# Charging for "Emergency Service" ?



## Walty (Feb 21, 2012)

I've been getting quite a few calls from maintenance companies that organize repairs for retail chains. Several have been "emergency" or urgent calls.

My question is: how many of you charge an extra fee, or double your hourly rate for urgent calls? Urgent call definition: service required by the end of day, maybe 3-4 hours notice.

As an example, I had a call on Wednesday for the local Payless shoe store. The problem description was "a panel is loose" and they declared it an emergency job. I told them it would be my regular hourly rate with a 2 hour minimum.

15 minutes and 4 screws complete the job. Now I'm feeling guilty about charging so much, but on the other hand, the call disrupted my scheduling.

Any thoughts?


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## FRAME2FINISH (Aug 31, 2010)

Think about a bank imposing a huge charge for simply handling a piece of paper 

Just don't go overboard and make that money


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## SLSTech (Sep 13, 2008)

Yes I have a higher service call & hourly rate which is all listed on my site
As for the 15 minutes & feeling bad - how much time driving, scrambling & everything else did you have to do? In the end, it's business & I would enjoy the easy one as the next one probably won't be - in the end it does even out


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

For an existing client no, for a new client yes.

Just dont go overboard. Emergency to means it is a major inconvenience, I.E. nights and weekends or last miniute.


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## BrandConst (May 9, 2011)

Jaws said:


> For an existing client no, for a new client yes.
> 
> Just dont go overboard. Emergency to means it is a major inconvenience, I.E. nights and weekends or last miniute.


Good advice, there's always a premium for after hours but remember where your bread is buttered.


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

With national companies oftentimes the level of service is far more important than the price. The guy who hires you is judged by your effectiveness in accomplishing the job with minimal disruption of their business. His superiors are not knowledgeable enough about the specific item to judge the appropriateness of the price.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

They called you, and they agreed to your price. Charge 'em.

I find it amazing what some will consider an emergency. My favorite is the 2AM call, "My microwave doesn't work!"


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## Oconomowoc (Oct 13, 2011)

About 30% of what I do is emergency service. I don't charge extra. My rate is my rate. 

Trip charge includes 30 minutes before the clock starts ticking + material.

My reputation is solid gold and it helps get referrals.


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

For an existing (and good) client, I usually waive the emergency service call fee and I also write this deduction on my invoice so they can see it. (It's pretty much double my normal rate for the service call initiation, and the hourly rate is a bit higher too)

For calls from unknowns who as 480 said, consider an emergency the fact that a light fixture is ugly and they want it replaced immediately, my emergency service call fee usually helps them reevaluate what is an emergency or scares them off.

My favorite happened a couple years ago and I know I've posted it here. A woman called me about 2 am on a Sunday freaking out because their were sparks coming out of her dining room fixture, her kids were freaking out about it and the house was filling with smoke.

I told her she would be best to call 911 right away and then explained my expedited service rate. She freaked out even more and said she wanted a free estimate!!!!!

I went back to sleep.


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## ryanshull (Nov 1, 2012)

Most service companies charge time and a half for after hours or weekend emergencies.

I used to do similar work for verizon wireless. Most of the work was within an hour or two driving distance, but I would spend half the day driving, and e-mailing just to tighten a few screws, or replace a keyboard support, or drawer slide---- stupid stuff. 

I had to give them a set price before starting, take pics before, during and after the work, and email them with an invoice. Never met the people who hired me, just a few phone conversations, and a lot of e-mails. Check would come in the mail in a couple weeks. 

One time I drove clear to Lincoln and Omaha (5 hour drive, one way) to do about 15 minutes work in 3 different stores. I charged for miles, hours, hotel, and meals. Altogether it was about $1,500 for 45 minutes of easy work any idiot could do with very basic hand tools. They were well aware of this and they did not bat an eye.

When you do this type of service, you have to take into account the jobs you are putting on hold, the extra office time dealing with these people, the waiting on th check, and yes, take some advantage of the "emergency" nature of the situation, but don't get carried away.


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## ryanshull (Nov 1, 2012)

I quit doing that type of work, but I kick myself in the a$$ for it, cuz I could be sending some 18 year old out in a little s-10 work truck with a set of allen wrenches, a cordless drill and some super glue, pay him $8 and hour, and keep working the big jobs myself.

Thats right, super glue. I went out on one job that took half a day to drive there and back, and the only tool I needed was super glue. Easiest money I ever made.

Money is "amoral" -- meaning it is neither good or bad. *Do not feel guilty for making it*.


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## TMDC (Jun 2, 2012)

I wouldn't feel guilty for charging a minimum or emergency fee. Its extra work and could disrupt your regular schedule for current customers. People pay extra at theme parks for speed passes.


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## Greg from K/W (Jan 28, 2010)

I used to charge a set amount for a service call and include 1 hour of work for it. If it was under that was fine it was stilled charged that amount. If it went over then I would charge my regular rate after the first hour. I felt that was fair and so did my clients. 

Some companies around here charge a set service fee don't include any labour for that fee and charge as soon as they pull in the driveway their hourly rate. 

I wouldn't feel bad about it. My service fee was 150% my hourly rate. It would pay for the gas my truck tools and the mileage on the truck. Why not.


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## A-1 Interiors (Oct 12, 2011)

I have received those calls as well and as soon as i researched the company i found many many claims of them not paying the contractors but simply screw them and move on to the next guy willing to front the materials and labor and wait 60 plus days 
next time they called i told them i required up front payment for all emergency service work up to the agreed amount and invoice for any changes due upon completion 
They seem to have moved on ?

Research the company ,set your terms and get it in wrighting,


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## oaks renovation (Jun 16, 2007)

For me it really depends on the situation. I was called out for an emergency plumbing repair last Saturday at 2pm after I just got home from a really good friend of mine's funeral. He had been a friend of mine for 10 years and was also my A/C sub.

The lady that called me is 84 yrs old and owns a gasket company that I do a ton of work for. Her husband has terminal cancer. It was a leaky pipe elbow in the wall right where the top plate of the wall meets the joists.

Anyway a few sawsall cuts, a few cuss words and pex pipe later I had the problem solved. Was a total of about six hours. I was really torn between charging extra for being called out in the state of mind I was in and the old folks situation.

All in all I had to charge extra for the Saturday evening emergency call out. Hated to, but business is business.


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## ryanshull (Nov 1, 2012)

A-1 INTERIORS said:


> i found many many claims of them not paying the contractors but simply screw them and move on to the next guy willing to front the materials and labor and wait 60 plus days


Oh yeah, now I remember why I quit doing that. We had a contract that stated I would be paid within 30 days of invoice, the first time it took more than 30 days, I wrote a firm e-mail, and made a phone call or two. Once I got my last check they quit contacting me. I am a harda$$ when it comes to getting paid. It was still cushy work.


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## dave_k (Sep 28, 2010)

I used to do maintenance and construction services for a couple of national retailers. 

Besides maintenance the services include site surveys to confirm dimension and report on site conditions prior to a construction project and store closings where I would the fixtures out of the store and remove all signage and branding and leave the store in the condition as speced in the lease.

It's been a few years so the numbers are dated. I would charge a service call rate of $125 for showing up on the job for maintenance. You can only charge that if your showing up to solve a problem and that's because you have to make sure that you have the proper tools and supplies for the job. The clock starts running from the minute I leave the shop and that rate covers the first hour. I charged a labour rate of $75/hr/man at that time 10% markup on materials, subs at scratch but I got paid for dealing with them.

I got travel time and mileage for out of town work but I charge the labour rate of $75/hr in those cases. Call any service M&E or even appliance repair service and you'll find the same billing structure.

I've never had my bills questions, they always paid on time. I've travelled 3 hours both ways to change a drawer slide, it took 15 minutes in the store but I charged an hour to take parking into account. They know exactly how long it takes me to do the work, this retailer has a live security feed to their head office, so they watched me work and I know they were watching me because the phoned the store to tell them a jewellery case next to me was left unlocked. 

If you have trouble getting paid find a better class of client. There are retailers that have been slow or difficult to collect from. I just stop doing business with them if that's the case. Well managed retailers appreciate good service, the cheap ones are going to get what they pay for. You can always tell who the cheap retailers are by looking close at the details in their store. They get the cheap architect, the cheap GC's and the cheap subs and it shows in the work.


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## Walty (Feb 21, 2012)

Thanks everyone. I figured with a 30 min commute, 15 min trying to find a manager, 15 min repair, and 30 min of phone calls/emails, 2 hours is close enough...


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## cairnstone (Oct 26, 2008)

Doing retail facility maintenance is like anything else. I am a vendor for 6 different companies at the moment. Most pay between 30-45 days. The worse part of dealing with facility work is the pile of paper to keep track of. 6 different ways in which sign offs and pictures need to be taken care of. A lot of my work for repairs comes pre priced attached to a work order. If the job will be more than a couple of hours you need to call and get approvals. Also the odd time there are call backs because a different manger wants something repaired different. I charge a flat rate regardless if my tools come out as you need to cover time spent in traffic and overhead. I also do store surveys as they lead to more repair work in the future. The biggest problem is when you juggle jobs to meet there demands. As they all believe you are there just for them. Also each different store has a different idea on what tasks cost and you may get instant approval and others need quotes for minor repairs


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## TurnkeyConst (Feb 14, 2007)

Hey guys I know this is an old post but I have a good one for you, we are currently working to figure out the pricing:

Wednesday evening I was called just before dinner asking could I perform a miracle. Mind you this work had to be completed in 9 days. Starting on a Friday night after materials were delivered and finishing Monday a week away by 8am. Mind you I was committed to working on a home to have ready in 3 weeks for my clients to move in. So I told them I would try my best to perform "said miracle" as it was for one of my good clients.

Scope of work:
Construct 36' x 29' Clean Rooms 10' high with 3 rooms and a corridor all out of National Partition Metal/foam/metal panels and then B- Deck steel roofing and drop ceilings. None of which I knew right away until we arrived Friday night. We have all the walls constructed and I was informed the electrician was supposed to install UPS receptacles in the modular frame. Well he was not able to get there so upon advisement of our electrician we installed the armor cable through the post channels. This took 7 more hours and after issue and issue we finished the project working nights and weekends. We ended up with 97 total job hours (Mind you we worked on my residential project 36 hours during the days) and I had on average 6 - 11 guys per night constructing the building.

Tonight I found out they spoke with over 30 contractors who said it was not possible, the millionaires who invested in the project were informed that they may not be completed, those guys setup a meeting to tell everyone it wouldn't be completed and this past Monday morning they got a call saying it was completed on time. The news crews and millionaire investors are all touring the project tomorrow afternoon.

Now I have been asked to review all of the contracts associated with the project to see who was responsible for what so changes can be made.

The difficulty is that I explained in the beginning it would be a night and weekend project, its the only time I had to try and make it happen. So I read the quote about money is amoral above and that this is business. They needed something done and there was no time for a quote. I completed a project with my team no one else could fathom could be completed. Why do I feel torn, Ive been recommended that my cost should be 6 figures for making it happen. To feel conflicted really sucks in the money process but its one of those times where everyone around has basically said its a name my price and they will pay deal. 595 individual man hours were invested into the project. 

Sub trades who were contracted by the company are now in doing the permitted electrical and hvac. They've been working for 3 days and havent even gotten half of it done. We provided the electrical modular wiring hooked up and tested as you can see the lights are on.

Whats your thoug




























ths if you have any?


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