ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion Service calls

Checkout flat rate plus at mrhvac.com. It is a good system and you can print your own books right away to get started and then spend some time making any necessary changes or additions. I used it for two years until I joined a group that supplied us with a new pricing system. We still use it from time to time for specialty pricing that I added to the book. It was a great investment.

P.S. If you go to flat rate you can base your costs at 150.00/hr and you don't have tell the customer your hourly rate, because you are not billing by the hour anymore.
Win, win!!!

I checked out Mrhvac about there flat rate but didn't have the money to invest or the interest in it yet, but they will not leave me alone. They call about every two weeks and keep sending me info. I know how to contact them if I am interested so STOP CALLING! When places keep calling me like that it drivrs me away and makes me want not to use them no matter how good they are. I've stopped answering there calls so I hope they got the clue. Maybe next year I will give them a call back.

I have had a couple of pricing systems, and there's has been the best that is sold to the public. I hemmed and hauled, to make the jump inot fla rate, but when I did, I could not believe the difference it made. The paid for itself almost immediately. Remember the old saying, "you have to spend money to make money.
I don't want to sound like a sales pitch, but check out youresi.com. It is a group for electrical service companies and they offer the comlete gambit for running an electrical service company. They have about 200 businesses involved of which I am one of them. They give us the pricing system and all kinds of tools for marketing, setting up a truck, a shop, an office, etc. They also give us access to some of the best training and software in the industry. It is not cheap, but it well worth the investment. We have alot of onr and two man shops that say the rewards of joining and the additional profits far out way the costs. We even had a company join who was almost out of business and about 100K in debt besides late with taxes. He joined as a last ditch effort at the advice of a plumber who was a member of its sister group PSI. He was out of debt in six months, paid all his taxes, and began to finally see a profit. What a testimony.

I am not going to fill this site with ESI hype, but if anyone wants to talk further you can email me at rick@bruderelectric.com and I will be happy to speak with you. Again, I am a member and not on staff, so this is not a sales pitch, just my experience.

Wow Rick, you charge $150/hr. And you can hide that in these pricing sheets.

How long has this technique worked, I am still an old T&M guy, and am looking for a way to increase my rates, but I am afraid of sticker shocking customers.

What is your material mark-up on these sheets and how does that get hid?

While you may have to spend money to make money, you don't have to spend it for Flat Rate Plus at Easy Street, Inc. (Mr. HVAC). Their roots are in HVAC, and it doesn't translate well. If you've ever seen a tin-bender wire an air conditioner, you know what I mean.

I'm going to start a new thread on creating your own sales book for a flat-rate system in the hopes that you don't go through the disappointment I did with Flat Rate Plus at Mr. HVAC.

BTW, the gentleman that runs Mr. HVAC and Easy Street, Inc. is a top quality businessman. He has wonderful ideas on the video that came with Flat Rate Plus. These same ideas are at pmmag.co , a magazine for plumbers with many articles on using a flat-rate system.

Things like...have a nice uniform, clean truck, look people in the eye, act professional, be on time, keep your promises, warranty your work, return your calls, be available, etc. Good business translates to any business.

As far as price goes, do you want to be a package of freeze-dried coffee at the supermarket, or a $2 cup at the mall. People buy both willingly. Of course a $2 cup better come with clean shoes and a smile.

Set your rates wherever they need to be for your business to be profitable. The typical fear that your customers will abandon you if you raise your rates...typically don't happen at all.

Dave

Dave good luck on that monumental task that you are about to endeavor on. My time is worth a whole lot more than spending months redisigning the wheel. Flat rate plus isn't perfect,none are, but with about 40 hours in it revisions I had a top notch database. As far as a freeze dried package, I can count on one hand the amount of guys in our area using flat rate. Most believe it won't work.

I will admit that I do not use Flat Rate plus anymore, due to the fact I am invloved in a group that uses a different type of up-front pricing system, and they gave it to us as part of our membership. But we will use it as a suplement when needed.

Now as far as hiding my labor rate. We sell a panel at a set rate. Or an outlet replacement at a set rate. This price has been achieved by determining what it costs per hour per man to operate my company. We are a service company only and not a contracting company, so my operating expenses are alot higher than most. After determining that we usually double the material and a small profit margin to that. Usually 10 - 12%. The customer now pays for the task so it doesn't matter how long it takes. Some times we make out well other times we lose out, but it averages out in the end.

Keep in mind that when you go to McDonald's for your meal your actually paying what amounts to $275.00/hr. They just don't tell you that.

Dave, one other thing about Flat Rate Plus, the software itself is very user friendly to allow you to make the book exactly the way you want it. The only real beef I had with it waws that if you use the same task in different areas of the book, you have to create a seperate task for each page. Other than that I was able to make alot changes with very little effort.

What do you mean you sell a panel at a set rate?

How much can you possibly sell a panel for?

If the customer needs a new 200 Amp panel, we have actually two set prices. One for flush mount and one for surface mount. It is always going to be the same unless the conditions are extreme. This does not cover every type of breaker such as GFI or AFI. They are extra. The rest of teh service would be priced in an itemized fashion so that we can cover most every set of conditions. These prices are in printed books so that the customer can actually see the prices.

I see, but what is the difference in price.

If a 200a upgrade is about $500 in parts and it takes a guy 6 hrs to do, I charge around $1100.

How much can you charge with your flat pricing?

Are you sitting down?

We sell a 200 amp service from 3-4k depending on the conditions. We have done 6 this week.

Keep in mind, that flat rate pricing isn't just going in and gouging our customers. We have strict systems in place that start with our CSR who answers the phone, all the wat to our 100% guarantee that we have in writing and give to our customers. My men can't even smoke or swear on the site or the work is free. Among alot of other things