The install team finishes the job, hands over the paperwork, and moves to the next site. One year passes. The warranty expires quietly. Nobody on your team notices. The customer’s equipment is aging — and the next service call they make is to someone else.

Most Thai install businesses leave this window open every time. Not because they don’t want maintenance revenue, but because there is no system in place to catch it. The install record sits in a LINE group or a spreadsheet. The expiry date is nowhere. The moment passes.

This post is about closing that gap — turning the end of every warranty into the start of an ongoing service relationship.

Why Warranty Expiry Is Your Best Sales Window

When a warranty is about to end, you are in the strongest position you will ever be to propose a maintenance contract:

You already know the equipment. Your team installed it. You know the model, age, configuration, and anything unusual about the site.
The customer already trusts you. They signed off on your work. There is no new relationship to build.
The equipment is entering its highest-need period. Year one is covered. Year two and beyond is when filters clog, refrigerant drops, sensors drift, and connections loosen. This is when maintenance earns its keep.
Competitors have not called yet. Move first and you control the relationship before anyone else gets a chance.

A warranty is free coverage you provide. An MA contract is paid coverage the customer chooses. The handoff between the two is a natural sales conversation — one that most businesses never have because they do not track when it needs to happen.

What Happens When You Don’t Catch the Window?

When the warranty expires without contact, one of three things happens — none of them good:

A breakdown. The customer calls in a panic. You send a technician on an emergency visit, pay overtime, burn a job slot, and arrive at a customer who is already frustrated. The cost of a single emergency call often exceeds a full year of MA fees.
A competitor. Another service crew contacts the customer before you do. Suddenly your installed base is their MA contract.
Neglect. The customer defers maintenance until something breaks, then questions the quality of your original install.

Each scenario costs more — in time, money, or reputation — than a proactive call would have.

How Do You Know When a Warranty Is About to Expire?

This is the operational gap most businesses cannot answer. If your install records live in LINE chat history or a spreadsheet without an expiry column, you will miss this window every time — not occasionally, but systematically.

What you need is a per-asset record that captures:

Install date and warranty end date
Customer name, contact, and site address
Equipment type, model, and serial number
Any notes from the install (unusual access, non-standard configuration, customer preferences)

With this in place, you can check each month for assets whose warranty expires in the next 60–90 days and contact those customers before anyone else does.

The OnSiteQ maintenance module is built to handle exactly this: asset records tied to scheduled jobs, so every warranty end date generates an automatic trigger — and no expiry slips through without a follow-up.

What to Say When You Call

Thai customers respond well to a direct, low-pressure approach. A LINE message or phone script that works:

“สวัสดีครับ คุณ [ชื่อลูกค้า] นะครับ ทางเราติดตั้ง [ประเภทอุปกรณ์] ให้เมื่อปีที่แล้ว ตอนนี้ใกล้ครบระยะประกันแล้ว อยากโทรมาแจ้งและเสนอสัญญาบำรุงรักษาประจำปีให้ครับ เพื่อให้ระบบทำงานได้เต็มประสิทธิภาพ สะดวกคุยรายละเอียดมั้ยครับ?”

The English equivalent: “Hi [name], we installed your [equipment type] last year. The warranty is coming up on its end date — I’m calling to let you know and to offer an annual service plan to keep everything running well. Is this a good time to talk?”

Three things to avoid:

Do not lead with the price. Lead with the fact that the warranty is ending and that proactive maintenance protects the investment the customer has already made.
Do not use pressure language. This is not an expiring offer. It is a service conversation.
Do not send a generic LINE broadcast. Personalize to the equipment type and install date. Customers notice the difference.

Price enters the conversation only after the customer confirms interest.

How Much Should the First MA Cost?

Pricing depends on equipment type, site access, and scope. Benchmark ranges for common equipment in the Thai market:

Aircon, residential split unit (1–3 units): ฿1,200–2,000 per unit per year, covering two cleaning visits and one inspection
Aircon, commercial (5+ units): ฿800–1,400 per unit per year at volume
CCTV system (8–16 cameras): ฿3,000–5,500 per year, covering two health checks and one HDD inspection
Solar rooftop (5–10 kW): ฿2,500–4,500 per year, covering panel cleaning, inverter check, and annual performance review
Fire alarm panel and detectors: ฿4,000–8,000 per year depending on detector count, covering annual inspection and test

The pricing principle that closes deals: price the MA at less than two emergency callout fees. Most customers who have paid for a single emergency visit already know this math. They will pay to avoid repeating it.

A Worked Example: 30-Unit Aircon Business

An aircon business installs 30 residential split units per month. Each carry a one-year warranty. At the 11-month mark, the office sends a short LINE message to each customer flagging the upcoming expiry and offering an annual MA.

30 contacts per month; 40% accept the MA offer — a conservative rate given the trust already established
12 new MA contracts per month at ฿1,500 per unit average
After 12 months: 144 active MA contracts
Annual recurring revenue from MA alone: ฿216,000

That is from one month of installs. Scale it across a full year of new installs, and the MA revenue layer becomes material — without adding a single new installation customer. For a business doing 30 installs per month consistently, the MA book after two years is worth over ฿400,000 annually and growing.

Making the Handoff: From Install Team to Service Team

One hidden trap: the install team and the service team do not share information. A service technician arrives at the first MA visit knowing nothing about what was installed — and it shows.

Build a simple handoff inside each job record:

Install photos (before and after)
Equipment serial numbers and model
Non-standard configuration or access notes
Customer preferences (“ring the doorbell at the side gate, not the front”)

When the first MA visit happens, the service technician arrives already knowing the equipment. That preparation signals professionalism in a way customers remember — and mention when they refer you to a neighbor or colleague.

FAQ

How far in advance should I contact the customer before warranty expiry?

Sixty to ninety days is the right window. It is close enough to feel relevant but early enough for the customer to think it through, budget for it, and for you to schedule the first MA visit within the warranty period if they want a final inspection included as part of the transition.

What if the customer had a warranty claim before expiry?

A warranty claim is actually a stronger opening for the MA conversation. The customer has already experienced a fault and seen the inconvenience it caused. Frame the MA as protection: “We resolved this under warranty. An MA plan helps us catch anything similar earlier, before it becomes a problem.” A customer who has had one breakdown is far more receptive than one who has not.

How do I price an MA for equipment that is already past its first warranty year?

For equipment more than a year old with no prior MA history, start with a paid inspection visit to establish a baseline. Document the system condition, photograph anything that needs attention, and quote the MA from there. Some customers will ask you to repair items found during the inspection — that revenue offsets the inspection cost, and the MA contract begins from a verified starting point.

The businesses that build strong MA books are rarely the ones with the most installed units. They are the ones who have a system that makes sure no warranty expires without a conversation. If you want that system — one that tracks install dates, flags upcoming expiries, and schedules the first MA visit automatically — that is what OnSiteQ’s maintenance module is designed to do.

Turn Warranty Expiry Into Maintenance Contract Sales