East Yorkshire Electrical Contractor: Invoicing 9 Days to 3

Howden, East Yorkshire

Electrical contractor

Results

• Invoicing time reduced from 9 days to 3

• Quote conversion increased by 25%

• 4 hours of weekly admin follow-up eliminated

• No additional headcount

The business

An electrical contractor in East Yorkshire employing 12 field engineers and office staff, managing a high volume of service calls and installation work.

The challenge

The business was completing work faster than it was converting it into cash.

Engineers filled in paperwork after returning to the office, creating delays, missing information and a growing administrative backlog. Customers received invoices an average of nine days after the job was completed.

Quotes were issued but not consistently followed up. Opportunities were being lost, revenue was delayed and cash flow became difficult to predict.

The solution

The workflow was redesigned around the point where the work was completed, then supported with targeted automation.

Mobile job sheets

Paper forms were replaced with simple digital job sheets completed by engineers on their phones while still on site.

Engineers recorded:

• work completed

• time spent

• materials used

• additional notes and customer approval

The information reached the office as soon as the job was marked complete, allowing invoicing to begin without waiting for paperwork to return.

Quote tracking

A structured review process was introduced for every outstanding quote.

Quotes were categorised by status, age and value, then assigned to a specific person for follow-up. This gave the team clear visibility of open opportunities and prevented quotes from being forgotten.

Automated follow-up

Once the process was stable, a small automation was added.

When a quote remained unanswered beyond a defined period, the system sent a follow-up automatically, including a secure link for approval or payment.

Automation handled the repetitive reminder. The team remained responsible for higher-value or more complex opportunities.

Measured results

Average invoicing time fell from nine days to three.

Quote conversion increased by 25%, while automated reminders and clearer ownership saved approximately four hours of administrative follow-up each week.

The business improved cash flow and recovered lost opportunities without adding office staff or introducing a complex enterprise system.

Why it worked

The solution placed data capture at the point of service, where the information was available and accurate.

A clear tracking process removed uncertainty around outstanding quotes, while automation handled only the repetitive follow-up that was most likely to be missed.

The business did not need more administration. It needed a faster path from completed work to collected revenue.

“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