Les, most (90%) of what I do is T&M, as you guys know. How am I losing money?
If I get a call, while I am at one job, and have to leave to take care of someone one else. I bill T&M, point to point. You have to bill from the time you get the call, until you get back to the job and start working again. Otherwise,(this is where we agree) you will lose billable hrs.
Being fast or slow?
Both have some drawbacks. Being quick may decrease billable hrs, but it builds customer confidence, and then the most important, word of mouth advertising. That customer tells his/hers friends. Even if I lost 1/2hr of billable time, from here to there, I gained it in advertising.
Being slow, could lead to customer dissatisfaction, and scheduling headaches. But can increase biillable hrs.
This is where knowing your customer base is vitally important.
My customer base wants their problems fixed quick. Downtime is expensive. It can be $1000's/hr to them. They don't care (to an extent) what I charge. They look at lost time and production.
Same can be said about residential customers. Some may be at home all day, and really don't care how long things take. They are there all day. On the flip side, some may have to schedule themselves there, and want it fixed as quickly as possible.
So let's agree on this. T&M run wrong can lead to loses. Contract pricing run wrong can lead to loses.
Both run right, can be prosperous....
