CMMS for maintenance companies: contracts, SLAs and profitability

By the Mantenplan team · Published on 2 November 2026 · Updated on 3 November 2026

A company that provides maintenance services to third parties needs a CMMS that, besides assets and work orders, manages clients, contracts with SLAs, quotes, invoicing and the profitability of each job. The difference from an in-house maintenance department is that here every hour and every spare part must be billable, and there are response-time commitments to the client.

Clients, locations and assets

The starting point is organising information by client: their installations, the machines at each one and the history of interventions. That way you can answer “what did we do at this client’s plant last year?” with one click, and technicians arrive at each visit knowing what is there and what was done before.

Maintenance contracts and SLAs

A maintenance contract defines which assets it covers, how often and, often, an SLA (service level agreement): maximum response and resolution times according to the priority of the breakdown. The software should:

• Link the contract to the assets and to preventive plans.
• Calculate the deadlines of each WO according to the applicable SLA.
• Warn before they are missed.
• Invoice the contract on a recurring basis.

Quotes and invoices

For work outside a contract a quote is issued, and once accepted it becomes a work order and, later, an invoice. The fewer manual steps between one and the other, the fewer errors and the fewer jobs left uninvoiced. Important: check which tax obligations the software covers and which it does not. A CMMS is not accounting software.

Profitability of each job

The key question is whether you make money. For each job it is worth comparing three figures:

1. Cost budget: planned hours, material and external services.
2. Actual cost: what has been consumed in work orders, live.
3. Invoiced: what has been billed to the client.

The margin is the invoiced amount minus the actual cost. An alert on reaching 90% of the budget lets you react before going over.

Field technicians

Profitability depends on reliable data, and that data is generated by technicians. They need an app that works on the phone, also without coverage, and lets them record time, material and photos on the spot. A weekly timesheet and clocking then make it easier to control labour costs.

What not to expect from a CMMS

• That it replaces accounting software, payroll or bank reconciliation.
• That it automatically reads supplier invoices without human review.
• That it advises on labour or tax matters.

Frequently asked questions