/tests/etc.

Some contracts are inclusive, others are literally inspection only. It depends what your customer wants, to be honest.

As for what money - again, what are you maintaining? You mention emergency lighting - is that all?

Ping the scope of what you're doing up mate - will try to help.

 

[rich67577]

the contract will to cover all electrical works lights power ect maybe fire alarm but i have a few friends how do fire alarm maintenantce so wil get them in if i have to do the fire alarm as well do any one have a contract i could look at so no who to write one for them also what sort of price would you go for for a retainer monthly fee any clues

 

[accordfire]

the contract will to cover all electrical works lights power ect maybe fire alarm but i have a few friends how do fire alarm maintenantce so wil get them in if i have to do the fire alarm as well do any one have a contract i could look at so no who to write one for them also what sort of price would you go for for a retainer monthly fee any clues

Okay.....there's no hard and fast "contract" as such which covers everything. Most of that is down to what each business decides it will cover, or won't.

You seem to me to be very new to the idea of maintenance and to the notion of running a contract of this nature. That being the case, I would advise you to consider basing your contract around the absolute minimum, which by the sound of it would be:

Fire alarm inspections @ 2 visits per annum (perhaps four, depending on size of system)
Emergency lighting inspections @ 2 per annum
Periodic Inspection : 1 per annum

The key term here is "inspection" - meaning any parts you replace, any callouts you attend, and so forth are chargeable on top. You can calculate the number of hours, including travelling to site, parking etc., you will expend in carrying out the above inspections, and charge that as the basis of your maintenance agreement. On top, you can then indicate that for anything beyond this, you will charge a set rate of £xx.xx per hour, for example, plus parts as required.

If your customer wants a comprehensive contract, then you need to visit site first for your own sake - things like the age and condition of the systems will become very relevant, and even with a lot of experience (over 25 years) I will only put systems meeting very strict criteria on comprehensive contracts even now.

As for monthly payments - well, you can do, but it increases your admin time significantly, makes it more likely you may lose a proportion of your anticipated income if the customer gets into trouble, and generally becomes a mill stone round your neck - it takes a lot of time and effort to develop monthly comprehensive contracts that make a profit.

I think first of all, and most important, you need to come to a very clear, written, understanding with your customer as to what they expect to be covered in their "maintenance", and price it from there.

 

[mogga]

as Alarm says a lot depends on scope Assuming em lighting included and size of premisis 3.5hr visit every quarter with Emlighting test and minor relamping Lamping charged as cost plus your markup any Parts/battteries fittings would also be additional plus your markup any call outs Charged slightly less than your normal rates ( remember to include something about time on call and travel) min call charge of 3 hrs including first hour onsite and travel anything over charged as agreed rates this will discourage calls for 1lamp out and silly chit
Hope this helps its just my Ideas on it probably wrong but hey ho