Most Required Services in the Installation Industry

For many installers, the job is much more complex than it used to be. With advanced products like heat pumps, smart home systems and high-efficiency boilers, there’s a lot more to juggle. Add to that the pressure of tight deadlines, increasing customer expectations and labour shortages, one thing becomes clear: installers need more than just good products. They need services and support that make their work easier, faster and less stressful.

The findings below distinguish electrical installers from HVAC installers and plumbers. They cover different survey periods and should not be combined into a single current ranking.

Electrical installers: service priorities in Q4 2024

The European Electrical Installation Monitor Q4-2024 explores key trends in the installation sector, with a focus on the services installers rely on most. The core takeaway is a strong demand for direct, human support from manufacturers, especially with on-site assistance. While specific service priorities vary, the overall trend is clear: installers want quick and reliable access to expert help.

Things have changed since 2022 – real-time installation support or tools/apps for checking product availability are no longer top concerns and have given way to new areas of support. When it comes to service preferences, in Belgium, Germany and Poland spare parts express service takes the pronounced lead. Installers in the UK place the highest value on on-site support for repairs and maintenance, while French, Dutch and Spanish installers are mostly looking for direct contact with the support team.

Direct customer support

Most installers prefer speaking directly to customer support rather than relying on self-service tools. This preference is particularly strong in the Netherlands (89%) and Belgium (81%), followed by Germany (78%), the UK (74%), and Spain (73%). When direct support isn’t immediately available, many installers turn to other methods. A significant portion rely on their own experience; German, Belgian and Polish installers tend to “figure it out on their own.” Online manuals are another common resource, used by around a third of installers in most countries, while online searches and chat support are less common but still popular in Poland, Belgium, and Spain (13-14%).

Hesitancy to pay for faster service

While installers clearly value quick and reliable support, the report shows a clear reluctance to pay extra for expedited services. The reported shares of installers who indicate they are either unlikely or very unlikely to pay for faster service are 47% in the UK, 43% in the Netherlands, 25% in Germany and 16% in Spain. A small percentage in any country says they are “very likely” to pay for quicker assistance, highlighting a challenge for manufacturers: fast and effective support is expected to be the norm, not a premium service.

Those percentages are not majorities, and the remaining share should not automatically be interpreted as willing to pay.

While direct human support remains the top priority, a strong mix of self-service tools, digital resources and flexible support options can help installers get the job done faster and with fewer headaches.

For a deeper look at the country-specific data and insights, access the full report here.

Electrical installers: availability and technical support in Q3 2022

The Q3 2022 European Electrical Installation Monitor asked installation companies in seven European countries about services they would like manufacturers to offer. Availability and quick delivery were prominent in those findings.

The services installers are most interested in are spare parts express service and tools or apps to check the availability of products at wholesalers. These are essential to installers for very simple reasons. They cannot repair a broken system without a replacement of the broken part. And without available installation products, installers cannot do their job, to begin with.

The interest in availability apps does not just show a problem with availability. It also shows the problem of uncertainty. Installers are busy. They need to know what they can count on, and what they can promise their clients. Straightforward, reliable and timely communication on availability issues may already be a great help to installers.

Manufacturers can help installers with complexity and efficiency

The top five services that installers would like to receive from manufacturers show the influence of several major trends. Installers’ interest in digital tools to make technical calculations can be tied to the increasing complexity of systems, for instance. The more complex the system, the more complex the calculations needed to design and prepare the installation. Manufacturers can help installers by providing calculation tools to help them with this phase of the project.

The increasing complexity of systems also means that more problems might occur during installation. That is why the demand for real-time installation support is also relatively high. With this support, manufacturers can help installers solve issues during installation quickly and efficiently, saving them precious time.

That time is precious is evident in installers’ interest in prefabricated solutions from manufacturers. This prefabrication can allow installers to install more quickly and efficiently, meaning they can do more installations in less time. The need for time-saving solutions can be explained by the high demand for installations mentioned above, and the short supply of (qualified) installers in certain areas.

To find out more about the major trends that affect installation companies in seven major European markets, we refer you to USP Marketing Consultancy’s European Electrical Installation Monitor.

HVAC installers and plumbers: desired services in Q2 2023

The following findings concern HVAC installers and plumbers in six European countries, from the Q2 2023 European Mechanical Installation Monitor. They are a separate survey population from the electrical installers discussed above.

Looking at the services that installers desire the most, the first four indicate that installers are struggling with capacity issues and shortages of qualified personnel to answer the high demand for installation work. First of all, there is most demand for engineering support from manufacturers. A majority of installers offer that to their clients, and support from manufacturers would allow them to dedicate more capacity to the actual installation work.

Following engineering support, there is a high demand for installation training, real-time installation support, and a commissioning service for more complicated or new products. On the one hand, the high demand for these indicates that the installers are mainly struggling with a shortage of qualified staff.

Keeping up with new technologies and products

On the other hand, aside from indicating capacity problems when it comes to qualified staff, the high demand for installation training, real-time installation support, and commissioning services shows that installers are struggling to keep up with all the new systems and technologies that have entered the market.

Manufacturers can help out the installers by providing these services, and doing so may increase customer trust and loyalty, thereby adding value to the brand. Additionally, improving the supply chain is a must, since the fifth most demanded service is tools or apps to check product availability. This shows that installers still struggle with time-consuming supply issues.

The above results are based on a combination of answers from all installers in six major European markets. In the current demand for services from manufacturers, we already see quite some differences per country, and future demand will likely differ as well.

For a full overview of the services that installers from each country desire from manufacturers and offer to their clients, we refer you to the Q2 2023 report of USP Marketing Consultancy’s European Mechanical Installation Monitor.

HVAC services saving time and hassle: the Q2 2021 findings

The Q2 2021 European Mechanical Installation Monitor covered HVAC installers in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK. Its findings were collected in the context of pandemic-related supply disruptions and pressure on installation schedules.

The 2021 findings showed that installers need services that help with the complexity of systems and save time. In all countries, the service most in demand is engineering support from the manufacturer. This is consistent with the increasing complexity of systems, a trend also visible in the need for real-time installation support in Poland and the UK. In the end, such services save time, either by preventing hassle through solid technical design and planning, or by quickly solving on-site problems.

Services for off-site efficiency

Off-site, the top-3 of service needs of HVAC installers reveals another every-day and time-consuming problem. There is nothing as annoying as lacking a certain part or material to complete the installation, quickly going to a nearby wholesaler and finding the shelve empty. Installers would like to save on the time it takes to acquire the right products, parts and materials, which is shown by the demand for tools or apps for checking product availability at wholesalers in all six countries, as well as the interest in self-service portals or apps for easy ordering.

This betrays installers’ wish to save time by increasing the efficiency of procuring installation products, but also shows an effect of the pandemic. One reason why empty shelves and long waits for orders to come in became a bigger issue are the shortages in materials and certain parts due to COVID restrictions and lockdowns around the world. Regardless of the influence of the pandemic though, saving time by efficient and trustworthy supply lines is and will continue to be essential for the busy installers.

These findings only show the top-3 of the 22 services of manufacturers and wholesalers that we measured among HVAC installers, and there are more trends at play in the installation sector than just turnover, complexity of installations and labour shortage. For the full picture we refer you to the Q2 2021 report of the European Mechanical Installation Monitor.

AR and VR support: interest differed by country in 2021

The Q2 2021 findings showed how interest in AR and VR support from manufacturers had grown among installers in the UK, France, Poland, and Belgium. In Germany and the Netherlands, however, interest in AR and VR support had declined over the preceding two years. That decline is interesting given the fact that in the earlier measurement of the impact of labour shortage in Q4 2019, quantitative and qualitative labour shortages were especially affecting installation companies in Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.

This measured interest in AR and VR support, not adoption or demonstrated productivity gains.

To train a new or less experienced installer to the level that he or she can independently do installations takes time and an experienced installer looking over their shoulder on-site, both of which are in short supply. AR and VR applications can help in several ways. In a more advanced and integrated way, AR applications can even allow one experienced installer to look over the shoulder of several trainees from an off-site location and show, explain and troubleshoot while each of the trainees performs installations on site.

In a simpler form, manufacturers can help installers by providing AR installation support for their products. This can give installers instant access to virtual schematics placed over the physical system, via an app on a smartphone or tablet, allowing less experienced installers to do more complicated installations independently.

Manufacturers can play a major role here, or several roles actually. They can develop technologies like AR support or smart products to help installers interested in such support. Simultaneously, and perhaps more importantly, manufacturers can contribute by educating the market and communicating the benefits of such solutions to the more traditional plumbers and HVAC installers.

Leasing installation products: the Q2 2023 findings

But what about the installation industry? For the European Mechanical Installation Monitor, we asked HVAC installers and plumbers from six countries to what extent the leasing of products is desired or offered as a service.

When asked to what degree installation companies offer leasing of products to their clients, it appears that installers from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands offer this service most often. The actual figures show that most often is not that often, though.

In Germany, for instance, where leasing was most common in the 2023 findings, only 17% of installers offered leasing products to their clients. In the other three countries, the share of installation companies that offer leasing is significantly lower.

The installation sector is in the vortex of moving away from fossil fuels and towards electrical solutions like heat pumps, for instance. However, these new solutions often require hefty initial investments.

For people who do not have that kind of money lying around, leasing offers the option to make use of more sustainable installations for a monthly fee. This provides a reason to investigate interest in leasing; it does not establish how much adoption will grow.

For manufacturers, offering the usage of a product as a service is very interesting, as it can provide recurring revenue rather than just selling the ownership once. As the manufacturer remains involved, leasing may also provide ways of reusing materials from old installations when they are replaced. As such, the potential contribution to circularity depends on how products are recovered and reused.

Altogether, manufacturers should be aware of the potential that leasing their products via installation companies may have for generating revenue and adding value to their brands in the years to come. For an overview of installers’ interest in all kinds of services from manufacturers, we refer you to the Q2 2023 report of USP Marketing Consultancy’s European Mechanical Installation Monitor.

Manufacturers and wholesalers as service partners

Manufacturers can be more than just product providers – they can be service partners. Offering tailored services that support installers at every step of the process, from generating sales leads to providing real-time support, could make all the difference. Take boilers, for example. Some manufacturers are already providing sales leads to installers, ensuring they can focus solely on installation rather than marketing or customer acquisition. Training initiatives are crucial as well. As the industry moves toward smarter tech, the faster installers get up to speed, the better they’ll perform in the field. Manufacturers can step in with specialized training programs, allowing installers to spend more time installing and less time trying to figure out how new technologies work.

One strategy in a shifting industry is customer intimacy, deepening the relationship between manufacturers, wholesalers and installers. Now, there is potential for more ongoing interaction. If manufacturers and wholesalers provide guidance and support throughout the installation process, they can maintain stronger relationships that build trust and loyalty. Wholesalers also have a role to play in fostering customer intimacy. Traditionally, they’ve operated as a banker – offering options like buy-now-pay-later – a logistical partner – ensuring products arrive on time and at the right location – or an insight hub. But now, they have a golden opportunity to provide even more. Wholesalers can offer services like prefab, BIM or digitalization support, allowing installers to focus on their core task without being bogged down by administrative or design tasks.

The rise of e-commerce and online ordering is changing the way wholesalers operate. While traditional wholesale services like financing and delivery are still crucial, there’s room for more. Wholesalers can differentiate themselves by offering advanced, value-added services. For instance, as more products become digitized, wholesalers can provide real-time installation support via apps and tools. This can help installers troubleshoot issues on the spot and reduce downtime. Some wholesalers are already exploring ways to offer these services, recognizing that as the market becomes more complex, demand for such support may change.