Every ELECTRI research project is designed to deliver practical, real-world value to electrical contractors. After reviewing our research on advancing electrical service and maintenance practices in alignment with NFPA 70B and NFPA 70E, Toby Mitchell, President of Classic Electric & Consulting, shared how his company has applied the findings to strengthen its service operations.
Read Toby’s perspective below on how ELECTRI research helped his team evaluate their existing processes, identify opportunities for improvement, and build a more structured approach to service and maintenance and access the research here.
Advancing Electrical Service and Maintenance Practices in Alignment with NFPA 70B/E
By Toby Mitchell, President, Classic Electric & Consulting
At Classic Electric & Consulting, service has always been a major part of what we do. We have been performing service work for years, but this research helped us realize there is a big difference between doing service and building a structured service and maintenance program.
One of the biggest takeaways for us was the service readiness assessment. It forced us to take an honest look at where we really were instead of where we thought we were. Like a lot of contractors, we had built pieces of a service department over time and thought we had a pretty good process. Once we stepped back and evaluated it, we realized we had some gaps and in a few places we had probably overthought things.
The service roadmap and process flow were huge. We had tried building something similar internally before, but struggled with how to organize it and connect all the moving parts into something repeatable. The research gave us a practical framework and showed us there is a progression to building service and maintenance, not just adding more paperwork or creating another department.
Participating in the research process also challenged us to evaluate our own service practices and apply the same recommendations internally. That part was important because it turned the work from theory into something we could actually use.
Another big shift was how we think about customer assets. Instead of only focusing on fixing problems when they happen, we started placing more value on understanding the customer’s equipment through better documentation, maintenance history, and creating a longer-term view of the health of their electrical systems.
From the field side, it helped reinforce the importance of inspections, technician training, and building stronger customer connections. It is one thing for me as an owner to tell the team, “this is how we should do it.” It carries a different level of weight when an industry-backed research paper supports the process and ties it to standards like NFPA 70B and NFPA 70E. That helped create better buy-in and better conversations internally.
The biggest outcome for us was structure. It helped us better understand how to talk about and sell service agreements, train technicians, and continue moving from reactive service work into a more intentional maintenance and reliability mindset.
