Pre-season air conditioning checks: planning the spring

The best time to service air conditioning is before people need it. Invite past clients to book a check in spring, open slots on your public page week by week, and spread the visits so you aren't overwhelmed by breakdown calls in the first heatwave. A pre-season visit cleans or replaces filters, clears the condensate drain, checks the outdoor unit and the electrical connections, and confirms the system cools as it should. Any refrigerant work is left to someone certified to do it under the rules where you work.

When the first hot week arrives, everyone switches on at once. Units that sat unused all winter show their problems at the same moment: blocked drains, dirty filters, a unit that won't start. Breakdown calls pile up, and planned work has to wait. Checks done in spring catch these problems early and fill your diary at a calmer time of year.

Leave a short written report: what was cleaned, what was tested, anything that needs attention and an estimate for it. Photos of a dirty filter or a blocked drain explain the value of the visit better than words, and help the client decide on the repair.

Shops, offices and restaurants depend on their cooling in summer and can need checks at times that don't disturb their customers — early morning, closing time or a quiet day. For a business with several units, quote per unit and book one longer slot rather than several short ones.

Air-to-air heat pumps heat in winter and cool in summer. For those clients, a check in spring and another in autumn before the heating season keeps the system ready for both. Explain this at the first visit so they can book both in good time.

Show clients how to take out and rinse the indoor filters, and tell them how often it makes sense for their use. Ask them to keep the outdoor unit clear of plants, garden furniture and snow, and to call you if they see water dripping indoors, hear a new noise or notice the system cooling less. Small habits between visits make the next check quicker.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Create services such as "Pre-season AC check, one unit" and "Additional indoor unit", and open slots on the days you plan for each area, repeated weekly through the spring until the date you choose. Clients pick a slot and book with their name, email and phone, and can write the number and type of units and the address in the optional note, which you read in your new-booking email. They receive a confirmation email with a calendar file.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. If a breakdown forces you to move a check, reschedule it from your bookings list and tell the client yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.