From EICR to invoice in one tap: automating cert-based billing

Every EICR that turns up a C1, C2 or C3 observation ends the same way: the electrician now has to quote the remedial work. Normally that means opening a second app, and typing the fault description, the code and any photos in again by hand. It’s slow, and it’s exactly the kind of double entry that leads to typos on the customer-facing document.

What the integration actually does

CertVault, the EICR and electrical certificate app, can push remedial work directly into Quill as a draft invoice or estimate:

• Each remedial observation (with its C1/C2/C3/FI code) becomes a line item
• Photos attached to the fault in CertVault carry over as line-item photos
• An idempotency key on the request means a retried import can’t double-bill a client
• Once in Quill, the draft is a normal estimate or invoice — edit pricing, add labour, convert an estimate to an invoice, send it as usual

Why this matters more than it sounds like

On paper it’s a small convenience. In practice, it removes the gap between finding a fault and quoting it — which is usually where jobs go cold. A customer who gets a priced estimate for the C2 on their consumer unit while the electrician is still in the van is far more likely to say yes than one who gets a call back three days later.

It also keeps the certificate and the invoice in sync: the fault description on the bill matches, word for word, what’s written on the EICR — useful if a customer (or their insurer) ever asks to see both side by side.

Setting it up

The connection is configured once, from CertVault’s settings, using a machine-to-machine key. After that, remedial items flow through automatically on every certificate — there’s nothing to repeat per job.