The Inflation Reduction Act’s Impact on Field Service

With field service increasingly important to companies’ brands, reputations, and ultimately their bottom lines due to the critical importance of the customer experience, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act is worthy of field service organizations’ immediate attention.

The pieces of legislation that merit consideration are likely to result in significant increases in business activity for companies directly or indirectly involved in upgrading residential and commercial buildings.

The federal government is offering significant incentives for owners, renters, and property management companies to replace older appliances and structures. In addition, states will also likely offer their own incentives, if they haven’t already.

These incentives are mainly around initiatives that promote energy generation, electrification, green technology retrofits for homes and buildings, greater use of clean fuels, environmental conservation, and wider adoption of electric vehicles. Even home energy audits and electric vehicles are included. Some take the form of rebates, others are tax credits, and some are tied to incomes. Some of the incentives will become available this year, while others not until 2024.

 We’re not offering tax advice, but we are foreseeing a jump in field service work.

The range of people, publications, and others weighing in by encouraging or merely suggesting that families and businesses of all income levels take a look is wide.

The Architectural Digest notes that “upgrading appliances purchased a long time ago will absolutely yield savings, although the exact amount will depend on the make, model, and power source of the product you’re replacing.”

Lauren Urbanek, deputy director of the clean buildings team at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense League, encourages homeowners to start talking with contractors now to line them up for projects when the rebates and tax credit become available.

The New York Times told its readers that the legislation “could save you thousands of dollars on new and efficient electric appliances.”

It seems clear that if you’re a service business focused on the repair, installation, or maintenance of affected appliances and materials, an opportunity awaits, as consumers and property managers look to take advantage of this legislation to upgrade their properties.

Here’s a list of the types of items covered:

• Solar roofs
• Clothes dryers
• Electric stoves
• Cooktops, ranges, and ovens
• Exterior windows and doors
• Insulation material
• Electric heat pumps
• Water heaters
• Home breaker boxes
• Electrical wiring

Nobody knows how many Americans will sign up for a rebate or tax credit. But with literally hundreds of billions of dollars available, we feel confident in saying that there will be a lot of upgrading and replacing of appliances, roofs, and more.

That means a lot of audits, replacements, and installations, and a big opportunity for manufacturers, warranty providers, and of course field service management teams.

All that work will be best handled by modern, intelligent field service management software that provides:

• Real-time AI-based schedule optimization
• Intelligent dispatching
• Technician mobility tools
• Claims management
• Modern consumer portal
• Analytics for data-driven decision making

Will there be an Inflation Reduction Act field service boom?

Perhaps.

We hope you’re ready.

Interested in learning more about field service management software? Explore ServicePower’s field service solutions.