Are we really THAT bad off?

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Rawls007

Member
The new phone book came out the other day. So of course I go to the electrical contractor page to see my new add that I had recently upsized. Anyway, page one is a company that I've never heard of with a half page ad.

So and So Electric
$30 Service Calls
$35 an hour
1 hour minimum.



Now I'm no mathematician, but the way I figure it he's going to be working at least his first 20-30 hours in the month just to pay for the ad. Ad in gas, truck maintenance, accounting fees, office supplies, tools, taxes (LOL), licenses (LOL), insurance (LOL), workers comp (LOL), sick days, vacation days , and retirement, and I believe he'd be better off working at Wal-Mart where you can at least get a decent health insurance plan.
 
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khixxx

Senior Member
Location
BF PA
Maybe he goes in at $30 then sells like a mad man and walks out with putting in a Rec. for $600 for 4 hours of work.

If this guy needs to work at Wal-mart why don't you hire him for $30/hr on a 1099. Man this is a win win :)
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
Rawls007 said:
So and So Electric
$30 Service Calls
$35 an hour
1 hour minimum.
Click to expand...

He was probably working for cash money before and had a full time job so an extra $65 looked pretty good for doing a small job.

Giving out an hourly rate like that was really dumb. If he was going for the cheap minded customer he should have said "competitive rates" or "reasonable rates", You know, something so ambiguous that no one can hold him to it. He'll need to raise rates right off and it's going to be hard to do with an add running.

He can't even make money on a service change with an add like that. The customer will just calculate the hourly rate and go T&M on him. Even if he bills for 30 hours they still come out good.
 
Fulthrotl

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Location
HB, CA (19 Hrs. 22 Min. from Winged Horses)
Occupation
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Rawls007 said:
The new phone book came out the other day. So of course I go to the electrical contractor page to see my new add that I had recently upsized. Anyway, page one is a company that I've never heard of with a half page ad.

So and So Electric
$30 Service Calls
$35 an hour
1 hour minimum.
Click to expand...

so... a $30 service call, plus an hour at $35, is a $65 first hour....
a bit low, and then, when the hours up, you get a flat rate for the
work....... and i bet it comes out to just what everyone else charges....

mark an i were sitting there, having a delicious donut break this morning,
and laughing at the way people try and wrap the bitter truth up to make
it look $maller.... and truth be told, we both look at it this way.. a day
in our life, with the truck, is worth $1,000 net. that's the hourly rate,
plus the profit on the materials.

so i can write a bill any way you'd like it, and it's still easy to figure...
a day of my life is worth $1,000 to me, and like it or not, it's worth
that much to the customer, no matter how it's packaged.

that makes up for the slow spots, and the indirect expenses.

what you need is an ad that says:

"when you're done with the $30 speedbump in the ad above, and
you aren't happy with the result, call me......"
 
tonyou812

tonyou812

Senior Member
Location
North New Jersey
Thats funny. I made a big mistake in my ad too. I put free estimates in mine before I got myself right. Or before I saw the light thanks to some folks in here. So When people call me I tell them the free estimates only apply to over the phone quotes. Like hang a light or replace a gfci or something in that sorts. If I have to come out and diagnose the problem or do a design visit I tell them there is a 110 dollar service call charge. And you guys would be real surprised at the fact that most people dont have a problem with that.
 
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satcom

Senior Member
tonyou812 said:
If I have to come out and diagnose the problem or do a design visit I tell them there is a 110 dollar service call charge. And you guys would be real surprised at the fact that most people dont have a problem with that.
Click to expand...

True most people have no problem with a service charge they understand you are in business and have overhead and ooperating expenses, then there is the small group of customers that still believe in Santa and the bunny, and really think free means no cost to them.
 
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satcom

Senior Member
We have those guys arouind here, they advertise service calls at or around $30 or they quote these service call rates over the phone, anyone that thinks they do any work for $30 also believes in Santa, and the Easter Bunny, what they do is charge a service dispatch fee or whatever name you want to call it, then when they get to the customer and have a chance to look at the scope of work, they quote a flat rate, for everything from troubleshooting to instalation work, how they quote takes so knowhow in the flate rate methods, but they usually bring in anywhere from $1100 to $2000 a day per man with a service truck, and they usually have 5 to 6 productive hours a day. Don't wait for them to go out of business, we thought they would go under years ago, and they are not only still aroung, but are getting the lions share of work, they usually end up eating (the small guys charging hourly) lunch. At one time we had 14 EC's in and around our town, now most folded and the flat rate guys are growing like weeds.
 
hbiss

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
$30 is how they suck them in. When they get there customer finds out what they really charge. So now they are out the $30 bucks if they tell them to get lost- if the customer even knows they are being overcharged. How do you think they can afford that ad? An ad like that should send up red flags if you have any semblance of intellegence.

-Hal
 
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