Ryan Gilpatric

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Worked example No. 2 · Plumbing, heating, and HVAC · Southern Maine

Where a Southern Maine heating contractor's licensed hours actually go.

How a plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractor here actually runs, what Maine adds to the job, where the licensed hours go, and what I would put in place first. Checked against the statute. The questions at the end are where a conversation starts.

Start a conversationSee what's running
Call chain, section: one no-heat call passing through seven stations inside the firm, with four desks outside it drawn as dashed leaders that stop short of the field-service systemSeven stations on rules inside a frame marked the firm: ring, intake, dispatch, diagnosis, part, return, invoice. One continuous line is the call's path. Four dashed leaders stop short of a hatched band marked the field-service system: the property manager's work order and its limit at intake, the supply house at part, the town's permit and inspection at return, and Efficiency Maine's claim within 6 months at invoice. Three solid leaders reach the band: job opened, material on the job, invoice sent. A red revision triangle marks the return trip.Call chain, sectionone no-heat call · first ring to paid invoicethe field-service systemwhere the job is logged,not where the hours gothe firmRingIntakeDispatchDiagnosisPartReturnInvoiceThe property managerwork order · limitjob openedThe supply housematerial on the jobThe townpermit · inspectioninvoice sentEfficiency Maineclaim · 6 monthsone call · seven stations · four desks outside1Δ1 · The second truck is where the licensed hours go.TitleCall chain, sectionStatusWorked exampleDate5 Sep 2026Drawn byR. GilpatricCall chain, section: one no-heat call passing through seven stations inside the firm, with four desks outside it drawn as dashed leaders that stop short of the field-service systemSeven stations on rules inside a frame marked the firm: ring, intake, dispatch, diagnosis, part, return, invoice. One continuous line is the call's path. Four dashed leaders stop short of a hatched band marked the field-service system: the property manager's work order and its limit at intake, the supply house at part, the town's permit and inspection at return, and Efficiency Maine's claim within 6 months at invoice. Three solid leaders reach the band: job opened, material on the job, invoice sent. A red revision triangle marks the return trip.Call chain, sectionone no-heat call · first ring to paid invoicethe field-service systemwhere the job is logged,not where the hours gothe firmRingIntakeDispatchDiagnosisPartReturnInvoiceThe property managerwork order · limitjob openedThe supply housematerial on the jobThe townpermit · inspectioninvoice sentEfficiency Maineclaim · 6 monthsone call · seven stations · four desks outside1Δ1 · The second truck is where the licensed hours go.TitleCall chain, sectionStatusWorked exampleDate5 Sep 2026Drawn byR. Gilpatric

A worked example.

The firm, as it runs

One no-heat call, first ring to paid invoice

Five to sixty people, York or Cumberland. An owner who still estimates and escalates, a dispatcher, service technicians, an install crew, someone on parts, someone on the books. Two engines share one office, one set of licenses, one fleet, and one customer record: the service engine that absorbs no-heat, no-hot-water, leaks, and dead equipment, and the planned engine that installs and maintains and needs crew blocks, staged equipment, written proposals, permits, inspections, and rebate paperwork. Both spend the same licensed hours, and licensed hours are what the state says is short. One no-heat call crosses seven stations before it is paid, and four desks the firm does not own: the supply house, the town, Efficiency Maine, and the property manager's work order.

The firms say as much on their own pages. One in Scarborough answers the phone live around the clock, sells a membership plan to keep tune-ups on the calendar, prints its Fuel Board license number beside its services, and is hiring a warehouse parts runner next to three technician roles. One in Biddeford lists plumbing, heating, air conditioning, annual maintenance, geothermal, mechanical piping, and fuel delivery under one roof. One in Gorham names its state trade association and its Efficiency Maine partner status. None names the software it runs. Phone and web intake sit side by side everywhere. What the week looks like inside the office, who answers at night, where the license dates live, what happens when the part is not on the truck, is on no website. That is where the questions at the end of this page go. The other side of that no-heat call is the first worked example. The third does the same for a landscape firm.

What Maine changes

Verified at the statute, 5 September 2026

Field-service software ships with a skills list and a calendar. Maine licenses the work by trade, by fuel, by authority, and by who is standing next to whom, and every town runs its own permit desk. Eight to check, with the statute beside each.

The Maine dispatch audit · eight to check
The ruleThe statuteWhat to check in your system
Trainee plumbers.

A master or journeyman may not have more than 3 trainee plumbers under direct supervision; trainees and journeymen-in-training work only under it.

32 M.R.S. §3301 · §3302

That the board counts independently dispatchable plumbers, not heads, and shows which licensee each trainee rides with.

Supervision ladder: one licensee mark on a rule, three trainee marks hung beneath it, and a fourth set outside the ruleThe numeral 3 under the three hung marks, labeled three under direct supervision; the fourth mark is hollow and labeled the fourth rides with someone else.one licensee3three under direct supervisionthe fourth rideswith someone elseSupervision ladder: one licensee mark on a rule, three trainee marks hung beneath it, and a fourth set outside the ruleThe numeral 3 under the three hung marks, labeled three under direct supervision; the fourth mark is hollow and labeled the fourth rides with someone else.one licensee3three under direct supervisionthe fourth rideswith someone else
Gas authorities.

A propane and natural gas technician holds authorities, not a trade: appliance connection and service up to 500,000 BTUs per appliance, large equipment above it, delivery, plant operation, tank setting and outside piping. A helper works only under the direct supervision of a technician with the same authority.

§18135 · §18136

That the skills table carries the authority held and the job carries the appliance size.

Oil apprentices.

An apprentice oil and solid fuel technician works only under the direct supervision of a master or journeyman holding the same or higher authority. Fuel Board and plumbing licenses run two years.

§18134 · Maine Fuel Board

That the supervising licensee and the expiry sit beside every apprentice on the schedule.

The electrical line.

Oil burner technicians and gas installers are exempt from electrician licensing only within their own license; a plumber may reconnect conductors only to replace a water pump or water heater of the same or smaller size in a home. In South Portland any new wiring needs an electrical permit only a licensed electrician may take out. The state board's sunset for listed HVAC equipment under Exception No. 2 to NEC 210.8(F) expired September 1, 2026.

§1201-A · City of South Portland · Electricians' Examining Board

That "the tech can do the electrical" is not a dispatch rule, and that new wiring books an electrician and a permit before the crew date.

The $3,000 line.

Any home construction contract over $3,000 in labor or materials must be written and signed by both parties, with the statute's provisions; a price change needs a written change order. The Attorney General reads this to include plumbing and heating work.

10 M.R.S. §1487

That the proposal template carries the provisions, and that the change order is a step in the job, not a phone call.

Rebates on the job.

$1,000 per rebate-eligible outdoor heat pump unit at any income, $2,000 moderate, $3,000 low, with lifetime limits per housing unit; a Residential Registered Vendor; sized for at least 80% of peak heating load; installed to the checklist; claimed within 6 months of completion. Heat pump water heaters $1,150, no vendor registration. Biomass boilers a third of the cost up to $6,000. No current rebate for a standard oil or gas boiler.

Efficiency Maine, as posted 5 September 2026

That eligibility, the sizing worksheet, the checklist, and the claim date sit on the job record.

No-heat.

Where a landlord supplies heat it must hold 68°F at minus 20°F outside; the duty is the landlord's, and the contractor is the one who has to get there. Housing operators here class complete lack of heat as an emergency and take it by phone. Maine is the most heating fuel-dependent state, 56% of households on delivered fuel, so a no-heat call can be an empty tank.

14 M.R.S. §6021 · Office of the Governor, 2024

That no-heat is its own priority class, that intake captures the system and the fuel, and that the last delivery is an intake question.

Every town's desk.

Saco: plumbing permits through the city's online permit portal at $10 per fixture, $40 minimum, $15 re-inspection; buried pipe inspected before it is covered; 24 hours' notice usually works, more recommended. York: a new online permit portal since October 27, 2025; allow 7 to 10 business days. South Portland inspects electrical, plumbing, and building work separately. The state's plumbing code is the 2021 UPC since January 1, 2022; the building code carries the 2021 IMC.

City of Saco · Town of York · City of South Portland · Plumbers' Examining Board

That permit and inspection state sit on the job by town, and that no crew date is promised before the permit.

Rules as posted on 5 September 2026.

A worked example.

Where the time goes

Hypotheses
  1. 1.

    Licensed hours are lost to job and credential mismatch; the nearest truck is not always a truck that may do the work.

    Maine-observed · inference
  2. 2.

    Parts and supply-house runs consume licensed field time.

    Maine-observed · inference
  3. 3.

    Permit, inspection, and rebate administration strands jobs and reschedules crews.

    Maine-observed · inference
  4. 4.

    Emergency and on-call work displaces the planned schedule; winter makes it consequential here.

    Maine-observed · inference
  5. 5.

    Maintenance agreements slip behind reactive work.

    Maine-observed · inference
  6. 6.

    Field information arrives late or is re-keyed for the invoice and the job cost.

    Observed nationally
  7. 7.

    Property management jobs stall on authorization, reference numbers, and the billing entity.

    Maine-observed · observed nationally
  8. 8.

    Estimates, actual costs, and callbacks never close a loop.

    Observed nationally

Two things the public record does say. The state's 2025 housing roadmap puts the construction labor shortage at its greatest in the specialty trades and names electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians. And heat pumps in Maine passed 100,000 in 2023 and 200,000 by March 2026 against a target of 275,000 by 2027, with the community colleges having trained 558 heat pump technicians by mid-2023. The scarce input in this business is a licensed hour.

A Roadmap for the Future of Housing Production in Maine, January 2025 · Office of the Governor, July 2023 and March 2026

The one I would test first in your office is the first: a dispatcher deciding who takes a no-heat call without one current view of who holds which license and authority, who is supervising whom, and what expires when. The second truck is where the hours go.

What I would put in place first

The ladder

Process first: one sendability matrix, each person's plumbing class, trainee status, fuel authorities, supervising licensee, electrical boundary, refrigerant card, and expiry, and a minimum credential rule for every job type; intake that always captures the system and the fuel; a diagnosis that ends in one of three states, done now, runner sent, or part ordered with the return slot held, and never in "unfinished"; permit and rebate checklists by town and job type. Then the settings you already pay for: credentials on each technician, required credentials on each job type, the permit number, inspection date, and claim deadline as fields on the job. Then an integration, if renewals have ever bitten: expiry alerts that project the loss of dispatchable capacity before it happens. Then a small tool, only if the platform cannot say who may legally take this call. AI on classifying the call and drafting the invoice narrative, with the rules deciding who is qualified and a person deciding what goes out.

Replacing the platform is the last hypothesis, not the first.

The morning board

Concept
Morning board, elevation: a concept drawing of one screen showing a heating contractor's winter morning queue with a column for who may legally take each callEight rows of calls with the system and fuel, a rule of marks for who may take it, filled where a licensee may and hollow where one may not, and who each waits on: a no-heat oil call before the office opens, marked with a red revision triangle; a propane appliance over the 500,000 BTU line waiting on the one large-equipment authority; a plumbing rough-in where a journeyman has three trainees riding and a fourth request is refused; a gas boiler waiting on a part with its return slot held; a York heat pump install partway through the town's 7 to 10 business days, its permit in; a heat pump claim late in its 6 months, not yet filed; new wiring on a furnace job that books a licensed electrician; and a property manager's work order with no approval limit, drawn dashed because the system never captured it. The title block reads concept; the board reads from the field-service system and writes nothing.Morning board, elevation · a winter morning · conceptThe callSystem · fuelWho may take itWaiting onNo heat · before the office opensboiler · oiloil · the same or higher authoritydispatchPropane appliance over the linelarge equipment · propanelarge-equipment authority · above 500,000 BTUlarge-equipment authorityRough-in · a fourth trainee askedplumbing3 one licensee · three riding · the fourth refusedanother licenseePart ordered · return slot heldboiler · gasgas · appliance authoritysupply house · slot heldYork install · permit inheat pump · electricrefrigerant card · an electrician for the wiring7 10 York · business daysHeat pump claim · not yet filedheat pump · electricthe office6 months to claimNew wiring on the jobfurnace · gasa licensed electricianan electrician · a permitProperty manager's order · no limitnot capturednot yetthe approval limit1Δ1 · 68° is the landlord's duty (§6021). The nearest truck is not always one that may do the work.TitleMorning board, elevationStatusConceptDate5 Sep 2026Drawn byR. GilpatricReadsfrom the field-service system · writes nothingMorning board, elevation: a concept drawing of one screen showing a heating contractor's winter morning queue with a column for who may legally take each callEight rows of calls with the system and fuel, a rule of marks for who may take it, filled where a licensee may and hollow where one may not, and who each waits on: a no-heat oil call before the office opens, marked with a red revision triangle; a propane appliance over the 500,000 BTU line waiting on the one large-equipment authority; a plumbing rough-in where a journeyman has three trainees riding and a fourth request is refused; a gas boiler waiting on a part with its return slot held; a York heat pump install partway through the town's 7 to 10 business days, its permit in; a heat pump claim late in its 6 months, not yet filed; new wiring on a furnace job that books a licensed electrician; and a property manager's work order with no approval limit, drawn dashed because the system never captured it. The title block reads concept; the board reads from the field-service system and writes nothing.Morning board · a winter morningThe callWho may take itNo heatoil · same or higherPropane · over the lineabove 500,000 BTURough-in · a fourth asked3 one licensee · three ridingPart ordered · slot heldgas · applianceYork install · permit inrefrigerant cardHeat pump claimthe officeNew wiring on the joblicensed electricianWork order · no limitnot yet1Δ1 · 68° is the landlord's duty (§6021).The nearest truck is not always one that may do the work.TitleMorning board, elevationStatusConceptDate5 Sep 2026Drawn byR. GilpatricReadswrites nothing

A worked example.

How we would know it worked

Measured before, then after

  • First-visit completion, with the second-trip reasons counted

  • Licensed hours on licensed work, against hours on supply runs, waiting, and re-dispatch

  • Jobs waiting on a part with no return slot held

  • Permits approved and inspections passed before the crew dates that depend on them

  • Rebate claims filed inside the six months

  • Days from completion to invoice and from invoice to payment, property management work apart

Your records, before and after.

Before any of this is true of your firm

The questions
  1. 1.

    Walk me through the last no-heat call from the first ring until the invoice was paid; who touched it, and in which systems?

  2. 2.

    When a call comes in, how does the dispatcher know who is legally allowed to take it; show me the view, not the policy.

  3. 3.

    How many people on payroll are independently dispatchable today for plumbing, oil, gas, and heat pumps?

  4. 4.

    What share of calls are finished on the first visit, and what are the reasons for a second trip?

  5. 5.

    When a technician needs a part they do not have, what happens next, and is a return slot held before it arrives?

  6. 6.

    Who owns permits and inspections, and what is the exception list by town?

  7. 7.

    What actually happens between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.?

We start with a conversation, not a contract.

Start a conversation

A market dashboard in production and a bridal-shop app in pilot. See the record.