Who said I didn't know what my operating cost is? haha Our rates are balanced with our calculated operating cost, the market, and what we think is fair and equitable. We live in society today where the consumer is much smarter about the price of goods and services. I'm not going to double or triple my rates to anyone. You guys have a great day, and a Merry Christmas, and I appreciate your willingness to try and help me.....
Maximizing daily billable hours
- Thread starter Mule
- Start date
- Status
Who said I didn't know what my operating cost is? haha Our rates are balanced with our calculated operating cost, the market, and what we think is fair and equitable. We live in society today where the consumer is much smarter about the price of goods and services. I'm not going to double or triple my rates to anyone. You guys have a great day, and a Merry Christmas, and I appreciate your willingness to try and help me.....
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
Helpers often make service work expensive - especially for residential service work, as it is often really only a 1 man job. You either pass the cost of the unnecessary help on directly to the customer, which they generally will not like, or you eat that cost and pass it on indirectly with the rest of your overhead costs.Haha.......you can work 24/7 if you want
I start jobs all the time knowing they will not be finished the same day, but kind of have to factor in other information of each job before even starting them. I do have a battlefield of unfinished projects though which gets tough to manage at times, both for myself and the customers. When you are a small show it is hard to be everywhere at once, then in a few months you sometimes wonder what you will be doing next.
Today's society seems to prefer bullying one another, I say let them go elsewhere if that is what they want.
as far as caring if you got 8 billable hours? if you find you took only 3.5 hours then you may start to expect to be able to do that same task twice in a day but that may be a little unrealistic to do consistently. Your time is still a factor in business operations just not directly stated on the invoice in flat rate pricing.
Good question and has been up to debate before on here. I honestly don't see how you can do any such thing without at least a minimum service charge to start investigating the problem and then go from there depending on what was found. If you already spent significant time trying to find the problem and still haven't found it, that puts you in a hard position with some customers. This maybe doesn't happen with some customers like residential work. If you can't find a problem you may go to other options and eliminate the original wiring or something like that, but for some commercial or industrial customers it is not always that simple, but experience sometimes makes it go easier in those jobs.
I don't know that the consumer is necessarily smarter about the price of goods and services, the competition just got tougher. They have the ability to find out what it may cost elsewhere much easier than they used to and will use that against you to beat you down in price. They also don't always realize what they may not be getting from that lower price elsewhere that they may be getting from you, but the price tag is what wins most of the time.
I have come to the realization that if a customer doesn't like my price, I probably do not want them as a customer either. Let someone else do the job and we are both happy. Then they often call me sometime down the road when they have problems and they can't get along with "the other guy", or something along those lines.
The reason I have a helper/apprentice is because I have failing arches in my feet, and can no longer spend much time on ladders and/or walking ceiling joist. In addition, in our area, Plumbers, and HVAC folks all charge a good $25/hr more than the average Electrician. We, have decided, to charge the same as an Plumber or HVAC guy and supply two people to the customer, and we believe we provide a greater value as we get multiple tasks done with lesser average man/hr cost to the consumer, AND it helps with my partial handicap situation. I really don't make any extra money off the helper, but It does help keep my wages up as I'm no longer as valuable with my health issues.
I'm just trying to make our billable/hrs more productive more for my helper than myself as I believe he really deserves the right to have full time work. In truth for me, I'm completely happy with 5-6 billable hours per day...
So see there, there's always reasons behind what each of us choose to do, and there's just no "cookie cutter'' answer to how much, or what we charge to our customers.....
I'm just trying to make our billable/hrs more productive more for my helper than myself as I believe he really deserves the right to have full time work. In truth for me, I'm completely happy with 5-6 billable hours per day...
So see there, there's always reasons behind what each of us choose to do, and there's just no "cookie cutter'' answer to how much, or what we charge to our customers.....
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
I don't disagree with any of what you say, and though I am not really all that old yet, I am overweight some and have some limitations myself and have had some help in the past. Younger and more physically able guys are good assets, and yours or mine experience is still needed at times. When I was in more of a peak physical condition I definitely did not have the wisdom yet to take on some of what I do now.
ramsy
Roger Ruhle dba NoFixNoPay
- Location
- LA basin, CA
- Occupation
- Service Electrician 2020 NEC
Are part-time helpers exempt from workers comp. in your State?
I know part-time help is excluded from employee benefits & health ins. in most States.
My retirement is a bullet for my gun, because in my State part-time helpers requires prohibitively-expensive workers comp. insurance.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
An employee is an employee and workers comp is necessary. Just because they work less hours doesn't mean they can not be injured, disabled or killed, though less hours may reduce the assessed risk of such incidents and reduce insurance premium amounts.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
:?
WC is for covering job related injuries, I fail to see why family size has anything to do with that.
As far as full time Vs part time, WC is generally based on payroll data as well as type of tasks that are part of the job, construction and construction related trades are some of the higher risk areas so that drives the premium up some.
Every year my WC policy is audited, they primarily want payroll info, or any changes in employee tasks from what was on record. The premiums paid were based on estimates, at the end of the audit period they examine what did happen and you either pay or get a refund depending how accurate the estimated premiums were. Not submitting employee status changes during the audit period is what will make the biggest difference at the audit. Should you give them a raise or offer more hours than was suggested for estimating purposes you will be short on premium at the end of the audit period.
Perhaps I didn't word that right......a family of 5 or less that ARE ALL WORKING in the business are exempt from workers compensation IF they choose to take the exemption.
Here's the link, see item #10...
http://www.ok.gov/odol/documents/WCFAQ.pdf
Here's the link, see item #10...
http://www.ok.gov/odol/documents/WCFAQ.pdf
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kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
That makes more sense. Even partnerships or other similar arrangements would not necessarily require WC either. In general if someone gets a W-2 they are an employee, and need to be covered, it they get a 1099, it is more complicated and may or may not require WC.
StarCat
Industrial Engineering Tech
- Location
- Moab, UT USA
- Occupation
- Imdustrial Engineering Technician - HVACR Electrical and Mechanical Systems
Billable Hours
Billable Hours
I worked for the second largest HVAC shop in a very large city.
The way they ran dispatch was exact and there was not a minute lost if a Tech was in his truck.
Time starts when you " strike " out for your first job. Yes that travel time is your time and should be billed for.
Time for the first call stops right after you get the ticket signed and then head for the next job which is exactly where your time starts for that job.
Every minute of the Tech's day is accounted for and billed out.
Its all logged on computers and its bloody exact. With respect to billing, especially in the residential end of things there are a lot a bad boundaries and assumptions that people don't ever want to confront directly because they are in fear of things that should not be a problem.
You have to lay down a no nonsense policy of how things are going to be run and stick to it. This will weed out the kind of customer you don't want and don't need in the process. That i,s the ones who think that all of these labors, expertise, and materials are some kind of god given entitlement that they are going to evade paying for in any way they can.
All the best
Billable Hours
I worked for the second largest HVAC shop in a very large city.
The way they ran dispatch was exact and there was not a minute lost if a Tech was in his truck.
Time starts when you " strike " out for your first job. Yes that travel time is your time and should be billed for.
Time for the first call stops right after you get the ticket signed and then head for the next job which is exactly where your time starts for that job.
Every minute of the Tech's day is accounted for and billed out.
Its all logged on computers and its bloody exact. With respect to billing, especially in the residential end of things there are a lot a bad boundaries and assumptions that people don't ever want to confront directly because they are in fear of things that should not be a problem.
You have to lay down a no nonsense policy of how things are going to be run and stick to it. This will weed out the kind of customer you don't want and don't need in the process. That i,s the ones who think that all of these labors, expertise, and materials are some kind of god given entitlement that they are going to evade paying for in any way they can.
All the best
- Status