I am in New Jersey, so contract, or as some are calling it flat rate pricing, is nothing new to us, the laws here require us to have a contract, for all our work with consumers, with commercial or industrial we can do either contract or T&M, the service end of electrical work, requires a higher rate to support the cost of doing service type jobs, unlike planned work, service has schedule problems, and non billed hours, and many other traps, that if not properly addressed, will cause losses, rather then profits, i think we all tried to bill out service work, at hourly rates, and never realized we were loosing money, because most of us, never tracked jobs, or did actual reports, to see if we made a profit on a job.
The customers you will loose, by charging a rate that will enable you to stay in business, are not the ones you need, you are not gouging the customer, only asking them to pay, your operating and overhead, plus a decent wage, to provide them with the best services, to resolve their problem.
Just one more thing, the next time you take your truck in for a repair, when they present you with the bill, tell them you will be right back, go to the bank, and ask the teller to give you that amount in one dollar bills, then go back to the repair shop, and pay the bill, by counting out each dollar bill, this may help you better understand the cost of service work, and remember you brought the truck there, he did not come to you.
[This message has been edited by LK (edited 01-15-2006).]
