Think about the last 50 jobs you finished. Somewhere in that list is a heat pump that’s due for a service, a cylinder that’s getting on, a deck that needs oiling before summer, a switchboard someone asked you about while you were there. Every one of those customers already trusts you. They found you, let you in, paid the invoice and, if it went well, told someone else about you.
And most of them will never hear from you again. Not because they went off you, but because nobody reminded them. When the heat pump starts rattling in three years, they’ll search Google like it’s the first time, and you’ll be one name among ten.
This guide covers how to turn finished jobs into repeat work: what counts as repeat work in your trade, the record that makes reminders possible, when to send them, what they should say, and how to put the whole thing on autopilot so it doesn’t depend on you remembering.
The work you’ve already won
New work costs money. Every new customer arrives through an ad click, a directory fee, a quote you drove across town for, or a referral you can’t switch on. A past customer costs you one email.
You don’t need a statistic to see it. Look at your own numbers: what did your last new customer cost you to win, all in? Now compare that with what it would cost to send a short, useful reminder to someone you’ve already worked for. That gap is the whole argument.
Repeat customers are also easier to work with. They know how you operate, they accept your pricing (they’ve paid it before), and they rarely shop you against three other quotes. For most trade businesses, a steady base of repeat work is what makes the quiet months survivable.
What counts as repeat work in your trade
Repeat work isn’t only “the same job again”. It comes in three shapes:
- Maintenance that comes round on a cycle. Servicing, cleaning, testing, re-coating.
- Compliance work that has to be done. Checks a landlord or building owner is legally required to keep up with.
- The next job on the same property. The bathroom after the kitchen, the deck after the fence, the second heat pump for the bedrooms.
Here are starting points by trade. They’re prompts for your own judgement, not rules: use what you’d tell the customer on the job.
| Trade | Repeat work worth a reminder | A sensible prompt |
|---|---|---|
| Heat pumps and HVAC | Filter and coil service, outdoor unit clean | Before winter, then yearly. Mitsubishi Electric’s own NZ guide recommends cleaning filters “with every seasonal change” and the outdoor unit “every 6 months” |
| Plumbing and gas | Hot water cylinder checks, gas appliance service, backflow testing on commercial sites | Yearly for gas and backflow; cylinders at the age you’d tell them to start budgeting |
| Electrical | Safety checks on older homes, smoke alarms in rentals, the extra circuits they asked about | When a tenancy changes over; when the job they mentioned comes round |
| Roofing and spouting | Gutter clean, roof inspection | Autumn, before the leaves and the rain |
| Painting | Exterior touch-ups, deck and fence re-coats | Late winter, so the job’s booked before the spring rush |
| Building | Maintenance checks, the next room, the defect-period visit | Just before the 12-month defect period ends, then yearly |
| Landscaping | Seasonal tidy, hedge trims, irrigation start-up | Start of each season |
Two kinds of compliance repeat work deserve special mention, because almost no one markets for them:
- Commercial buildings with a building warrant of fitness. Building owners renew a building warrant of fitness every year, and the specified systems on the compliance schedule (backflow preventers among them) need regular inspection by an independent qualified person, usually at least yearly. If you’re qualified to do that work, every site you test is a reminder that comes round on its own.
- Rentals under the healthy homes standards. Landlords have to keep smoke alarms working and provide fixed heating that meets the heating standard. Property managers look after dozens of these. One good property manager is worth a lot of one-off homeowners.
The record that makes it possible
You can’t remind someone about something you didn’t write down. For every finished job, capture four things:
- Who: name, email, phone, the property address.
- What: the job, plus the equipment (make, model, size, install date where it matters).
- When: the completion date.
- What’s next: the date the next service, check or job is due, and what you noticed that they might want done later.
That last field is the gold. “Cylinder’s 14 years old, budget for a new one in the next few years.” “Fence posts on the south side are going.” “Wants a heat pump in the main bedroom next winter.” You noticed these on site. Write them down, and the reminder writes itself.
If your job management software already holds most of this, good: add the “next due” date and the notes. If it lives in your head, your phone and a pile of invoices, that’s the first thing to fix.
When to remind (and when not to)
Timing does more work than wording. A reminder lands best:
- Just before the season it matters. Heat pump services in autumn, gutter cleans before winter, exterior painting booked in late winter. Arriving in the right month is half the sale.
- When the next service is genuinely due. Not every month. One or two well-timed reminders a year beat a monthly newsletter nobody asked for.
- A few weeks after a job, once. A quick “how’s it all going?” catches problems early and is the right moment to ask for a review (more on that below).
When not to: straight after a complaint you haven’t resolved, more often than the work actually needs, or to anyone who has asked you to stop.
What the reminder says
Short, specific and useful. It should read like a note from you, not a promotion:
Hi Karen, it’s Dave from Dave’s Heating. We serviced your heat pump last April, and with winter coming it’s due for its yearly clean. Want me to book you in? Just reply to this email with a couple of days that suit.
That’s it. It names the job, says why now, and makes the next step easy. No discount codes, no “limited time”, no newsletter. We’re putting together a full set of copy-paste follow-up emails in a separate guide; for reminders, the rule is simply: one job, one reason, one easy next step.
Check the rules first
Reminder emails are commercial messages, and New Zealand has rules about sending them. We’re a marketing agency, not lawyers, so check what applies to your business with your lawyer.
Best practice is to ask at the end of the job: “Would you like a reminder when it’s due for a service?” A yes makes the next email welcome. Then keep it easy to opt out, and stop when someone asks.
Where reviews fit
The reminder habit and the review habit are the same habit. The few weeks after a job, when the customer is happy and the work is fresh, is the best moment to ask for a Google review. It’s also the moment to set up the next reminder. One check-in email can do both: “How’s it all going? If you’re happy with the work, a quick Google review would mean a lot. And we’ll drop you a line next April when it’s due for a service.”
Every review you collect makes the next new customer easier to win, and every reminder you set makes the next job cheaper to win. If asking feels awkward, our guide to getting more Google reviews covers the timing and wording.
Putting it on autopilot
All of the above works by hand if you’re disciplined. Most tradies aren’t, not because they’re slack, but because there’s always a job that’s more urgent than an email to someone who doesn’t need you this week. So it doesn’t happen.
That’s what the automation side of the System is for. Here’s how we set it up:
- Every finished job goes into the CRM with the customer, the work and the next due date. Each customer has one conversation thread, so every email, chat and call sits in one place.
- Reminder emails go out on their own when a service is due, in your name and your words, timed to the season.
- A review request goes out after the job at the right moment, automatically.
- Replies come straight to you. When someone says “yes, book me in”, you see it and ring them. Anyone who unsubscribes is never emailed again.
It runs on email. We don’t send texts, and we’ve found our customers don’t need them: the people who want a quick answer reply to the email or ring you, and the AI receptionist picks up the calls you miss while you’re on the tools.
For the leads that never turned into jobs, that’s a different conversation: see how to win back old quotes. And for the follow-up that happens before a job is won, see how automated lead follow-up works.
Repeat customers: FAQ
How do tradies get repeat customers?
Do good work, write down what’s due next, and remind people at the right time. Most tradies already do the first part. The repeat work comes from the record and the reminder, because customers rarely remember when their heat pump was last serviced or when the deck was last oiled.
How often should I contact past customers?
As often as the work genuinely needs, which for most trades is once or twice a year, plus a single check-in a few weeks after the job. A reminder that arrives when something is actually due feels like service. A monthly sales email feels like spam.
Is emailing past customers spam?
Check the rules for commercial email with your lawyer before you send. The simplest habit is to ask at the end of the job: “Want a reminder when it’s due?” Then make every email easy to opt out of, and stop when asked.
Should I offer a maintenance plan?
If your trade has genuine recurring work, a simple yearly plan (a service visit at a set price, booked automatically) can lock in repeat work. Keep it simple and only sell what the customer actually needs. Even without a formal plan, a reminder at the right time does most of the same job.
What if the customer has sold the house?
Then the reminder reaches the new owner only if you sent it to the property, which you shouldn’t. Reminders go to the person, and if they’ve moved, they might need you at the new place. If an email bounces or they tell you they’ve sold, update the record and, where it makes sense, ask if they’d pass your name to the new owners.
Want to see how much repeat work is sitting in your own customer list, and how to get it coming in on its own? Get a free leads audit: 20 minutes, real numbers, no obligation.