ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion Rate book detail

I have a union shop, for what that is worth...

Why are you estimating $500 jobs? I guess if that is your business model and it works then who am I to say anything? But every successful service model I have seen is strictly T&M.

I dunno maybe I am not looking hard enough.

These franchises use flat rate pricing.
I would say they are quite successful. http://clockworkhomeservices.com/

I don't think it's because your not looking hard enough. I think it's because your not looking at all.

[This message has been edited by A-Line (edited 01-27-2007).]

[This message has been edited by A-Line (edited 01-27-2007).]

t&m is a bad business model for residential service.

it leads to surprises for the customer and lost profits for the contractor.

look into it a little.

we don't so much estimate these jobs as we just let the customer know before we start what the total cost will be.

this allows them to make the decision whether they are good financially before we invest the labor and materials to do the job. No more "if i knew it was going to be that expensive, i would not have had it done"

it also allows us to make the money we need without having to drag the job out because of some low hourly rate. We could never generate $1000+materials/8 hr day with one man in a truck on T&M.

T&M still works with commercial, but not so much with residential.

look into these people - Frank Blau, Maurice Maio, Ellen Rohr, Patrick Kennedy.

They are just a couple of the people that have been advocating flat rate systems for years.
www.youresi.com www.nexstarnetwork.com

sorry to get off topic jps....

I hope it works you, but I gave up residential work years ago; home owners drive me nuts.

ito,

good luck with that. you should still look into those links aline and i posted.

it's gonna start to find it's way into the commercial service sector real soon. we already use it there quite a bit.

factories, warehouses, retail, big box....we do them all...some with flat rate...some with T&M. i make more with flat rate and those customers are happier.

"it's gonna start to find it's way into the commercial service sector real soon. we already use it there quite a bit."

Eric, by the way you told me a year ago, the guy up the street would be eating everyones lunch, just to let you know he is not just eating our lunch, he is hiring and putting on more trucks, he is doing both resi and commercial, and his flat rates are twice our rates, and to add insult to injury, the guys that said he will not last, the T&M old thinkers, are cutting back men and trucks, you called that one right, was funny how everyone said these people here, will not pay those kinds of prices, now they see him all over town and can't figure how he is getting all the business, i think it's because they feel more comfortable knowing the price, the ones we had in town would do T&M and leave the customer in unknown land.

That's why I'm looking to get away from any T&M. The only time I've ever had problems with homeowners is with T&M. If I took the time to bid it out, no problems, but with the smaller stuff it's just not worth it the time. A rate book should help there. I don't mind small jobs as long as they're profitable.

Thanks for all the input. It's been very helpful. I will revisit this again soon or start a new thread later. Right now I'm playing with the demo LK refered to AyaNova. The more I look at it, the more features I find. Custom fields, totally customizable reports, and everything is indexed so you can almost google your database. As soon as my trial runs out I'm going to buy if only to schedule and use inventory, but I'm convinced I can use the rest of the features once I get familiar.

JPS,

Just let me know when you get your key, I will send you base data and some templates for electrical, so you get off to a good start, I really like the workorders, and the ability to slide the scheduled jobs around it's a real plus, you can add or delete the price book part and custom it your own way.

We still can't figure how they can give you a $3000 program for $145, we looked at every service software package out there before finding Aya


[This message has been edited by LK (edited 01-31-2007).]