Electrician checking a switchboard

For building services, electrical, refrigeration and air conditioning

Your fitters are fully booked. So why does the invoice still go out three weeks later?

ivato digitalises the path from the first call to the final invoice: enquiry, survey, quotation, scheduling, daywork report, invoicing and maintenance. Your trade software stays. We make sure your people work on site instead of writing slips, and that every hour delivered is also billed.

Callback from an industry adviser →See the path from call to invoice ↓

Your day-to-day

Do you recognise these sentences from the office, the van and the site?

In building services, work is rarely the problem. Time and overview are. Money is lost between site and office: in daywork reports that never arrive, in surveys that sit around, and in maintenance visits nobody reminds you of. That is exactly where we start.

You recognise 0 of 8 statements

Tap the statements you recognise from your day-to-day work.

The pattern behind it: Your best fitters spend their time on slips of paper, your office on chasing people.

Talk about it ↓

From call to invoice

Where between the call and the payment does the most get lost in your business?

Click on a stage. You will see how it works in many businesses today, what ivato implements there and what changes as a result. Usually two to four stages have the greatest leverage. Which ones those are for you, we clarify in the initial consultation.

Today

The phone rings, nobody has a free hand

Enquiries come in by phone, email and website. At night, faults land on the on-call technician's mobile, who first has to look for the contract.

With ivato

Every enquiry captured in a structured way

  • AI phone assistant takes enquiries and faults
  • Online enquiry journey with photos and device data
  • Urgency and maintenance contract visible immediately

What changes

No call gets lost

The office processes instead of phoning. The emergency service is only woken when something is really wrong.

The descriptions show typical processes. We calculate the concrete effects in hours and euros for your business in the business case.

Case examples

What does this look like in an electrical, refrigeration or plumbing and heating business?

Four examples from electrical engineering, refrigeration and air conditioning, and building services engineering, each with starting point, solution, result and calculation. What they all have in common: the trade software stayed, the fitters work with an app, and after 8 to 12 weeks it was running in daily operations.

  • Electrical engineeringSaxony38 employeesCommercial & industrial construction

    Invoice on the day of the job instead of after 21 days

    Starting point
    Daywork reports on paper, materials on request. Every Friday the office typed up timesheets, and variations regularly got lost.
    Solution
    Fitter app with digital daywork report, photos, material capture by scan and signature from the customer. Handover directly to the invoicing module of the trade software.
    Result
    Daywork is invoiced the same day. Additional work is documented and gets paid.
    Investment
    €22,000
    Funding
    €8,800
    Own contribution
    €13,200
    Payback
    5 months

  • Refrigeration & air conditioningBavaria52 employeesCommercial refrigeration, food retail

    Maintenance scheduled automatically, leak test reports at the push of a button

    Starting point
    Over 900 systems under maintenance contract. Due dates in Excel, reports in folders, fault reporting at night via the on-call technician's private mobile.
    Solution
    System file per customer with refrigerant, charge and inspection interval, automatic maintenance planning, digital reports. AI phone assistant takes faults and alerts the emergency service.
    Result
    No forgotten maintenance, evidence in seconds, on-call staff only woken for real faults.
    Investment
    €38,000
    Funding
    €15,200
    Own contribution
    €22,800
    Payback
    8 months

  • Plumbing, heating & heat pumpsNorth Rhine-Westphalia70 employeesResidential construction & refurbishment

    Heat pump enquiries pre-qualified, on-site appointments halved

    Starting point
    Hundreds of enquiries per month, each with an on-site appointment. Many buildings were technically unsuitable or the customers only wanted to hear a price.
    Solution
    Online enquiry journey with photos of the boiler room and meter cabinet, AI evaluates the details and estimates suitability, guide-price quotation automatically, appointment only for suitable enquiries.
    Result
    Advisers only visit customers with a real chance. The closing rate per appointment has risen significantly.
    Investment
    €29,000
    Funding
    €11,600
    Own contribution
    €17,400
    Payback
    6 months

  • Building services engineeringThuringia120 employeesPublic & commercial buildings

    Tenders pre-checked with AI, more quotations with the same team

    Starting point
    Two estimators for all tenders. GAEB bills of quantities were read item by item, and many bids were skipped for lack of time.
    Solution
    AI reads the bill of quantities and preambles, flags risks and special items, and suggests prices from earlier projects. Variation management with photos and site diary.
    Result
    More tenders processed without additional estimators, variations properly justified and enforced.
    Investment
    €46,000
    Payback
    10 months

More case studies from Skilled trades & construction · Funding programmes

Solutions

Which tools does ivato use in building services?

Proven building blocks, adapted to your business and your trades. You do not get software you have to set up yourself, but a finished solution your fitters can use on day one.

  • Fitter app & digital daywork report

    Hours, materials, photos and customer signature on the smartphone. Also offline in the cellar, with transfer as soon as there is a signal again.

    To Reducing costs →

  • Scheduling & job planning

    Who is where, who is on call, which qualification the job needs. Emergency service and customer service on one planning board.

    To Scaling with AI →

  • AI phone assistant & enquiry journey

    Takes calls and faults around the clock, asks for the system and urgency and creates the job. Online enquiries arrive pre-qualified with photos and data.

    To Sales & CRM automation →

  • AI for bills of quantities & tenders

    Reads bills of quantities in GAEB format and preambles, flags risks and special items and suggests prices from earlier projects.

    To Strategy →

  • Maintenance contracts & system file

    Every system with type, refrigerant, inspection interval and history. Due maintenance is scheduled automatically, customers are reminded, reports are filed digitally.

    To Implementation →

  • Site cockpit for management

    Open measurements, unbilled work, variations and utilisation at a glance. So liquidity problems are not noticed only at month end.

    To Securing succession →

Trade software & ERP

Do we have to replace our trade software?

No. Your industry software remains the leading system for customers, quotations and invoices. We build the missing connections to the site, the phone and the customer. No system change, no data migration, no standstill in the office.

Your systems stay

  • Connection to common trade and ERP software via existing interfaces
  • Datanorm and GAEB data are used, not maintained twice
  • Fitter app also works without a signal in the cellar and plant room
  • Customer data stays on servers in Germany
F-gasesDGUV V3

Are your inspection records in a folder, or can you find them in seconds?

Leak checks under the EU F-gas Regulation (EU) 2024/573 and inspection reports under DGUV Regulation 3 must be documented and available on request. Captured digitally, they are assigned to the system, filed in an audit-proof way and trigger the next inspection date automatically.

As of: 10/2026 · not legal advice, check obligations in each case with your qualified person

Clarify in a conversation ↓

Process & prices

How do we start when your calendar is already full?

With a 30-minute conversation. After that you decide step by step. Your effort is a few appointments with management, office and an experienced fitter. We take care of the rest, gladly outside the peak season too.

  1. Step 1

    Initial consultation

    30 minutes with an adviser who knows your trades. We discuss where things get stuck for you and tell you honestly whether and where digitalisation pays off.

    free of charge

    Request a callback ↓

  2. Step 2

    Strategy

    We spend a day with your office and fitters, calculate the business case in euros and set a roadmap.

    Fixed price depending on scope · eligible for funding

    To Strategy →

  3. Step 3

    Implementation

    We implement the most effective building blocks, connect your software and train office and fitters until it runs.

    from €20,000 net · 8-12 weeks

    To Implementation →

Estimate your funding

Funding rate
Funding
€12,000
Your contribution
€18,000

Simplified calculation. Rate and maximum amounts depend on the programme, federal state and company size. Consulting can additionally receive a grant of up to €5,600.

projects successfully supported
1,000+
projects successfully supported
years of experience with mid-sized companies
25+
years of experience with mid-sized companies
funding for implementation
up to 60%
funding for implementation
dedicated contact person on the project
1
dedicated contact person on the project

Frequently asked questions

What owners in electrical, refrigeration and building services want to know beforehand

Your question is not here? In the initial conversation we take 30 minutes for your specific topic.

If the app takes work off them, yes. We involve an experienced fitter from the start, keep the operation as simple as WhatsApp and drop everything nobody needs on site. The biggest gain for the fitters: no more paperwork on Friday evening.

Often precisely then, because the owner still writes quotations and does the invoicing in the evening. If only a handful of daywork hours per week go unbilled, a single building block pays for itself quickly. Whether that is the case for you is shown by the business case, before you invest in implementation.

We plan the project around your season. Refrigeration and air conditioning businesses mostly start in autumn or winter, heating installers rather in spring. Your appointments with us are short and plannable.

In most cases yes, via existing interfaces or data exports. We check this in the initial consultation, before you commit.

For the consulting, a grant of up to €5,600 is possible; for implementation up to 60%, depending on federal state and programme. We check the suitable programmes in the initial consultation and take care of the application documents. As of: 10/2026, programmes change regularly.

Nothing. It takes about 30 minutes. Afterwards you receive a short summary with the two or three points where we see the greatest leverage.

Read on

Contact

Exchange ideas with one of our specialists from your industry.

30 minutes, free of charge. You describe where things get stuck, and we tell you openly which two or three points are worthwhile for you and roughly what that costs.

  • Callback within one working day
  • Gladly early at 7 or after work

Request a callback

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