A heating engineer's year is upside down. Winter is boiler breakdowns at all hours; summer is silence. Every customer whose boiler was fitted or fixed should be having it serviced once a year, and almost none of them remember. Engineers on Team-Connect send an automated email eleven months after each job. The customer books, summer fills up, and the engineer becomes the name that customer keeps for the life of the boiler.
From October to February a heating engineer turns work away. From May to August the phone goes quiet and the van sits on the drive. The work that should fill summer is the annual service: every boiler needs one, most warranties require one, and every customer the engineer has ever worked for is due one at some point in the year.
The problem is that the customer does not remember. The boiler is working, the weather is warm, and the service slips a year, then two. When it finally breaks down in December they ring whoever answers first, and the engineer who installed it loses a customer they had already won.
A heating engineer holds something most trades do not: a job history with dates. Every install, repair and service has a completion date, and that date tells you exactly when the next service is due. That makes the reminder an automation rather than a marketing campaign. Set it once, and it fires for every customer, every year, without anyone remembering to send it.
Illustrative figures for a sole-trader heating engineer with a few hundred past customers, not one firm's results. The uplift depends on list size and how consistently job dates have been recorded.
Email works for this because it is a considered action. Nobody books a boiler service from a text while they are in a queue. They read the email in the evening, check the calendar, and reply. The email can also carry the detail a text cannot: what the service covers, the price, the warranty point, and a link to book.
Four automations, set up once. After that the engineer's only job is turning up.
Eleven months after any install or service, an email goes out with the price, what is included, the warranty note and a booking link. A follow-up goes two weeks later if they have not booked.
Early September, to the whole list: turn the heating on now and test it while it is easy to get a slot. It pulls forward work that would otherwise land in the November crush.
Eleven months after each certificate, a reminder to the landlord that the next one is due. Landlords with several properties come to rely on it.
Two days after every job, a short thank-you with a link to leave a Google review. It is the cheapest local SEO a trade business can do.
Illustrative flow. Timing is configurable. Customers who book by phone or reply to the email are marked as booked so the follow-up does not send.
Plain and specific. The customer should be able to tell what it is from the subject line alone.
Subject: Your boiler service is due — book before the winter rush
Hi Sarah, we fitted your Worcester boiler in July last year, so its first annual service is due now. The service is £85, takes about an hour, and keeps your manufacturer's warranty valid. Reply to this email with a day that suits or call us on the number below and we'll get you booked in. Summer slots are easy; November slots are not.
It says which boiler, when it was fitted, what the service costs and why it matters. The last line is the honest reason to book now rather than later. No discount needed.
A service reminder to a customer whose boiler you installed or maintain is a message about your own similar service to an existing customer. Under PECR that can be sent without fresh consent provided the customer could opt out when their details were taken and every email carries an unsubscribe. Team-Connect adds the business name, address and unsubscribe link to every send and honours opt-outs automatically. For the full detail, see the GDPR compliance guide.
Any heating engineer, plumber or electrician on Team-Connect can run these automations. Jobs booked through the AI receptionist carry their completion date into the list, so the reminder is scheduled the moment the job is done.
The full guide for plumbers, electricians and heating engineers
Service reminder and review request templates
When a reminder should be a text instead
How the same firm captures emergency calls at 11pm
What twenty extra services in July is worth
Email from £9.99 for 1,000 sends
Yes, because the customer knows they should be doing it. An annual service keeps the warranty valid on most boilers and it is a manufacturer requirement, so the reminder is a nudge to do something the customer already agrees with. Response rates on service reminders are far higher than on any offer email.
Eleven months after the install or last service, then a follow-up two weeks later if they have not booked. If the customer's boiler is under warranty, mention it: a missed service can void it, which is a stronger motivator than any discount.
A reminder about servicing a boiler you installed or last serviced is about your own similar service to an existing customer, so under PECR you can send it provided they were given the chance to opt out when you took their details and every email has an unsubscribe. Team-Connect adds the unsubscribe automatically. Broader promotions to people who only enquired need an opt-in.
A September email before the heating goes back on, reminding customers to test the boiler while it is still easy to book. A landlord gas safety certificate reminder eleven months after the last one. A thank-you email after each job asking for a Google review. All three are automations that run once set up.
Set the reminder once and let it run for every customer, every year. Email from £9.99 for 1,000 sends, GDPR compliant, UK support.