MR Rör is growing through a focus on proactive services

Instalco is essentially a company focused on technical installations. Over the years, service work has become increasingly important, accounting in total for 30 percent of sales in 2023. One Instalco company focused on service work is the heating, plumbing and ventilation company MR Rör AB in Stockholm.

Taking responsibility for an installation’s entire life cycle by providing service offers a stable revenue source and is a good way to deepen relationships with both new and existing customers. Correct maintenance extends the life cycle of the installation, which also makes it more sustainable. 

The service offering, which is a powerful complement to our contracting work, has been a strategic priority for Instalco in 2022 and 2023 in particular – and this has generated results. For full-year 2018, service work represented 11 percent of Instalco’s sales. By Q4 2023, this had increased to 37 percent.

MR Rör has a clear strategy, namely to actively seek contact with construction companies that have framework and service agreements with mutual customers. The strategy has proved an effective way of growing the business. Since Niclas Jansson took over as CEO of MR Rör in 2021, sales have increased by just over 30 percent from SEK 34 million to SEK 45 million.

“My motivation is doing good business by focusing on services and making sure our employees grow in their roles,” he says.

The heating, plumbing and ventilation company has around 20 employees and carries out pipe services in the Greater Stockholm region. The public sector accounts for 90 percent of sales, which usually start as service work. The work is almost always based on framework agreements. Service work spans everything from replacing taps and heat pumps, troubleshooting and valve replacement to fine-tuning heating systems.

“Within the framework agreements we have with our customers, we proactively approach other undertakings that have similar framework agreements with our customers. For example, we recently started a new framework agreement with Täby municipality. Through that, we make contact with other construction firms that we can collaborate with and get work from.”

Jansson points out that this proactive way of working – actively seeking contact in order to work with the same customer – is benefiting the business.

“We’re also being proactive about approaching our existing customers directly and suggesting improvements where we identify a need. One example is within energy optimisation, where we draw up proposals for energy-saving measures, which is something that more and more customers want.

“I believe we work more proactively and take the initiative more than many others. Quite simply, sitting back passively in a framework agreement isn’t for us. Of course, it’s an advantage that our managers are always involved in the projects and are hands-on. It means they have lots of contacts and more insight into the day-to-day work, making it easier for them to join me in being proactive towards both existing and potential customers.”