Service · Web development

Custom software for installation companies.

Custom software for CV, electrical, plumbing, climate and solar panel installers. Work order on tablet, scheduling with route optimisation, customer portal, service contracts and integrations with Exact, AFAS and your accounting software, built around your workflow, not the other way round.

Work orders & signaturesSchedulingService contractsAFAS & Exact

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Custom development where standard packages fall short.

The installation sector has mature off-the-shelf packages: AFAS Installateurs module, Exact Globe, IbouwInstallateur, MetaCom, Snelstart, Bouwsoft and InstalProf are each well suited, in their own way, to a straightforward installation business with a single discipline and a clear workflow. We do not replicate those for small businesses that can get on well with such a package, and that is also honest advice in a first conversation.

Custom development becomes relevant once the work no longer fits neatly into a single package. An installation business that does heating, solar panels and electrical work, with engineers combining several disciplines in one project, will run into trouble with almost any standard package because it was designed per discipline. The same applies to businesses that want to offer a strong customer experience of their own, with an engineer app, a customer portal and a work order flow that hands over to accounting without any double data entry.

We build software for heating and electrical installers, plumbing, climate control and HVAC, solar panel and heat pump installers, security and electrical contractors, fibre optic and telecom contractors, lift maintenance, and refrigeration and cold storage. Six sectors, each with its own compliance requirements (F-gas, Gastec, KIWA, NEN 1010, NEN 3140), which we build into our applications as standard so that audits are no longer a separate project.

For us, custom development mostly means riding along with the technicians in the van, watching how the work planner turns a quote into a work order, and designing the software around that. Only then does a new application reduce admin and improve margins, rather than adding one more screen for the team to fill in. We have been building installation software for years and know where the real pain points lie, which is usually not where the off-the-shelf vendor's demo shows them.

Three common directions.

Which direction suits your installation business depends on your scale, the number of disciplines, and how heavily you rely on service contracts and preventive maintenance. In the first conversation, we advise which approach is likely to work best.

Compact project · fixed sprint budget

Field app alongside an existing package

You already use AFAS, Exact or an industry package and want to add a dedicated field app on top of it. Offline work orders with photos, material scanning, signatures and automatic export to your existing administration. This does not replace your ERP, but it gives technicians an experience they will actually use. See also our page on field service apps.

Offline work orderPhoto & signatureMaterials scanningAFAS/Exact integration

Mid-sized project · fixed sprint budget

Planning and service control centre

A scheduling and dispatch platform for multi-discipline installation companies. Drag-and-drop planning board with route optimisation, engineer skills and certificates, linked to an online fault-reporting portal where customers submit their own requests and the control centre dispatches the right engineer. Includes a simple customer portal for appointments, contracts and maintenance history.

Drag-and-drop planningRoute optimisationFault reporting pointCustomer portal

Larger project · fixed sprint budget

Full installation platform

A complete custom suite for installation businesses with multiple branches or disciplines: work planning from quote to work order, warehouse with real-time stock and returns flow, service contracts with automated invoicing, certification and warranty tracking for Gastec, KIWA and F-gas, time registration and compliance reporting. With deep integrations into Exact, AFAS, Snelstart and your other API integrations.

If you maintain powered doors and roller shutters, each unit needs an inspection history. See the page on inspection software for doors and roller shutters.

Work planningWarehouseService contractsCompliance & certification

What our standard installation software can do.

The modules that come up in almost every installation project, built around your disciplines, technicians and administrative flow. For each project, we combine the modules you need.

Work order on tablet, fully offlinePhoto reporting, barcode material scanning, customer signature on glass and automatic formatting of a structured work order. Syncs as soon as the network is back, so no lost orders and no duplicate entry.
Drag-and-drop planning with route optimisationPlanning board by day or week, with visualisation of technician skills, certificates and availability. Route optimisation takes into account travel time, material pick-ups and urgent jobs that interrupt the day.
Work planning from quote to work orderCosting tool for the work planner, with conversion to a work order and handover to the warehouse. Materials and hours are entered once and flow through to the technician, planning and invoicing.
Warehouse with real-time stockStock management with scanning on withdrawal and return, integration with suppliers for automatic reordering, and visibility of materials in transit to projects. Includes a returns flow for parts that come back after a job.
Service contracts with automatic invoicingRecurring schedules for central heating maintenance, annual heat pump checks, cooling system inspections or fire and intruder alarm servicing. The system generates work orders and invoices automatically in line with the contract terms.
Customer and owner portalCustomers can view their schedule, open quotes, active contracts, invoices and the full maintenance history of their installations. Reduces the number of calls to your office and strengthens the service experience.
Online fault reporting with dispatchCustomers report faults via a form or portal, and the system categorises each request by installation type and sends it to the scheduler. Urgent jobs take priority, while routine jobs go into the regular timetable.
Time tracking, mileage and leavePer engineer, project or work order. Replaces paper timesheets and loose Excel files. See also our page on timesheet software for the broader topic. Includes leave requests and a balance overview.
Certification and warranty trackingKeep track of which engineers hold which certificates (Gastec, KIWA, F-gas, NEN 1010, NEN 3140), when they expire, and which installations fall under which warranty. With automatic reminders for re-certification and warranty checks.
Compliance reporting (F-gases, CO2, REACH)Standard reports for F-gas administration via FGAS-NL, CO2 administration, REACH notifications and NEN conformity. An audit trail that can be produced during an inspection without searching.
Deep integrations with your stackIntegrations with AFAS, Exact (Online and Globe), Snelstart, RouteIT, common gas calculation tools and existing work order apps. Work orders, hours and invoices flow automatically, with no manual transfer between systems.
Maintenance contract (optional)Monitoring, backups, security patches and ongoing development for a fixed monthly fee, so the software keeps pace as you add new disciplines, open a new branch or need an additional integration.

When bespoke development is the right choice.

Not every installation company benefits from bespoke software. For a straightforward workflow, AFAS Installateurs or Exact may well be sufficient. Here are six signs that we see when clients move to a custom solution.

Multi-discipline

Central heating, solar and electrical work in one project

You carry out several disciplines at once, for example a boiler combined with a heat pump, solar panels and a meter cupboard upgrade in a single job. Standard packages are set up per discipline, forcing you into separate projects, duplicate invoicing or Excel files alongside them.

Engineer app

A standard work order app doesn't cut it

Your engineers use a standard work order app that is too slow, has a user experience that doesn't fit your workflow, or handles photo and material fields not quite right. A bespoke offline app aligns with how you work, and with the people who actually have to use it.

Customer experience

Customers expect a portal

Business clients and residents' associations ask for an environment where they can view schedules, contracts, invoices and maintenance history. Without a dedicated portal, everything keeps going back and forth by email or phone, creating unnecessary work for your back office.

Service contracts

Handling preventive maintenance systematically

You manage hundreds or thousands of central heating or heat pump contracts with annual maintenance visits. Manual scheduling and invoicing no longer works. You want automatic work order generation, dispatch and invoicing in line with contract terms.

Work order flow

Double entry between work orders and accounts

What the engineer records on site then has to be entered manually into Exact or AFAS by someone in the office. Or worse, information gets lost between the work order and the invoice. An integrated flow saves back-office FTEs and prevents invoicing errors.

Compliance

F-gases, certification and audit pressure

You manage F-gas records, Gastec, KIWA and NEN certifications in separate Excel files. When an audit comes around, it takes days to pull everything together. A dedicated compliance module turns reporting into a single click rather than a project.

How an installation software project works.

Introduction and package scan

A conversation in which we map out your working process, which disciplines you run, which package you currently use and where it falls short. We'll be upfront about when an upgrade to AFAS or Exact will do the job and where custom development pays off, even if that advice doesn't lead to a project with us.

Field research with engineers and work preparation teams

We spend a day riding along in the van and a day with the work preparation and planning team. How does a job come in, how is it prepared, what does the engineer do on site, and where does the job record go afterwards? Based on this, we sketch out the first screen flows.

Building in sprints with live testing

Every two weeks we deliver a working build on your tablets and in your planning board. Engineers and work preparation staff test along with us, and we adjust continuously. A first working version for a single discipline is ready after a few sprints, and a full platform after a project spanning several sprints.

Integration and pilot

We test the integrations with AFAS, Exact or Snelstart on a staging environment with real data, then with a pilot group of a few engineers and one planner, and only then across the whole company. Includes training for the back office, work preparers and a short briefing for the engineers.

Operations and ongoing development

After going live, we support you with monitoring, security patches, operating system updates for the tablets and ongoing development. Installation software grows alongside the business, with new disciplines, an additional branch or a new certification regime, and the maintenance contract keeps that running smoothly.

Frequently asked questions.

The questions installation companies usually ask before we begin.

Do you replace AFAS Installateurs or Exact?

For a small, straightforward installation company, rarely. Those packages do their job well, and rebuilding them isn't worth the effort. Custom development becomes relevant when you combine several disciplines, want a bespoke engineer app or customer portal, or when your flow from work order to accounting involves too many manual steps. In many projects, AFAS or Exact simply remains as the accounting and invoicing engine, and we build the layer around it that engineers, work preparation staff and customers actually use. We give that advice candidly in the first conversation, even if the conclusion is that you're better off optimising within your existing package.

Does the work order app also work offline on site?

Yes, offline working is not a nice-to-have for installation engineers but a requirement. CV boilers are in cellars, solar panels sit on metal roofs and fibre work happens in street cabinets, none of which are places where you can rely on a stable 4G signal. Our work order apps are offline-first: all input, photos and signatures are stored locally and sync automatically as soon as the network is back. We test every sprint in airplane mode, on poor 4G and in metal-heavy environments, and resolve conflicts in a way engineers never notice.

Can you also build digital scheduling and route optimisation?

Yes, this is one of the most requested modules among installation companies. We build drag-and-drop planning boards where the planner can assign engineers to work orders, taking into account skills, certificates and geographic clustering. Route optimisation picks an efficient sequence of jobs for the day, with room for urgent tickets coming in through the fault reporting line. For companies with multiple branches, we can also plan capacity across locations, so an urgent job in the north region can be picked up by a free team from the central region.

Can service contracts be invoiced automatically?

Yes, and for many companies that is the main reason to consider custom development. The system keeps a contract profile for each customer and installation, for example annual boiler servicing, a six-monthly heat pump check, or a multi-year service package with included call-outs. Based on that, the system generates work orders according to the recurring schedule and invoices according to the contract terms, with automatic dispatch via AFAS or Exact. Exceptions, such as additional work outside the contract, are charged separately and delivered as a standalone invoice or attachment.

How do you handle F-gas administration and compliance?

F-gas registration via FGAS-NL, certification tracking for Gastec, KIWA, F-gas, NEN 1010 and NEN 3140, and CO2 or REACH reporting are standard modules in our installation software. For each engineer, you can see which certificates are valid and when they expire; for each installation, which refrigerant was used and how much was topped up; and for any audit request, a report generated with one click. During an inspection, you no longer need to gather Excel files together, because the audit trail is built continuously from the work orders and certification data.

Which integrations do you support out of the box?

AFAS Online and the AFAS Installers module, Exact Online and Exact Globe, Snelstart, MetaCom, Bouwsoft, IbouwInstallateur and common gas calculation tools. For scheduling and route platforms we integrate with RouteIT and alternatives. For customer portals and fault-reporting tools we work with the usual webhook and API patterns. For packages without an open API, we build integrations via an intermediate layer or CSV exchange. Our broader approach is covered on our page about smart API integrations.

What determines the cost of such a project?

Three factors determine the scope: the number of disciplines and roles that go into the system (only engineers, or also work planners, warehouse and scheduling), the number of integrations with existing packages (AFAS, Exact, RouteIT, gas calculation tools), and how much industry-specific business logic is involved (service contracts with variable clauses, complex certification flows, multi-branch scheduling). We work with fixed sprint budgets, so you know per sprint what you are spending and what it covers. In the first conversation we give an indicative estimate; after the discovery sprint, it becomes concrete.

Can you build custom software for a single discipline, for example only boilers or only solar panels?

Yes, but we challenge that question critically. For a company focused solely on boilers or solar panels, an upgrade within a standard package is often cheaper and quicker to go live. Custom development pays off mainly when your working process truly differs (for example, because you combine a lot of preventive maintenance with installation work, or because you develop your own hardware around the installations), or when you are considering expanding into multiple disciplines and do not want to migrate again later. Our advice in a first conversation is honest: if a package is a better fit, we will say so.

Do you also work together with our IT department or in-house developers?

Yes, that is the norm for a large share of our projects. Many installation companies have their own IT staff member or partner who manages the ERP package and servers. We then focus on the mobile layer, the scheduling environment or the customer portal, and integrate with your existing systems. We work in the same Git repository, use the same code conventions and do pair programming where it helps knowledge transfer. By the end of the project your IT department can maintain the codebase entirely on its own, with no lock-in to us as a supplier. For the wider maintenance theme, you may also want to look at our page on CMMS maintenance management systems.

Talk to us about your installation software.

A free 30-minute introductory call. We listen to your work process, ask about your disciplines, engineers and packages, and give direction where it's useful to you, including advice to first optimise your current AFAS or Exact. For related options, you can also look at our pages on field service apps, CMMS maintenance management systems and our broader web development service.

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