Service agreement form

[GUNNING]

Anybody have or want to share a service agreement form? I need a form I can get the preliminaries out of the way when I do a service call. Date time costs either flat rate or time and material labor rates what is covered what are contingencies etc....
I've been stiffed by the last few customers and I need help in changing my system and procedures.
I have a tendency of jumping onto a job before I get the costs covered or at least explored. Got any good ideas on how to approach this?

 

[petersonra]

Anybody have or want to share a service agreement form? I need a form I can get the preliminaries out of the way when I do a service call. Date time costs either flat rate or time and material labor rates what is covered what are contingencies etc....
I've been stiffed by the last few customers and I need help in changing my system and procedures.
I have a tendency of jumping onto a job before I get the costs covered or at least explored. Got any good ideas on how to approach this?

I think you are too worried about form over function.

Just make sure your customers accept the idea that service is performed on a T&M basis or a flate rate basis and clearly state this up front.

Customers may not be stiffing you so much as they think you quoted them a price and then tried to charge them more.

A lot of service companies seem to be pretty vague about what they are going to charge and customers really hate surprises, especially when the surprise costs them bunch more money then they expected.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard complaints about this kind of thing from people I know. A company will tell them a service call is $95. sounds great. What they don't say is that it is $95 for the guy to pull up to their door and only includes 15 minutes of actual time on the job, and additional time is $25 a quarter hour.

 

[GUNNING]

Ive been getting people that will ask for a bunch of work then say "$65 is too much to install those $235 light fixtures and those outlets are too low would you raise them up 2 inches...."
I need better defined scope of work tactics. My customers are getting slippery about what was agreed to be done and when payment is expected and for how much.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Anybody have or want to share a service agreement form? I need a form I can get the preliminaries out of the way when I do a service call. Date time costs either flat rate or time and material labor rates what is covered what are contingencies etc....
I've been stiffed by the last few customers and I need help in changing my system and procedures.
I have a tendency of jumping onto a job before I get the costs covered or at least explored. Got any good ideas on how to approach this?

i've gone to flat rate pricing for most everything. if it's something where
i can't define the scope of the work, i.e. troubleshooting, i explain that
the cost is $75 an hour, plus whatever parts i use.

and the truth is, work life is measured in half day increments.

this morning, before i start work, i have a (single, one, 1, solitary)
ballast to change, for a good customer. it's a flat rate, and doesn't
do much besides pay for the fuel and the ballast. i'm sure not
adjusting my quarterly tax reports based on them....

however, this is an excellent customer, who has gone far out of his
way to put me in front of quality customers. if i had to change them
for free, it'd be worth it, 'cause i'm the guy he calls when he needs
something done, or one of his customers does. he's a good customer,
and his customers are good customers.

most folks are pretty honest. when they have a hairball, it's cause
they didn't know going in what it's gonna cost. i'd park the boilerplate,
and just make sure they understand what you are gonna do, and what
it's gonna cost them before you fire up the service truck.

 

[Rewire]

to run a profitable service truck based on four billable hours a day you should be in the $175 - $250 hr range. to do this you need a well prepared flat rate book. next you need a system that covers everything from parking your truck on the street(never park in the drive) to clean up and every step in between. If you do the same thing at each customer you will find these issues will go away as you improve your system. Write down how you aproach a service call with as much detail as possible,what do you carry in to the door ,do you use shoe covers,do you knock or ring the bell , get detailed.

 

[GUNNING]

W e I r D S t U f F

W e I r D S t U f F

I do that, I think, or I'm getting old and forget the check list.
The last few customers I have had toss the receipt down and ask for more work then forget who I am at the end and or leave town. It is getting frustrating and usually ends in lawyer letters and threats and me getting paid 1/2 of what is owed. I think maybe the word is out on me and I need to get hard ball on my customers.
The job I am on now there is a lot of joking around about costs and the customer is literally chasing me around with his high dollar dimmer switches before the plasterer gets there, to put them in. Wall board isn't even up or finished. They are cutting holes in the walls for windows that are not there. Its not a high pressure job just weird. The kitchen light has a Bodine in it. Its a used fixture and it was already wired in and hooked up. Emits a ghostly glow after it is turned off and I do not want to fix it till I get paid something.
Got to get a handle on timing and expectations. I understand the tail wagging the dog kinda jobs and this is one of them. I figure if I had an agreement upfront I can whip it out and shove it at them, figuratively speaking of course.
Maybe something that looks like a pamphlet....

This one lost me a contractor I have known for 17 years, he is laid back, nice & easy going, with a great experienced older crew (eh Bro?) . Customer is running amok. Got another one with the son in law doing the work and wants to be a contractorbut not yet. Weird stuff.
Need systems and procedures in place for the new generation of contractors/homeowners.

 

[GUNNING]

check list

check list

I do have a few general rules. Use the front door no mater how many spider webs. Have a business card and give it t the customer. Wear the tee shirt with the big logo on front and back and smell good. Ask the customer specifically what is the problem and why am I their today and carry a flash light, screwdriver, & Klines. When I am there and see the problem I can give them an estimate on time and what the problem probably is and what I am going to do. I avoid price (value). Just doesn't get into the conversation. By then I have already spent the time gas and assets to get there why queer the deal if they did not ask by then. I think If I had a tool like a pamplet with a service agreement on costs time etc.... Can't do the boiler plate because I don't know why I am there.

Need a better entrance to seal the deal.

 

[Fulthrotl]

By then I have already spent the time gas and assets to get there why queer the deal if they did not ask by then.

AH! eureka.... if you are dealing with a cold call, then
they have spoken on the phone unless you are psychic.
i suggest you qualify people more before investing the
time and fuel to go lookie see....

last thursday, in the course of the days work, i got three
requests for pricing from existing customers. i use invoice2go,
on the ipad, so i get the details of what they wanted, make
up a number, and send a quote.... did two of them on my
iphone stuck in traffic on the 55 freeway, going to the wholesale
house. looked like this:

Provide five 2' x 4' lights in T Bar
ceiling in conference room- office
remodel. provide two 120 volt
outlets in same area.

modify existing wiring to facilitate
this.

will they have me do it? who knows?
i didn't burn up 2 hours and $25 worth
of diesel in the process, however.

i quote all work, before i do anything.
the invoice2go app works great for this.
you get their contact info in the ipad, and
just type out what you are gonna do, and
how much they are gonna give you to do
it, we both sign it, and it gets emailed to
each of us, with an embedded signature.
the ipad also geotags the location it was
signed at.

it's pretty hard for someone to complain
when it was signed by them, in their living
room... it works for me.

the funny thing is, as soon as the work is
done, i convert the estimate to an invoice,
and email it to them... people just seem
to pay it immediately. i have a paypal link
on it, so they can use a CC, or they can
use a CC with my ipad and squarup.

i've gotten stiffed for one check, for $6k,
once. that's it for 35 years.

haven't needed boilerplate, yet.

 

[Ponchik]

I signed up with this company and am very happy with their product. And I have changed the way i do business.
I charge a service call fee for going out and analyze the problem, then give them a written quote based on the electrical program and once the price is approved then i start the work.

I make sure that they understand that my pricing is flat rate and is a national standard price. When they ask "how long will it take", I will answer "as long as it takes me to the best job so you & i can be comfortable with the results".

Now if they don't approve the estimate i collect the service call fee and be on my way.

Of course if it is a large job then is no service call fee. I will go out for free to do an estimate.

 

[Fulthrotl]

I signed up with this company and am very happy with their product. And I have changed the way i do business.
I charge a service call fee for going out and analyze the problem, then give them a written quote based on the electrical program and once the price is approved then i start the work.

I make sure that they understand that my pricing is flat rate and is a national standard price. When they ask "how long will it take", I will answer "as long as it takes me to the best job so you & i can be comfortable with the results".

Now if they don't approve the estimate i collect the service call fee and be on my way.

Of course if it is a large job then is no service call fee. I will go out for free to do an estimate.

jim's cool, and offers an excellent service.... a lot of my stuff doesn't fit into niches,
but if it did, i'd be all over his service.

tomorrow morning at 5 am, i'm separating the control station from a commercial kitchen brazer, and
relocating it, after we bootleg it with 480 to make sure it works...

all the prints, instructions and troubleshoooting info is in italian.
there are some things that only work on time and material.... not a flat rate day. :happyno:

 

[GUNNING]

Its all in the interview. The closing.

Its all in the interview. The closing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcmfhvJKj_U

Just saw this guy talk.
480v bootleg ... Might want to have some distance.

You are right about T&M
I think I am on the right track about figuring out my problem. Got some good advice today and a hand out.
I'm going to make a check list of all the things I do and what makes me money and what doesn't.

I am going to rearrange my business model to only do things that make money and reset the way I interview a phone call and qualify potential customers calls so that it introduces price before we get to when. That way I stay in control and not the other way around.
The piece that is missing is to define the issue, prequalify by getting a credit card number or responsible party, set costs out. No more Mr. nice guy "just reset that GFCI in the garage" stuff.
I got a call today from a slum lord that wanted me to call his maintenance man and tell him how to wire in a plug AND RECEPTACLE for a new stove. Gave me the maintenance guys name and phone number. He was irked when I didn't call back long distance interrupting what I was doing. This goes on the check list.

I need to keep in mind its not my emergency nor my problem. This creates demand which increases profit.:jawdrop:
I also need to look at material costs and where and when that happens. This is going to be fun.

 

[templdl]

Regardless of how you intend to price/quote a job, you price it with what ever is customary for you, it is best to write a detailed proposal which describles if a fairly detailed way what work will be included. If it must include dimensional locations where items are to be mounted/installed include it so that there is no questions after the job is completed. You need to avoid a he said/she said situation by making things very clear up front.
The contract can also be used as a tick list.
Then how often have you been involved in a job where the customer wants you to do some additional work and may assume that you will include it for free because you are there? It has been my practice that I complete what I was contracted to do first and any additional work that would be preformed the clock either starts ticking at the time plus material or you provide a quote to be agreed upon for the additional work before you proceed.