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CRM with PDF quotes and maintenance reminders for service firms
What I hear
We sell and service equipment, and quotes live in Word, customers in a spreadsheet, and nobody remembers when each machine is due for maintenance.
A CRM for an equipment or service firm needs one thing most generic tools treat as an afterthought: the machine. I build a small web system where each customer has sites and equipment, quotes are created from a price list and exported as PDF, and each machine carries a service interval that produces reminders before work is due.
What this looks like in practice
The main screen is a customer page. It lists contacts, sites, and every machine installed there with model, serial number, install date, warranty end and last service date. From that page you create a quote in a few clicks: pick items from your price list, adjust quantities and discounts, add your standard terms, and download or email the PDF.
A quote has a status (draft, sent, accepted, rejected, expired) and a version history, so when a customer asks for a revised offer you duplicate it rather than retype it. Accepted quotes can become a work order for the technician.
How the maintenance reminders work
Each machine type has a default interval, by months or by running hours if you track them. A daily job looks for machines where the next service falls inside a lead window you choose, for example thirty days out. It creates a task for the assigned person with the customer, the machine and the last service notes attached.
Where it goes wrong in practice is data, not code. If install dates are missing or hours are never updated, reminders are late or wrong. So I make the last-service date a required field when a job is closed, and show a “no date” list so gaps are visible instead of silent.
What I build
- Customers, sites, contacts and machines with a service history.
- Price list and PDF quotes with your numbering, currency and tax lines.
- A reminder schedule with a task list for the team, and optional email to customers.
- Simple roles: sales sees quotes, technicians see jobs, owners see everything.
- Multi-language screens and PDFs if you quote in more than one language.
- Export of all data to CSV at any time, so you are never locked in.
When to buy off the shelf instead
If you have two salespeople and need a pipeline, email logging and nothing else, pay for an existing CRM. Custom makes sense when you pay per seat for features you do not use, or when your quote and maintenance process does not fit the tool’s model and you maintain a pile of workarounds beside it.
What I need from you
A sample of your current quotes, your price list, your customer file, and a short walk-through of how a quote and a service visit work today. I agree the scope and one fixed price before I start. After go-live, optional monthly maintenance covers fixes, small changes, backups and hosting questions. If you decline it, you keep the system and the code that was agreed.
What it replaces
a spreadsheet of customers, Word quote templates and a calendar of manual service reminders
How pricing works
One fixed price, agreed before I start. Optional monthly maintenance after handover.