Hi everyone I was wondering if I were to ask what your average service call would bring in total gross sales. this would be for residential work.
also same question but for the comm guys out there to.
now I know alot can go into the "average" but thought I ask.
thanks for your time.

Are you asking for average invoice in residential service (not new construction)?

Dave

yes basicaly, and also commercial service to.

I think an experienced electrician should be able to find the cause of any residential problem within an hour. Driving there and back also has to be figured into the price. After determining what the problem is, have a price ready to fix it. Be sure to charge a minimum for your services of finding the problem and definitely collect some loot for that. Good luck.

"I think an experienced electrician should be able to find the cause of any residential problem within an hour."

In a perfect world maybe, non professional wiring, can be a real challange, for the best of us, buried boxes, bootleg circuits, DIY cable routing, that only superman can see, when you get one of these, pack a lunch and cancel your afternoon calls, these are usually the jobs, they call you for, about 30 to 40% of all our residential service calls are for problems with non professional work.

Well... Average call for my company now would be $600. Althoughwhen I was able to sort through calls in a bigger company that average went to high $900's. Keep in mind though I was tought how to be efficient and sell. BTW I agree with LK not always do calls take under an hour only the most common ones are.

[This message has been edited by electrictim510 (edited 10-02-2006).]

There are a few ways I could figure this, but the easiest is to count deposits, even though many of them were payouts on the same contract. Mine average $1450 this year.

Most of my troubleshoots are simple, but occasionally one takes a half day. If the wiring is pre-thermoplastic insulation I have a heart-to-heart talk with the homeowner about rewiring.

Dave

"average service call"

Is it an emergency call, same day service?

Next day service?

Service by appointment?

Scheduled Call?

Each, may have different costs.

Wow...I guess I must be getting some bad calls.

I do 90% residential service, and my AVERAGE call is usually in the $150.00 range. That's because I do a lot of fixture changes, receptacle replacements, etc. I only charge $65.00 for a ceiling fan replacement or single fixture replacement because I'm competing with Lowe's and Home Depot. I have found that this usually gets me repeat customers, though, so it is worth it. My most recent call was replacing two outdoor wall lanterns with customer-supplied lanterns. I charged $115.00 total and it only took me about 40 minutes and a little caulk.

These small jobs are my bread and butter, and the larger jobs of rewiring or building new services probably only account for about 20-30% of my total job volume (not sales volume). In other words, I do 8 small jobs for every 2 larger jobs. But I usually make more relative profit off of the small jobs than I do the big jobs.

Kevin

P.S. This is in Western Tennessee where the "average" electrician only charges between $35 and $65 an hour. My target hourly rate is $100.00. I do flat-rate, so it varies slightly from job-to-job.

I agree, the average of a residential service call is around $150.

Most of them are small, like mentioned. Add a plug, swap out a fixture, reset a breaker... or the ones I hate the most are, when I gotta tell a guy $75, when all i did was reset the GFCI in his garage... I ussually don't have the heart unless its a far drive.

[This message has been edited by mahlere (edited 10-06-2006).]

I hear alot about how service work is so great. I do alot of it but it seems to me that you would need many techs to get real any real money doing it. I would love to be able to get 300 to 600 per call but I can't get people to part with that kind of money to replace a gfci, change a coach light,etc. I would love to offer SAME DAY SERVICE but once again I am only one guy. My wife and kids would not really enjoy my going out every night either. You know "Work to live not live to work". If I am missing some secret time management strategy, Please let me know what it is, I seem to be running in all different directions and the money is not really flying in.

Bobbyho,

I'm just starting up my own contracting business again, after many years of working for other businesses.

Something that I have learned over the years, is that it is possible to find customers for any price range. Admittedly, I am trying to figure out how to attract the higher class of customer who is willing to pay more for really good service. So, I'd say, one key is to try to target your market to more of the better paying clientelle.

Also, although you can't charge $300-$600 for a GFCI change out or such, what other value added services could you offer to the customer? Could you suggest a panel upgrade - maybe that unsafe FPE should be changed out, or after you have installed the GFCI ask if they have any other items that have been bothering them that you could check out while you are there. If not, ask if you can send them information periodically? In this way you can keep in touch. Even ask if they have an email address, and if they would mind you contacting them by email periodically to stay in touch.

One of the marketing people that I am studying talks about the importance of the lifetime client. The client who once they start working with you and your business, becomes so loyal that all their friends hear about you and they call you back time and time again. But to win these customers over, you need to keep in touch with them. They need to learn that you are interested in them and they will keep you in mind.

Just my thoughts.

I believe there is a lot of money to be made even for a one man show.

sell, sell, sell. if you own your company, you are not an electrician, you are a salesman. simple as that

[This message has been edited by mahlere (edited 10-06-2006).]

BRAVO....

Marketting is the single most important aspect of a business.

Know your customers, find a niche.

Glenn, great post!

Following a home inspector,A DIY switch,plug change out,NO grounds on outlets. It took 2 hours to find where grounds where apart.
Bob O. 84,Pa.15330

Bob, sure you posted in the right spot?

Try this! I worked for a company that charged $100/hr. and mat. +200% All work was done pre quote.
What I found was that I would get about the same # of rejects as I would for a lesser price. I think that most people feel committed when they make the phone call.
Now that I am on my own I use a different lower rate structure. Once I am in a house I can Sell and typically turn a 1 hour job into a 3-4 hour job and walk away with $4-500 and references.
The money you take in is 1/3 from the work you are doing and 2/3's what extra work you can sell.

2old, I agree with you. That is what some guys just don't get about service . You will starve if you go just to do job at hand. Most of the work I do is stuff I recommended client to do. Alot of HO's don't think of things til you get there or you bring something up. This is why some people cannot cut it in service and especially up front pricing.

After 21 years the most important realizations for me were; my actual cost of business (figuring my overhead); that in residential service you only invoice for half of your time (2,000 hours/2 = 1,000 hours per year; my real job isn't as an electrician, it's as a salesperson. So, I added my overhead, divided it by 1,000, added a small profit and that became my hourly rate.

As is typical, this rate is higher than my old rate. To justify the new rate I called everyone in my client database & asked how I could improve my service. I also read what the top service contractors are doing. I also studied marketing.

As it turns out I was already doing most of it. I've always honored my warranties, been prompt, etc.

Anyway, my commercial is over. Charge what you have to, give top quality service, learn marketing and sales, and your average invoice may rise from $200 to $2,000.

Dave

electrictim, you hit the nail on the head. too many of us look to dash in, be a hero, dash out and on to the next one. we think we are doing right by a customer by fixing their problem quick.

but, as you have discovered, maybe we do better by the customer by slowing down and fixing all their issues, and not just the one they called about.

but, what do I know, I'm a self-agrandizing know it all

Guru.

Sorry, self-agrandizing 'guru' know it all