Why I Built a Job App for Electricians

Anyone who runs a small electrical or solar business knows the feeling. The job's finished, the customer's happy, and then the real work starts: certificates, schedules, quotes, invoices and, on a solar job, a pile of MCS paperwork. Most nights that meant sitting at the kitchen table long after I'd got home.

For years I juggled separate tools. One program for certificates, another for quotes and invoices, spreadsheets and folders for MCS, and paper timesheets for the lads. I typed the same customer details and the same job details over and over, in different places. It was slow, and every time something gets typed twice there's another chance to get it wrong.

So I built my own. It's a job management and certificate app for small UK electrical and solar PV installers. I'm a working electrician and MCS installer, and we use it every day at PPM Electrical in Spalding. It started as something for us, and now I'm opening it up to other installers.

Start the paperwork on site, not at the kitchen table

The feature I'm proudest of is AI board reading. Take a photo of the consumer unit or distribution board, and the app reads it and pre-fills the circuit schedule. You still check everything and add your test results, but the dull part of copying every circuit off the board is done for you.

The certificates are BS 7671 A4 compliant EICR, EIC and Minor Works certificates. I've built in the little things that save time on site:

One-tap fill for blanks, so you're not typing N/A into box after box.
Dropdowns that explain wiring codes and reference methods, which helps when you're double-checking or bringing on an apprentice.
A common limitations pick-list, so you can record the usual limitations on an EICR quickly and consistently.

Built for solar installers too

A lot of our work is solar PV, both commercial and domestic, so I made sure the solar side is covered properly:

PV test and commissioning certificates.
MCS quality management system (QMS) and RECC paperwork for solar installs, kept with the job it belongs to rather than in a separate folder.
A PV roof load and design tool, to lay out the array and check the roof loading as part of the job.

Having the design, the commissioning and the paperwork in one place means I'm not hunting for anything when the handover pack goes out.

The rest of the job admin in one place

Certificates are only part of running a business. The app also handles:

Customers and jobs, so every certificate, quote and document sits against the right job.
Quotes and invoices, so a quote turns into an invoice without starting again.
Supplier invoice import, so material costs from your wholesaler go straight onto the job.
Timesheets, so you know who was where and for how long.

Xero sync is coming soon, for anyone who wants their invoices to flow straight into their accounts.

Works on your phone, tablet or PC

It's an online web app, so it runs in the browser on your phone, tablet or PC. There's nothing to install. You can start a certificate on site from your phone and finish the paperwork on a bigger screen back at the office, and it's all the same job.

Why I'm sharing it

I didn't build this to be a software company. I built it because I was fed up with spending evenings on paperwork that should have taken minutes. It's made a real difference to how we run PPM, and I think other small electrical and solar firms will get the same benefit.

It's built by someone doing the same work as you: testing boards, fitting solar, dealing with MCS and chasing invoices. If something's awkward on site, I find out about it the next morning, because I'm using it too.

Request a free demo

If you'd like to try it, you can request a free demo. Request a login, and once I've approved it you can try everything using sample data. The demo resets every night, so you can't break anything.

You can read more about the app on our job management app page. If you've got questions, get in touch through that page and I'll get back to you.