East Yorkshire Electrical Contractor: Invoicing 9 Days to 3

Howden, East Yorkshire · Electrical contractor

Results:

• Invoicing time cut from 9 days to 3
• Quote conversion up 25%
• 4 hours/week of admin follow-up saved
• Zero new headcount

The business

An electrical contracting business in East Yorkshire — a 12-person team of field engineers and office staff handling a high volume of service calls and installation jobs.

The problem

Cash flow was stalling because of slow invoicing and forgotten quotes. Field engineers completed jobs but delayed the paperwork until they were back in the office, creating a large admin backlog. Invoices took an average of nine days to reach the customer after a job was finished. Quotes went out but were rarely followed up, so revenue quietly slipped away and income became unpredictable.

The fix

We fixed the physical workflow before introducing any software.

Phone-based digital job sheets

Paper pads and delayed office admin were removed. Engineers recorded job details, time spent and materials used on their phones while still on site, so the data reached the office the moment a job was marked complete.

Weekly quote review

Every unanswered quote was tracked, categorised and assigned for manual follow-up, so no opportunity slipped through the cracks.

Automated quote chasing

Once the tracking process was stable, we added one small automation: if a quote stayed unanswered for a set number of days, the system sent a follow-up automatically, with a secure payment link.

Why it worked

We did not build a huge enterprise application for a 12-person team. We fixed the physical workflow first by moving paperwork to the point of service, then let automation handle only the repetitive follow-ups that people forget. Simple process changes paired with targeted automation stopped the cash leaks immediately.

"We were doing the work but not collecting the money fast enough. The digital job sheets and automated quote chasing completely fixed our cash flow without adding extra admin staff."

— Managing Director