The cost of losing a maintenance contract you couldn't scale to deliver is the margin left on the term, plus costs you can't recover: bid and mobilisation spend, service credits paid, idle engineer time, and lost extra-scope work. Joblogic's field service management software helps you see that capacity gap before it costs you a renewal.

The risk starts when you win more planned preventive maintenance (PPM) work than your planners and engineers can deliver, and service level agreement (SLA) targets begin to slip. Reactive callouts pull engineers off planned visits, paperwork reaches the office late, and the contract shows the gap at its next review. The sections below put a number on a lost contract and show where delivery breaks first.

What does losing a maintenance contract cost?

Losing a maintenance contract costs the margin on every remaining year of the term, plus sunk costs that never come back. A lost contract leaves these costs on your books:

• Lost margin: the profit you planned for every remaining year of the term goes with the contract.
• Sunk bid and mobilisation costs: you priced tender and survey costs over the full term, so you write them off.
• Service credits already paid: the customer keeps the credits it deducted for missed SLA targets.
• Missed price rises and extra-scope work: you lose the annual uplifts and the reactive work the sites would bring.
• Idle or redeployed engineers: engineers you hired for the contract need new work, and you keep paying them.
• Reference damage at the next tender: you'll need to explain why a lost contract ended.

How to calculate the cost of a lost contract

You calculate the cost of a lost contract by multiplying annual value, margin, and years left, then adding unrecovered costs. Use figures from your contract schedule and job costing:

1. Take the annual contract value from your contract schedule.
2. Multiply it by the margin you make on that contract, worked out at actual cost.
3. Multiply the result by the number of years left on the term.
4. Add the bid and mobilisation costs you planned to recover in those remaining years.
5. Add the service credits you've paid over the life of the contract.
6. Add idle engineer cost: unbilled hours multiplied by each engineer's hourly cost.

Use actual cost for both margin and idle time. A charge-out rate adds overheads and profit to labour cost, so it overstates what an hour costs you. Actual cost covers engineer wages and on-costs, travel time, van costs, parts, and a share of overheads. Price idle hours at actual cost, and check each contract's travel time against what it pays.

Illustrative example: the round numbers below are placeholders, so replace each one with your own.

• Lost margin: £200,000 a year × 15% × three years left = £90,000
• Unrecovered bid and mobilisation costs: £15,000
• Service credits paid: £5,000
• Idle engineer time: two engineers × 80 unbilled hours × £30 an hour actual cost = £4,800
• Total: £114,800

Where delivery breaks first as contract volume grows

Scheduling breaks first when a field service business adds contracts faster than it adds planners and engineers. Watch for these breaking points:

• Spreadsheet or whiteboard scheduling: when one planner holds the plan, a sick day puts every PPM schedule at risk.
• PPM visits slipping: reactive callouts pull engineers off planned visits, and the contract shows the gap at its next review.
• Late paperwork and certificates: job sheets left in vans leave compliance-heavy contracts without proof of work.
• No live view of engineers or job status: planners can't see who's running late, so response times slip unnoticed.

Joblogic gives planners a drag-and-drop job scheduling board, and engineers update job status from the mobile engineer app, so planners can see spare capacity before they commit to another visit. Engineer tracking shows each engineer's live location from their phone or tablet GPS, and the map updates every five minutes. Engineer tracking and PPM contracts come with the Premium plan and above.

How missed SLAs turn into service credits and termination

Missed SLAs turn into service credits when service falls below the agreed level, and the contract wording decides whether repeated misses also give the customer a right to terminate. Joblogic's job tracking uses a traffic-light system to flag jobs in jeopardy and jobs past their target response time, so the planner sees SLA risk while there's still time to act.

An article for the Society for Computers and Law (April 2016) explains that contracts draft service credits either as a price adjustment or as liquidated damages. It says that since the Supreme Court's decision in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi [2015] UKSC 67, the leading UK case on the penalty rule, courts are unlikely to intervene "in all but the most extreme cases".

Compliance evidence works the same way. If your contract treats missing evidence as a breach, a certificate left in a van can count against you even when the engineer did the work. Joblogic's mobile engineer app sends completed job reports, including notes, photos, signatures, and parts, to the office automatically, so the evidence sits on the job record. Task and asset compliance is part of the Enterprise plan.

Check which failures trigger credits and which give the customer a right to terminate. Take legal advice before you agree or dispute a credit.

What a terminated public contract means for future tenders

A public contract that ends in termination for your breach can count against you in tenders under the Procurement Act 2023, and several of the rules on contract termination apply only to contracts awarded under the Act. Since 24 February 2025, Schedule 7 has made a sufficiently serious breach a discretionary exclusion ground. A breach is sufficiently serious if it leads to termination, damages, or a settlement. The ground covers any contract with a public authority, including contracts awarded before the Act.

You're excludable when a discretionary ground applies and the circumstances are continuing or likely to happen again (section 57). A Minister can also add a supplier to the debarment list after an investigation. Every public contract awarded under the Act carries an implied right to terminate if you become excluded or excludable. A subcontractor ground applies only in the circumstances set out in section 78(3) to (6). Before it terminates, the authority must notify you, give its reasons, and give you a reasonable chance to make representations.

The Act sets fixed deadlines and lookback periods, including duties on key performance indicators (KPIs):

Source: Procurement Act 2023, SI 2025/1316, and GOV.UK guidance, linked in the table. Section 71 does not apply to private utilities. Ask a procurement lawyer how these rules apply to your contracts.

Why the engineer shortage makes scaling harder

The engineer shortage makes scaling harder because hiring can't keep pace with the contracts you win. The table shows the size of the gap:

Sources: IMechE workforce projections, 22 January 2025, BESA's 2026 labour market report, and FMJ's coverage of the SFG20 report.

CBRE advised facilities management sales teams in 2023 to build skills costs into new contracts. Plan where a new contract's engineers will come from, and price that cost at tender, before the start date fixes your margin.

How to protect contract revenue before the renewal date

You protect contract revenue by checking delivery and profit on each contract every month, well before renewal talks start. The Cabinet Office's Contract Management Playbook (March 2026) sets out how public customers monitor supplier performance, including KPIs and SLAs and managing underperformance. Brief the decision-maker as well as the site contact, so renewal talks don't open with performance news the decision-maker hasn't heard. Check these signals on every contract:

• SLA performance: compare response and completion times with each contract's targets.
• PPM completion: compare visits completed with visits due, and chase any that roll over.
• Job profitability: check labour, parts, and travel at actual cost against what the contract pays.
• Decision-maker contact: note when you last spoke to the person who signs the renewal.

Joblogic's reports and dashboards let you review monthly contract performance and report job profitability. Advanced reports and dashboards are part of the Enterprise plan.

Decline or reprice a contract your team can't staff

Decline or reprice a contract when losing it mid-term would cost more than staffing it from day one. Declining forgoes the margin you'd have earned over the whole term. Winning it and losing it halfway costs you the margin on the remaining term plus every write-off in your calculation.

Run the calculation on the contract you're pricing now, as if you'd lost it halfway through. If that figure beats the cost of adding planners or engineers, add them before the start date. If your team still can't absorb the new visits, renegotiate the start date or scope before you sign.

If you'd like to see how Joblogic handles scheduling and contract reporting, book a demo before your next tender.

Frequently asked questions about the cost of losing contracts

How much more does it cost to win a new customer than keep one?

Harvard Business Review says that, depending on the study and the industry, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one (October 2014). Treat that range as a rule of thumb, not a measurement for maintenance contracts. Cost your own tenders: bid, survey, and mobilisation spend against the margin you'd keep by renewing.

Are service credits the same as liquidated damages?

Not always. Contracts can draft service credits either as a price adjustment or as liquidated damages, according to the Society for Computers and Law article above. Which one applies depends on the wording, so read the clause and take legal advice before you agree or dispute a credit.

How long can a supplier stay on the UK debarment list?

Up to five years. Under section 62 only a Minister can add a supplier to the list, and only after an investigation. GOV.UK guidance says the five years run from the relevant event for mandatory grounds, or from when the Minister knew of it for discretionary grounds. Contracting authorities must check the list in each procurement.

Can a public authority end a contract if a supplier becomes excludable?

Yes. Section 78 of the Procurement Act 2023 implies a right to terminate into every public contract awarded under the Act if the supplier has become excluded or excludable since the award. Before it terminates, the authority must notify the supplier, give its reasons, and allow reasonable representations.