Generator Sales and Service Software Development

What generator sales and service software has to handle

Generator dealers live with a split workload. On one side is a project business: residential standby units from brands such as Generac, Kohler and Cummins, and larger diesel or natural gas sets for clinics, data rooms and municipal sites. Each sale needs a site survey, a load calculation, a permit, fuel work, a concrete or composite pad, a transfer switch and a factory startup. On the other side is a service business with maintenance plans, warranty repairs and emergency calls that spike every time a storm rolls in.

Most dealers run those two sides in different tools, and the handoff is where things fall through. Tepia builds one system where the installed unit, its serial number, transfer switch, fuel type and warranty registration carry straight from the install job into the maintenance record. The technician who shows up for the first oil change sees the startup readings from install day.

Commercial and healthcare accounts add compliance work. NFPA 110 sets recurring inspection, load testing and load bank requirements for emergency power systems, and CMS requires hospitals to follow it. Hospitals also answer to the Joint Commission. Tepia builds those schedules and logs in so a facility manager can hand an inspector a complete record.

From site survey to startup: the install pipeline

A standby install touches more people than almost any other residential trade job. Tepia maps each stage to the person who owns it and the data the next stage needs:

Permits and gas meter upgrades are usually the longest waits, so Tepia gives the project coordinator a board that shows every job stalled on a third party and how long it has been waiting. Customers get a status text at each stage instead of calling the office to ask.

Maintenance, remote monitoring and storm response

A maintenance visit on a standby generator follows a checklist that changes by engine size and fuel: oil and filter, air filter, spark plugs, valve adjustment at set intervals, battery load test, coolant on liquid cooled units and a check of the weekly exercise cycle. Tepia builds those checklists per model so a technician cannot close the visit with a battery test missing.

Many units now report status through manufacturer monitoring platforms such as Generac Mobile Link or Kohler OnCue. Where the dealer has access to those alerts, Tepia routes low battery, failed exercise and fault notifications into the service queue so a technician is scheduled before the homeowner even notices. That pattern is close to the connected device work Tepia did on the iOS, Android and admin portal apps for Maximum Controls, where device events drive action in the field.

Storm response is where software earns its keep. Before a forecast landfall, Tepia’s storm view lists units with open alerts, overdue maintenance or customers who rely on medical equipment, so the office can work the riskiest homes first and preload parts on trucks. During the outage, after hours calls flow into an emergency dispatch queue ranked by severity rather than by who called first.

Integrations a generator dealer needs

Tepia connects generator software to the systems dealers already run so nobody retypes a serial number:

• QuickBooks for posting deposits, progress billing on installs and maintenance plan renewals.
• Stripe or Square for tokenized deposits and plan autopay, which keeps PCI DSS scope out of your servers.
• Twilio for permit and install status texts, maintenance reminders and storm notices to plan members.
• HubSpot or Salesforce when leads come from home shows, utility programs or storm driven web traffic.
• Manufacturer monitoring data where the dealer program provides access, mapped to the unit record by serial number.
• Satellite and map imagery in the survey tool so placement and clearances can be sketched before the visit.

For estimating and proposals, see our field service estimating app page. For device data patterns, see IoT and connected device apps.

How Tepia approaches generator sales and service software

Tepia applies its six phase process to both halves of the dealer business, with a US based project manager accountable for the schedule.

1. Discovery: ride alongs on a site survey, an install and a maintenance route, a review of permit steps in the counties you serve, and an export of installed units. Deliverables are an Investigation Summary, an Interview Summary and User Stories such as a coordinator tracking a stalled gas meter upgrade.
2. Design: a design questionnaire, moodboards and a style guide, then wireframes for the survey tool, the install board, the maintenance checklist and the storm view.
3. Development and Testing: an Alpha with one install crew and one service technician, then a Beta across the team, with test plans for checklist rules, alert routing and offline use in backyards and mechanical rooms.
4. Training: hands on sessions built on real scenarios, from sizing a unit for a home with a well pump to logging a monthly load test.
5. Launch: migration of customers, installed units, warranties and maintenance plans, timed well before hurricane or winter storm season.
6. Support: issue resolution, bug tracking and feature requests such as adding a new manufacturer’s checklist.

Expect Discovery to take 1 to 3 months, development and QA 2 to 6 months, and launch roughly a month. Details are on our process page.

Build or buy for a generator dealer

A general field service platform can run maintenance visits well, and if your business is mostly service on units someone else installed, that may be all you need. Tepia will tell you so. Custom software earns its place when the install pipeline and the service base need to share one record:

• Permit, gas utility and inspection waits are tracked on whiteboards or spreadsheets.
• You serve healthcare or commercial sites that expect NFPA 110 test logs on demand.
• Storm season overwhelms dispatch and you need a ranked outage view.
• You want a customer app that shows unit status, maintenance history and plan details.

Look at Tepia’s work on connected devices and field apps, then contact Tepia to walk through your install and service flow.

Frequently asked questions