A tradie finds a damaged connection during a planned inspection. The site contact wants it repaired but cannot approve the spend. A clear electrician maintenance agreement tells the tradie where to stop and the office what to issue next.
Treat the agreement as a dispatch and approval tool. Survey the site. List the covered work. Name the approvers. Separate planned visits from call-outs and repairs. Then bill each lane against its own record.
Survey the service address before promising recurring work
Walk the site before setting the recurring price. An old asset list will not show a locked switchroom, an unreadable label or a new security process.
Start at the parking area. Follow the route a tradie will take through sign-in, induction, access, testing and close-out. Record the time-consuming conditions even when no component is replaced.
Confirm the covered areas and assets
Write down each covered building, floor, tenancy, room, switchboard, circuit and asset group. Give each asset or group a stable reference that can follow it through the work order, defect report, quote and invoice.
Mark each item as:
- Confirmed: found and inspected well enough to scope the task.
- Inaccessible: its location is known, but access was blocked.
- Unconfirmed: the client record and live site do not match.
Do not price an unconfirmed asset as if you inspected it. Put the survey gap into an exclusion or return survey task.
An asset list identifies what is present. It does not define what you promised to do. The task beside the asset is what creates the measurable scope.
Walk the actual access route
Record parking limits, loading access, security desks, keys, escorts, stairs, roof access, switchroom entry and sign-out rules. Note the shutdown process and the person who arranges it.
A locked switchroom is an on-site stop point. If the nominated access contact is unavailable, mark the inspection blocked. Do not tick it complete because the tradie attended the building.
Ask the client to confirm the baseline register before you quote. That confirmation fixes the starting point for the recurring electrical work.
Run the Australian checks for each service address
Keep an Australian service-address control sheet beside the agreement. Record the state or territory because electrical licensing, contractor authority and required electrical documents can differ by jurisdiction.
Ask your state or territory licensing regulator which licence or contractor authority covers the proposed work. Ask which electrical safety or completion record applies. For a NSW service address, put that question to NSW Fair Trading (opens in a new tab). Use the equivalent licensing regulator for a site in another state or territory.
Keep workplace safety as a separate question. For NSW work, ask SafeWork NSW (opens in a new tab) about workplace safety matters for the planned tasks and site conditions. Do not use the WHS regulator as the licensing authority.
Ask the workers’ compensation insurer or regulator for the state where the workers are engaged about cover. In NSW, direct that question to icare (opens in a new tab). Keep the answer with the business records rather than treating it as a site induction item.
Ask the Australian Taxation Office (opens in a new tab) about ABN, GST and BAS treatment. Ask ASIC (opens in a new tab) about company and business name registration. Neither body decides which electrical licence covers the work.
Write down the body contacted, the question, the answer and the date checked. Do not rely on a note that only says licence checked.
Define the electrical maintenance scope by task and finish point
Build the electrical maintenance scope from assets, tasks, visit conditions and required records. Broad promises such as maintain all electrical equipment have no clean finish line.
For every covered asset, state:
- The asset reference and exact location.
- The action the tradie must perform.
- The access or shutdown condition.
- The reading, photograph, test record or condition note required.
- The status that closes the task.
Use direct instructions. Inspect the enclosure. Record the label. Test the listed device. Photograph the damaged connection. Do not write attend to lighting when the intended work covers only named fittings or controls.
Set useful task statuses
Give the tradie four clear outcomes:
- Complete: the task was performed and the required record was captured.
- Incomplete: the task started but did not finish.
- Blocked: access, shutdown approval, site information or another required condition was missing.
- Follow-up required: the planned task finished, but a defect or further action remains open.
If a shutdown window closes before testing finishes, use incomplete. Record what was tested, what remains and what must happen before the next visit.
Put exclusions beside the visit scope
List exclusions where the client can see them. Common boundaries include unlisted assets, fault diagnosis, replacement parts, corrective repairs, after-hours attendance, failed access, specialist equipment and work caused by another contractor.
State the client duties as well. Name who supplies keys, escorts, equipment records, parking instructions and shutdown approval. The maintenance visit scope is only workable when both sides know what must be ready.
Separate planned visits, call-outs and corrective repairs
An electrician maintenance agreement should not turn every reported fault into included work. Split the service into work lanes with their own start and stop points.
Planned maintenance
A scheduled visit covers only the listed tasks against the listed assets. The recurring price pays for that defined work and its close-out records.
If consumables are included, name them. If replacement devices, access equipment or shutdown coordination are excluded, say so before the first visit.
Call-out attendance and diagnosis
A fault report starts a different lane. The client reports the address, asset, symptoms and access contact. The office then checks whether the requester can authorise attendance.
Attendance is not the same as diagnosis. Diagnosis is not the same as repair. State whether dispatch, travel, entry and investigation are included or charged separately.
Use the electrician call-out pricing guide when you need to turn that boundary into an electrical service call quote.
Make-safe work and permanent repair
Record the site’s emergency contact and the boundary of any authority to make the area safe. The tradie follows the recorded safety process but does not convert urgent make-safe work into an unapproved permanent repair.
Finding a defect does not authorise additional spending. Describe the condition, record any immediate action and send the proposed repair to the named approver.
Return visits
A return visit can be required because parts, access, specialist help or a shutdown were unavailable. Record the reason and who approved the next attendance.
Do not hide that visit inside the scheduled maintenance price unless the agreement contains an exact allowance for it.
Build an authority ladder before accepting requests
The person reporting a fault may not be the person allowed to approve paid work. Write an authority ladder for every service address.
Name who may:
- Report a fault.
- Request attendance.
- Approve diagnosis.
- Approve a repair or variation.
- Issue a purchase order.
- Provide access or arrange a shutdown.
A security guard may request help after hours but have no authority to approve diagnosis, parts or a return visit. The office should know that before dispatching the tradie.
Set a stop point for each stage. If the repair approver cannot be reached, record the defect and follow the documented make-safe process. Do not ask the tradie to negotiate spending authority beside an open switchboard.
For strata work, the site contact, strata manager, facilities contact, purchase-order contact and accounts payable contact may all be different. The electrician strata maintenance work guide explains how to collect those details when taking on the account.
Cost recurring work after fixing the scope
Price the known work. Do not build an electrician maintenance agreement price around a vague promise and hope the visit stays short.
Start with labour. Include travel, parking, sign-in, induction, setup, movement between assets, the listed tasks, record keeping and sign-out. Access time is still labour.
Add the materials and consumables expressly included in the agreement. Keep replacement parts outside the recurring price unless the exact included items are named.
Add direct access costs where the site needs an escort, specialist equipment, another tradie or shutdown coordination. Then add overhead recovery and markup to the job cost.
Markup is what you add to cost to form the selling price. Margin is the profit left as a share of that selling price. Keep GST separate from labour cost, material cost, markup and operating profit.
Keep reactive call-outs and corrective repairs outside the recurring price unless their allowance and boundary are written down. Price electrician labour and materials against the work lane that caused them, not against the client account as one large bucket.
Write the electrician maintenance agreement as an operating schedule
The electrical service agreement should tell the office what to dispatch, the tradie what to perform and the client what requires another approval.
Identify the client, agreement period, service addresses and covered areas. Attach the asset-and-task schedule rather than promising to maintain everything electrical.
State the visit trigger, service window, access process, cancellation process and client duties. Define what recurring service billing covers and what requires a separate quote, variation or purchase order.
Link each work record by reference. The agreement creates the scope. The work order assigns a visit. The defect report records a condition. The repair quote or variation seeks approval. The invoice bills authorised work.
Use this copy-ready control sheet beside the agreement:
AUSTRALIAN ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE SITE CONTROL SHEET Client: [legal or trading name] Service address: [full address] State or territory: [jurisdiction] Covered areas: [buildings, floors, rooms and external areas] Agreement reference and period: [reference and dates] Licensing regulator check: [body, question asked, answer and date checked] Electrical document check: [body, document question, answer and date checked] WHS regulator check: [body, workplace safety question, answer and date checked] Workers’ compensation check: [insurer or regulator, question, answer and date checked] ATO setup: [ABN, GST and BAS question and answer] ASIC registration: [company or business name details] Fault requester: [name or role and contact method] Attendance and diagnosis approver: [name or role and authority boundary] Repair and variation approver: [name or role and written approval method] Purchase-order contact: [name, process and required reference] After-hours contact: [name, contact method and emergency authority boundary] Access and shutdown contact: [name, keys, escort and shutdown instructions] Covered asset schedule: [asset reference, location, task and required record] Exclusions and open survey gaps: [unlisted assets, blocked areas and unknown conditions]
Give the office and field tradies the current sheet. Archive superseded contacts rather than leaving two different approval lists in circulation.
Run every visit from a work order
Issue a work order that carries the current asset tasks, access notes, service window and authority contacts. Do not dispatch from an old email thread.
The tradie records the actual status against every assigned task. Readings, photographs and condition notes should identify the asset and location clearly enough for the next person to understand them.
When a defect appears, open a defect record. State the condition, evidence, immediate action and proposed next step. A defect report is not proof that the client approved a repair.
If access fails, record the locked area, the contact attempted and the tasks affected. If the shutdown ends early, record the work completed and the testing left open. Close the visit honestly.
Turn extra repairs into approved variations
Describe the repair before starting it. Include the fault or condition, proposed work, electrician labour and materials, access needs, shutdown needs and any return visit.
Send the variation to the person named in the authority ladder. Get written approval. Then update the work order and complete the extra work. The Australian electrician variation process gives the next document steps.
Worked example: Oak Street variation
All figures in this example are sample currency units. They are not a rate card.
R. Chen accepted quote Q-1847 for 1,105 at 14 Oak Street. The work covered a bathroom exhaust fan, 150mm and ducted through the roof, plus four LED downlights. The ceiling was lined, and the quote excluded chasing.
Extra cable and chasing were approved on site as a 160 variation. Invoice INV-1847 was 1,265. The extra work was approved instead of disappearing into the original scope.
The original quoted work had a job cost of 850 and profit of 255 because 1,105 − 850 = 255. Margin was 255 ÷ 1,105, or about 23%. Markup was 255 ÷ 850, or 30%.
The costs of the 160 variation are not supplied. Do not calculate profit using the 1,265 invoice or combine that invoice with the 850 job cost.
Invoice and job-cost each work lane separately
Bill the planned visit against the recurring schedule and its work order. Bill approved call-out attendance, diagnosis, repair and return visits against their own records.
Carry the agreement reference, service address, work order and purchase order onto the tax invoice where required by the client process. Describe completed work. Do not bill an open defect as a completed repair.
Compare estimated and actual labour, materials and direct access costs for each lane. Blending scheduled work with reactive repairs hides which part of the account made or lost money.
Use the electrician job-costing process to close the records without mixing GST into job cost or operating profit.
Common questions
Can a site contact approve a repair during a maintenance visit?
Only treat the repair as approved when that person is named with the required authority in your site records. If they can report defects but cannot approve spending, stop at the recorded boundary and contact the repair approver.
What happens when a scheduled task is blocked?
Mark it blocked and state the missing access, shutdown or client decision. Record which task and asset were affected. Do not mark the work complete or carry out an unapproved substitute task.
Should replacement parts be included in recurring service billing?
Include them only when the agreement names the parts or consumables and explains the boundary. Otherwise record the defect and quote the corrective work separately.
Start with one live service address
Choose one current client and build the first electrician maintenance agreement from the live site, not an old asset spreadsheet. Walk the access route and write down every approval stop.
Send the client the asset-and-authority schedule for confirmation. Once they approve it, issue the first work order against that controlled scope.