A maintenance contract turns the chargers an installer already fitted into recurring revenue: a scheduled visit scope, a defined fault response and clear parts terms, sold per site and renewed on visit records. There is no standard rate to copy — the price is built from the installer’s own labour and travel records. And the contract never replaces the manufacturer’s warranty, which covers defects on its written terms.
Key Takeaways
- A maintenance contract sells four things: scheduled visits, a defined fault response, clear parts terms and per-visit reporting.
- Price it from your own labour, travel and parts records — there is no standard rate to copy.
- The contract is not a warranty extension; keep the boundary written down before the first fault tests it.
- Renewals are won on the visit records — reporting is part of the product.
What the Installer Is Actually Selling
| Contract element | What the customer is paying for | What it costs the installer to deliver |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled visit scope | The recurring visit itself: inspection and condition work on each unit, recorded per visit | Planned labour and travel — the cheapest hours the business sells, because they are booked ahead and routed together |
| Fault response | A defined response when a unit is down, on terms the installer sets and writes down | Unplanned callouts; the element that eats margin fastest if the promise is looser than the diary can honour |
| Parts handling | Which wear and consumable items sit inside the fee, and which are quoted per job | Stock held on the shelf and the occasional write-off — the boundary where margin is protected or quietly lost |
| Condition reporting | A per-visit record the site owner can file, showing state, work done and items to watch | Technician minutes on site; cheap during the visit, expensive to reconstruct before a renewal meeting |
Pricing From Your Own Records
The method is bookkeeping, not research. Cost one visit from your own job history: labour time per unit type, travel across the sites you would serve, and the parts your installed base consumed last year. Then choose a structure — per site or per port — and set the term, review point and exclusions in writing. Sites carrying funding duties are natural first prospects: corridor stations under the U.S. NEVI rules must hold average annual uptime above 97%, and an owner with a number like that to defend does not need uptime explained. Busy multi-port sites, covered in our guide to how commercial charging stations work, feel a dead charger as lost revenue. The visit tasks themselves are a separate discipline: the published commercial maintenance checklist owns that list; the contract is the commercial wrapper around it.
The Warranty Boundary
Two documents, two jobs. The manufacturer’s warranty answers defects in the product — EVDANCE’s standard warranty runs 3 years — on the manufacturer’s published terms. The maintenance contract answers the operation of an installed site: visits, response and wear. Never sell a contract as a warranty extension unless the supplier’s written terms say exactly that. When a fault could be either defect or wear, the paperwork decides who pays — which is why visit records matter commercially, not just technically, in the evidence discipline of the warranty and after-sales checklist. Keep the boundary in the contract text, in plain words, before the first fault tests it.
Building the Book From Your Installed Base
The cheapest contract to sell is the one offered at handover, while the commissioning records are fresh. Renewals are argued from the visit reports: units attended, faults caught on visits rather than by drivers, items replaced before they failed. Networked hardware strengthens the offer — the EV-AC03201T dual-connector AC station and the EV-RHDC30K-L compact DC fast charger both run OCPP 1.6J, so faults surface as reports the installer can act on within the response terms instead of complaints. Installers building a contracted base around hardware they can support can start with our reseller and distributor program or via contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should an installer charge for a maintenance contract?
There is no published rate card to copy, and another firm’s price reflects their costs, not yours. Build the figure from your own records — labour time per visit, travel across your site cluster, parts consumption on your installed base — then set term and exclusions in writing.
Does a maintenance contract extend the manufacturer’s warranty?
No. The warranty covers product defects for its stated term — 3 years on EVDANCE hardware — under the manufacturer’s terms. A maintenance contract covers visits, response and agreed wear items. Selling one as the other is a dispute waiting for its first fault.
Which customers should an installer approach first?
Owners with something to lose from downtime: multi-port sites, funded sites carrying uptime duties, businesses with no in-house electrical staff. Start with your installed base — you hold their commissioning records.
Related Reading
- Commercial EV Charger Maintenance Checklist
- EV Charger Warranty and After-Sales Terms: A Distributor’s Checklist
- How Do Commercial EV Charging Stations Work?
- How Much Does It Cost to Install a Commercial EV Charging Station?
