- 1. Putting GES to work: what Dan and the team have achieved
- 2. From the Royal Navy to running his own business
- 3. Hitting the limit of what one engineer can do
- 4. Taking on Andy Gas, and running it all through GES
- 5. Organising the new customers
- 6. Automating service reminders
- 7. Running a growing team
- 8. Everything in one place
- 9. A bigger customer base, a bigger team
- 10. Building a business that can be handed on
- 11. Give the same results to your business.
- 1. Putting GES to work: what Dan and the team have achieved
- 2. From the Royal Navy to running his own business
- 3. Hitting the limit of what one engineer can do
- 4. Taking on Andy Gas, and running it all through GES
- 5. Organising the new customers
- 6. Automating service reminders
- 7. Running a growing team
- 8. Everything in one place
- 9. A bigger customer base, a bigger team
- 10. Building a business that can be handed on
- 11. Give the same results to your business.
How Dan took on another local heating business and runs it all with GES
With Dan Giles from Phoenix Gas Homecare.
Key takeaway: In 2023, Dan Giles was a sole trader with more work than one engineer could handle. Instead of hiring and waiting for the work to follow, he took on the customers and engineers of another local business, Andy Gas, and brought them all into Gas Engineer Software. Phoenix Gas Homecare has grown from around 100 customers when Dan started on GES to around 2,600 today, and from just Dan to a team of seven.
Putting GES to work: what Dan and the team have achieved
BACKGROUND
From the Royal Navy to running his own business
Dan started as an engineer in the Royal Navy before joining SSE Home Services on a programme for service leavers.
He worked there for several years, but when the field operation was bought out, the engineers were made redundant. But there was one silver lining:
“They wanted us to contract back to them, which was good in a way. Setting up on our own, it meant that we sort of had a guaranteed certain amount of work.”
Having a guaranteed amount of contract work for the first year together with a small base of customers he’d already built up by working evenings and weekends, Dan didn’t have to start Phoenix Gas Homecare from zero. He set up Phoenix Gas Homecare in Shropshire in 2020, using Gas Engineer Software for mostly digital paperwork (certificates and invoicing).
THE CHALLENGE
Hitting the limit of what one engineer can do
Phoenix Gas Homecare hit the ground running and, three years in, Dan found himself consistently busy. Every week was booked, and there was no room to take on more.
“I was at the point where I physically couldn’t have done any more than I was already doing.“
“I either needed to start saying no to customers because we couldn’t physically do any more, or take on another engineer and give them the work and start building a customer base.”
The problem Dan faced was one that every sole trader with ambitions to grow the business encounters at some stage. His own overflow wasn’t enough to immediately fill another engineer’s week alongside his own. A new hire would be draining money until he had enough time to build up the customer base and keep the both of them busy.
But then a third option came up: Andy Gas, a long-established local business that was looking to sell up.
This solved the workload issue and even who to hire, but with it came the organisational challenge of taking on another business’ customers, keeping their trust, and maintaining service quality.
“If you’re buying a big service contract portfolio with regular payments coming in, then that makes things easier. But if it is just a customer base, then you’re essentially buying the goodwill of the customer.”
THE SOLUTION
Taking on Andy Gas, and running it all through GES
In 2023, Phoenix took on Andy Gas’s customer base, along with Darren, one of its engineers, and Ellie, who followed just under a year later. Dan had the extra customers and someone to look after them at the same time, and those customers kept seeing an engineer they already knew.
“Acquiring Andy Gas allowed things to happen. All of a sudden we had more customers, and also another engineer.“
But the handover had to happen quickly – and the existing systems at Andy Gas weren’t exactly ideal.
“Their systems compared to ours were very manual. They did have some software to produce gas safety paperwork, but things were a bit old and not really fit for purpose.“
Consolidating the two businesses onto one platform and having a streamlined workflow was crucial.
Here’s how GES helped the team stay on top:
Organising the new customers
"We were able to get the new customers on to GES and sort the data in a more logical way (not just a spreadsheet as it was).
The team added each customer to GES as their service came due, ringing them to book in and creating the record on that call, so nobody was missed.
Each customer now has their property, appliances, service due date and job history in one place, on the phone in the van and in the office.
"[Andy Gas] gave us a bigger customer base, but GES has helped us hang on to those customers, do a good job that they then go and tell friends and family about, and then we grow in that respect."How customer records work in GES
Automating service reminders
"There aren't many customers that don't have us back, and I think a lot of that is down to the service reminders."
Once a customer is in GES and a gas safety certificate is issued, GES moves the property's service due date on by a year, and emails the customer a reminder before it comes round.
Quotes and invoices get automatic reminders too, so unanswered quotes and unpaid invoices are followed up automatically. Around 55% of the customers Phoenix sends a service reminder to have a job done within 45 days.
"Darren is busy all year round pretty much just from the service reminders."How automated reminders work
Running a growing team
"We all find GES very easy to use. I honestly think you don't really need any training to be able to use it. "
Phoenix Gas Homecare went from Dan on his own to four engineers and an apprentice, with two people in the office. Jobs are booked into the GES diary, and each engineer sees their own work on the app, with the customer's details and history attached.
Engineers complete certificates on site in the app, and the finished job is there for the office to invoice.
"Engineers can send a note back to say, 'We need this part', and they can add pictures onto the job, which really helps when if I'm putting quotes together."How scheduling works
Everything in one place
As a sole trader, Dan used GES for his certificates and invoicing. Once Darren and Ellie joined, he moved the whole business onto it.
"From adding new customers, creating jobs for repeat customers, creating gas safety paperwork, to quoting and invoicing we would really miss everything."
The team use Crezco through the GES to give their customers easy payment links, and have also connected to their accounting software so invoices pass straight into their accounts instead of being typed in twice.
"It ties into our accounting software which means it hardly needs any input from us."See GES integrations
THE RESULTS
A bigger customer base, a bigger team
“All of the features enable us to be professional, efficient and streamlined.
If we didn’t use the software, I don’t think we would’ve managed… a team of engineers from essentially no systems.“
100 → 2,600 customers
Dan had around 100 customers when he started on Gas Engineer Software. Through taking on Andy Gas’s customers and its own growth since, it now has around 2,600.
1 → 7 people in the team
Phoenix Gas Homecare now has four gas engineers, plus an apprentice and two people in the office.
55% of reminders lead to a job
Around 55% of the customers Phoenix sends a service reminder to have a job completed within 45 days.
WHAT’S NEXT
Building a business that can be handed on
Dan’s goal is to hand Phoenix down to his son one day, so his next job is getting the business to be able to run without him.
“Day to day now it looks a lot more organised. Everyone’s sort of got their role… Whereas previously when it was just myself, it was me sort of scrambling to do everything.
I need to get it to a point that it works without me.“
Taking on Andy Gas was one piece of the puzzle, and has enabled Phoenix Gas Homecare to grow massively in the past few years. His advice to anyone thinking about doing the same? Know what you’re buying, and be prepared to get everything organised.
“If I was setting up again now or taking over another business now, then I’d make sure the right systems are in place. Without that, you could get in a mess pretty quickly.“
Special thanks to Dan from Phoenix Gas Homecare for taking part in this case study.
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