CRM for Electricians: What to Require (2026)

You are in a panel with the cover off, or driving from a service call in Katy to a rough-in on the east side of Houston. The phone rings. You cannot take it. The homeowner calls the next electrician.

A CRM for electricians is the list that keeps that caller, and the bid you already walked, from disappearing. Everyone who asked for electrical work gets a next step and a date you can update from the driveway.

Electrician business software, for a solo license holder or a shop of up to about fifty people, has to survive that week. The short product page for the trade is separate from this guide. Other trades can start from CRM for contractors.

What a CRM for electricians should handle

Judge the product by the week you already have.

• A call, a panel photo, or a form never got written down.
• The caller hung up while you were in the panel, and nobody wrote back.
• A bid for a panel, a charger, a generator, or a rewire went quiet.
• A walkthrough was promised, and you drove to an empty house.
• The permit and the inspection lived in a text thread, so the job looked finished.
• A builder or property manager who sends more work has no next date.
• The job was paid, and nobody asked for a review.

Put every call and lead on one list

Put each inquiry in one place the same day: the missed call, a text with panel photos, a form on your site or maps listing, a realtor who needs a repair before closing, a general contractor booking rough-in and trim-out, and another trade that ran into electrical work.

Write a name if you have one, a number, the address, and the job in their words. "The range trips the breaker when the oven and the burners are on" is more useful than "kitchen."

No power, a burning smell, sparking, or a downed line is a different queue from a panel they have been considering since the inspection. Write what they said and when you will call. Do not diagnose in the note.

Use one business number. A form or a photo link beats retyping. A builder or property manager needs the company on the record, so the next address is not a stranger.

Write back when the call rings out

You cannot answer with a panel open. Plenty of callers will not leave a voicemail. They dial the next name. A missed-call text sends a short message when the call rings out, so they know a real company saw it.

Name the company, say you missed them, and ask what is going on and where they are. Promise only a window you will keep. After a storm, "this evening" beats "within the hour" if you cannot make the hour. No repair instructions. If they describe a fire, smoke, or a downed line, tell them to hang up and call 911 and the power company.

Wording, consent, and opt-out are in Missed Call Text Back for Contractors (2026). That guide is not legal advice. Confirm the rules for your state and your provider. The reply has to land on the same list as a web form, with a task to call back.

Date every bid, then follow up

A dead outlet can be a same-week visit. A panel, a service change, a charger, a generator, or a rewire often waits on a spouse, a second bid, a utility disconnect, or a closing. Silence is often a delay, not a refusal.

Follow-up is a stage you would say out loud, such as "bid sent" or "waiting on the utility," plus a task with a date. One note is enough: "Checking that the bid for the panel upgrade made sense. Happy to walk through the scope." Do not repeat it, and do not cut the price before they say price is the problem.

A small repair can get a note in a couple of days and one more about a week later. A panel or a rewire waits longer. Use a real date, not "next week."

• Inquiry. Nothing priced yet.
• Walkthrough booked. A time to see the panel, the run, or the space.
• Bid sent. This column goes quiet first.
• Waiting. A spouse, another bid, a builder, a closing, or the utility.
• Sold. Permit, materials, and a start date still have to land.
• Not now. Different from lost, which means they hired someone else or told you to stop.

Keep the visit separate from the crew day

The visit is the walkthrough or the service call you already priced. Put the time and address on the lead, and remind them the day before. An empty house across town costs the afternoon.

After they say yes, one electrician can use a calendar. A lead and a helper need one view of who is going, rough-in or trim-out, and whether the material is on the truck. Do not buy dispatch because a bid went quiet.

Block two callback windows, and on a phone tell a booked job from an open bid.

Track permits and inspections as stages

A general CRM does not know the code and does not file a permit. Whether a job needs one is your city's question. A service call and a panel change are not the same paperwork, and Houston's counter is not the one in a nearby city.

• Permit not needed. Next comes the visit, then the invoice.
• Permit to file. They accepted, and nobody has pulled it.
• Permit filed. The number is on the job. You are waiting on a start date or an inspection window.
• Inspection scheduled. The date is a task, with the address and who must be there.
• Corrections. Write what failed, and date the return trip. This is where jobs vanish if the only record is a group text.
• Passed. Sign-off is done. The invoice and the review ask are still open.

The crew leaving is not done. A failed inspection still on "inspection scheduled" hides a job that is waiting on you.

Put service agreements and repeat work on a date

A builder who liked the rough-in sends the next house. A property manager has several units. A lighting check on a schedule, or a generator that needs service, disappears if nobody writes the month down.

Save the company when the same person sends more than one address, and keep each request as its own job. A task such as "call in March about the generator" is enough. Write down the garage, charger, or subpanel they mention on the way out.

Ask once, after you are paid

Ask once, after inspection when there was one, and after you are paid. Name the job. Point them at the listing customers already use. If they ignore it, stop.

Do not offer a gift for a positive review. The sites that show reviews forbid that trade. If the inspection failed, fix it before you ask. Send the first asks yourself.

What to skip

• Forecasting, territories, and lead scores.
• A code library, or a claim that the software knows your city's rules.
• A flat-rate book, truck inventory, and job costing, unless you already work in those screens.
• A new invoicing system, if one you tolerate already sends the bill.
• Crew routing, if you are the person who drives.
• A message to the whole customer list.
• A setup that needs a free week.
• A per-person fee you have not multiplied out. Read the vendor's current page.

How to choose electrician business software

Buy a follow-up tool for missed calls and quiet bids. It holds every lead, stages you can name, and a dated next step. It may send a quote and let the customer pick a time. It usually does not route a fleet or pull a permit. Buy the field product for routing and invoicing. If both leaks are real, fix the one losing jobs this week. Try two products, then stop.

1. Add the last ten price requests, plus any open permit or inspection.
2. Move each one to a stage you would say out loud.
3. Date every lead that is not passed, booked, or lost.
4. Change one stage from your phone.
5. Find the quietest bid without scrolling. The date should have raised it.
6. Read what stays free, what expires, and what goes out if you never press send.

If step 5 fails, you bought a notebook with a password.

A first-week setup checklist

• One business number, and one list.
• Open bids, this week's missed calls, and referrals you have not called.
• Stages in your words: new lead, walkthrough booked, bid sent, waiting, sold, permit filed, inspection scheduled, passed, lost.
• A date on everything still open, including corrections.
• A missed-call text in your words. No repair advice in it. Replies land on the list.
• A form or link on the site and the listing for panel photos.
• Two callback windows on this week's calendar.
• Builders and property managers saved as companies.
• One review ask per paid job, sent by you, after inspection when there was one.

When you park, check four lines: missed calls with no task, bids with no reply, inspections with no date, and paid jobs with no review ask. If you have to hunt, the tool is not ready.

Where Puffly fits

Puffly is a CRM for local service businesses, built in Houston. The free CRM is leads, contacts, companies, deals, stages you can rename, tasks, and a branded form. Add people by hand, import a sheet, or put the form on your site. No card is required to start, and that set is not a trial that expires.

Puff, which drafts a follow-up and points at who to call next, is on the paid plans. A draft waits until you approve it, unless you turn sending on. Quotes a customer can accept, a booking page, review asks, and missed-call text back are paid as well. Current plans are on the pricing section.

Puffly does not route a fleet, keep a flat-rate book, file a permit, or replace your accounting. It does not know the code. The same limit is on the page for electricians. Use it for the missed call, the undated bid, and the inspection date. A separate paid add-on can answer while you are in a panel. You still decide what gets sent.