Residential Pricing--Flat Rate or Time & Material?

[mcjo tech]

Residential companies:

Just curious what type of repair pricing you use?

Time and Material or Flat Rate and why?

[frank]

For every working hour during the week, it costs money to provide wages, transport, fuel, overheads, office space, tools and Insurance, so, unless we are quoting for a known quantity, such as a new installation, we tend to charge out by the hour.

[mcjo tech]

For every working hour during the week, it costs money to provide wages, transport, fuel, overheads, office space, tools and Insurance, so, unless we are quoting for a known quantity, such as a new installation, we tend to charge out by the hour.

Most of this can be pre entered into flat rate pricing in the hourly rate used to calculate the flat rate price given to customers.

When you have your car worked on do they give you the cost to repair upfront?

Car repair shops often use flat rate.

The problem I see in time and material is that your best and often fastest tech bills out the least amount of money but you pay them the most and there is no consistency in what the customers pays.

[monkey spanners]

Most of this can be pre entered into flat rate pricing in the hourly rate used to calculate the flat rate price given to customers.

When you have your car worked on do they give you the cost to repair upfront?

Car repair shops often use flat rate.

The problem I see in time and material is that your best and often fastest tech bills out the least amount of money but you pay them the most and there is no consistency in what the customers pays.

Its a different market here in the UK, the vast majority of our customers are businesses, there is very little domestic air conditioning, certainly not enough to specialise in.
Heating is the teritory of the plumbing industry with gas boilers and radiator systems being the most popular.
I don't think there is anywhere near the margins in ac work here as in the States.

I have discussed fixed rate pricing with some of my commercial customers but as i see it they will either be paying more than they should or i'll be onto a loser. The cheapest way for them and safest way for me is to pay what it takes to fix.

I do some subcontract install work for one company that is fixed price, this helps them with their pricing and me because there is not enough money in it to do a propper site survey to quote. Some i make on and some i lose on.

[mcjo tech]

Its a different market here in the UK, the vast majority of our customers are businesses, there is very little domestic air conditioning, certainly not enough to specialise in.
Heating is the teritory of the plumbing industry with gas boilers and radiator systems being the most popular.
I don't think there is anywhere near the margins in ac work here as in the States.

I have discussed fixed rate pricing with some of my commercial customers but as i see it they will either be paying more than they should or i'll be onto a loser. The cheapest way for them and safest way for me is to pay what it takes to fix.

I do some subcontract install work for one company that is fixed price, this helps them with their pricing and me because there is not enough money in it to do a propper site survey to quote. Some i make on and some i lose on.

Thanks for your input.

I did not realize thst there was so little AC work although residential flat rate does include heating.

Looks like the UK may not be a market for my new residential flat rate app for Android or iPhone/iPad devices.

Australia or South America or India and that region may be a better fit.

[al]

You might have a market for plumbers who work on residential, what is the app?

alec

[mcjo tech]

Don't have plumbing in the app.

It is Residential HVAC Flat Rate App.

Comes pre configured with common repair tasks but fully customizable.

Little hard to explain its full functionallity.

There is a free limited version in itunes store if you want to check it out. But it is very limited.

Android version not released fully yet but it has a few more abilities like signature capture and completed customer data storage in device with Search function.

Also can change to specific country currency. Like Pounds or Euros.

[mcjo tech]

You might have a market for plumbers who work on residential, what is the app?

alec
For any who might be interested in what a flat rate pricing app looks and functions like our Android free version is available in the Google Play Store.
It has all of the functionality of our full version but is a 14 day trail version that allows the user to use it prior to deciding if they want to purchase the software. Here is a link to the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...cmF0ZWxpdGUiXQ (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hvac.flat_ratelite&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5odmFjLmZsYXRfcmF0ZWxpdGUiXQ)