Service call price

Status
Not open for further replies.

electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
Cadpoint I just read the old thread and you as well as the others in the thread are right.
Sometimes I forget the basics. The cost will be what I have to have to get it done .Even more obvious now, some of the factors that help determine that price , I dont know which means its not a good idea for me to be deciding what it will cost.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
 

Ravenvalor

Senior Member
Cadpoint I just read the old thread and you as well as the others in the thread are right.
Sometimes I forget the basics. The cost will be what I have to have to get it done .Even more obvious now, some of the factors that help determine that price , I dont know which means its not a good idea for me to be deciding what it will cost.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

Seeing what people are willing to pay for electrical services is a good step towards deciding what you can charge.
 

electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
Seeing what people are willing to pay for electrical services is a good step towards deciding what you can charge.
Yea solving the problem starting with the answer first and working backwards can be done. Although that method leads to competing with myself and the competition instead of finding my own price and living by it.

Sent from my LGLS770 using Tapatalk
 

Ponchik

Senior Member
Location
CA
Occupation
Electronologist
Taking a sales class will really help. Understanding the sales psychology is also very important.

Most of us are technicians before we are sales people. But we need to reverse that and become sales person then a technician.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Taking a sales class will really help. Understanding the sales psychology is also very important.

Most of us are technicians before we are sales people. But we need to reverse that and become sales person then a technician.

Then you find some businesses (not just electrical business either) that have sales people that have little or no idea what some of the services involve. Not saying they don't have any success, but it makes it harder on some of those involved when a sales guy promises a client something that is about impossible to pull off, or at least at the cost they sold it for.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Cadpoint I just read the old thread and you as well as the others in the thread are right.
Sometimes I forget the basics. The cost will be what I have to have to get it done .Even more obvious now, some of the factors that help determine that price , I dont know which means its not a good idea for me to be deciding what it will cost.

excellent place to start is here:

http://www.ellenrohr.com/the-bare-bones-biz-plan/

flat rate pricing is the best way i've found to do this thing.
depending on your circumstances, making an adequate living
is going to put you well above $125 an hour.

well above.

don't believe me? do the worksheets and you'll see
what your own numbers come in at per billable hour to do ok.
 

Ponchik

Senior Member
Location
CA
Occupation
Electronologist
Then you find some businesses (not just electrical business either) that have sales people that have little or no idea what some of the services involve. Not saying they don't have any success, but it makes it harder on some of those involved when a sales guy promises a client something that is about impossible to pull off, or at least at the cost they sold it for.

I agree adn I have been in situations where the salesman had promised retrofit remodel cans in a ceiling that is made out of concrete.

However, what I am trying to say is to be a successful business owner one must understand the sales process. Otherwise we are just technicians.

Second, you can not base your pricing on what the market or the people will pay. You can charge $$$$ for the "similar" job that JoeBlo will only charge $, as long as the client sees the difference, the benefit and the value.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Not getting any jobs is also a good way to go broke.
True, but no jobs at all closes the doors much faster then having just slight loss on a consistent basis. If you have a fair amount of equity in the business, those slight losses eat away at that equity and takes time to use it up, no jobs at all eats up that equity fast if you are still paying all the overhead costs but getting no income at all.

When times are slow some will do jobs at a lower price - just to have something to do - but they can't always afford to do that if there isn't enough equity to ride through the slow time. Everyone's situation is different, but over enough time there is still more significant net profit and losses.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
Seeing what people are willing to pay for electrical services is a good step towards deciding what you can charge.

That's also a good way to go broke.

Not getting any jobs is also a good way to go broke.

As has been said, only you can determine what you have to charge to break even then make a profit based on your particular financial situation.

Make no mistake, the customer doesn't care one bit about you or whether you stay in business one day after finishing his job. He is only interested in what he can get out of you for the least amount of money.

-Hal
 

Ponchik

Senior Member
Location
CA
Occupation
Electronologist
As has been said, only you can determine what you have to charge to break even then make a profit based on your particular financial situation.

Make no mistake, the customer doesn't care one bit about you or whether you stay in business one day after finishing his job. He is only interested in what he can get out of you for the least amount of money.

-Hal

You will always have clients as Hibiss described.But Not every customer is that way.
It will depend how you communicate, how you carry yourself so you can turn that one time customer who is all about cheap into a customer who wants a long term relationship and will pay extra for better value.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I guess that's the difference between California and New York.

-Hal
I have both kinds of clients here. Not sure which ones are more abundant, but seems to be those that want cheap - but that is mostly for residential work, and some light commercial if you stay out of those markets you get more that see the value of what you do and will be more willing to pay for that value.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top