What's Actually in a Commercial Electrical Maintenance Agreement? Scope, Pricing and Reporting for Auckland Building Managers
A commercial electrical maintenance agreement should answer four questions in writing: exactly what gets inspected and how often, what response time you get when something fails, what you receive as evidence after every visit, and what is explicitly not included. Most agreements are clear on price and vague on all four. For a building manager or property manager running multiple assets, the vagueness is the expensive part — it's where the extras come from.
Reviewing your electrical maintenance arrangements? Call 021 889 770 — we'll scope a proposal per building or across a portfolio, with the exclusions written down.
The scope: what should be named, not implied
Main switchboard and distribution board inspection — terminations, thermal condition, protective devices, and labelling brought back up to date
RCD testing — push-button and trip-time, with results recorded per device rather than a blanket pass
Emergency and exit lighting to your compliance schedule — including the duration test, not just the functional check, because the battery is what actually fails
Test and tag at intervals matched to each area's environment — an office and a workshop in the same building are not the same interval
Common-area, carpark and external lighting, including a lamp replacement pass rather than one call-out per failed fitting
A stated allowance for minor repairs on the day — the loose socket, the flickering fitting — so small items don't each become a separate visit and invoice
How they're priced
Three common structures. A fixed annual or monthly fee covering a defined scheduled scope, with reactive work charged separately at an agreed rate — the most predictable for budgeting. A per-visit fee, which suits buildings with light requirements. Or a portfolio rate where several buildings are covered together, which is usually the better value and is the one worth asking about if you manage more than two or three assets. Whichever structure, the number that matters is not the headline fee but the reactive rate and the response time attached to it, because that's what you'll actually be calling on.
Reporting: what you should get every visit
A dated written report per building, per visit, naming what was tested, what passed, what failed, what was repaired on the spot and what needs quoting. That document is what goes into the health and safety file, what supports the building warrant of fitness, and what you hand an owner who asks what they're paying for. If an agreement doesn't specify the reporting, assume you'll be chasing it — and for a property manager answering to owners, chasing paperwork is the cost that doesn't show up on the invoice. Our guide on building warrant of fitness and electrical systems covers what the records need to support.
Questions worth asking any contractor before you sign
What is explicitly excluded, in writing?
What's the response time for an urgent fault, and does being on the agreement change it?
Who physically attends — the same people each time, or whoever is free?
Can work be scheduled outside tenant trading hours, and at what rate?
What happens to the records if we change contractors — do we get the file?
Frequently asked questions
Is a maintenance agreement worth it for a single building?
If the building has a compliance schedule, yes — the testing has to happen regardless, and bundling it into one scheduled visit is cheaper than four separate callouts plus the admin of coordinating them.
Can you take over mid-cycle from another contractor?
Yes. Send us the compliance schedule and whatever records exist, and we'll tell you what's outstanding before we quote anything.
Do you cover multiple buildings under one agreement?
Yes — that's usually where the value is. One agreement, one contact, per-building reporting underneath, and a portfolio rate rather than building-by-building pricing.
Get a scoped proposal
📞 Call 021 889 770 — discuss a building or a portfolio
📷 Text your building list to 021 889 770
Registered electricians on current EWRB practising licences · Dated compliance records every visit · Based in Remuera, working Auckland-wide