Cold weather or idiot charge?

Status
Not open for further replies.
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
A week ago my wife was hauling hoses and watering trees in her shirt sleeves.
A week ago a customer called with a vibrating rod limit switch problem. My WAG. No, they would talk to corporate and see if they could figure it out.

The High today, was about 7 degrees with a rarity of little to no wind chill. Tomorrow the wind chill is expected to be 25 below and guess who now has an urgent problem.

Do any of you charge extra for calls like this? A ‘Cold Weather’ surcharge sounds better than an ‘Idiot’ tax.
 
Yes, I do. I also don't mind if they call someone else instead. I'm busy enough. And the third call after not liking the other guy's price might cause another surcharge, even if they don't see it directly (I work slower when I'm grumbling, especially when cold and grumbling).

What you are willing to do and not do, or price accordingly, matters more on how much you need the work, and that has to factor in repeat customers and referrals, and who all is staying happy. My kind of referrals are also likely to side with me when they find out why I charged their friend more money. They'll also laugh and agree when I call it an "idiot tax." I'm going to remember that one.
 
We have a line item for a "customer appreciation charge" when doing quotes for PIA customers. It sounded a little more PC when I too, wanted to call it a PIA tax.
 
DRGREG said:
How about those darn hot days? Rain? Cloudy? ....
Click to expand...

Again, it depends on the circumstances. Did I TRY to do their attic job for them on a nice day only to have them wait until it was 122°? That's when I either charge more (because I can) or I'm also very likely to tell them that I will be by at 0600 on whichever day they prefer.

But yeah, there are also plenty of jobs that you don't get the choice, or it's not the customer's fault, or especially do I like to pick who's next based on already being on their side of town from the last job. As it is, I work 12 - 14 hours a day, 7 days a week for 2 straight months. You won't see me here during the AC repair season. The heat continues, but after the first two months, most of the machines that were going to break already have, and you only have to work normal hours to keep up.
 
Perception becomes reality!
If I perceive that it is too cold outside, it will be. If I perceive that my customers are idiots, I'll treat them as such.
Cold is really the lack of heat, so today is not as hot as I would like...I sure don't charge less when we work on nice comfy jobs, with candy everywhere you look.
 
But I understand.
This morning one of my techs was moaning about how cold it is. I sent him on a job in city on the shore of Lake Michigan, he says "I wish I would have brought my ice fishing gear along for when I'm done". Too cold to work, but warm enough to sit on a pail drowning his worm. My snowmobile runs great when it's below zero, there is some wind chill.
 
DRGREG said:
But I understand.
This morning one of my techs was moaning about how cold it is. I sent him on a job in city on the shore of Lake Michigan, he says "I wish I would have brought my ice fishing gear along for when I'm done". Too cold to work, but warm enough to sit on a pail drowning his worm. My snowmobile runs great when it's below zero, there is some wind chill.
Click to expand...
Hey, you know that the worst day fishing is still better than the best day working...
 
ptonsparky said:
The High today, was about 7 degrees with a rarity of little to no wind chill. Tomorrow the wind chill is expected to be 25 below and guess who now has an urgent problem.

Do any of you charge extra for calls like this? A ‘Cold Weather’ surcharge sounds better than an ‘Idiot’ tax.
Click to expand...

here, it's not weather surcharges. except fire. fire is extra.

there is a "how much do i want to put up with you?" charge.
it varies widely. sometimes it exceeds the cost of the work.
sometimes by a LOT!

in your case, i'd call it a days work, plus travel. both ways.
maybe a per diem as well.

they are a half hour from the house? take off the per diem. maybe.
 
It gets better. They had another EC in to do some repair work that resulted in a change of the way the controls worked. A maintained Stop button that previously stopped one short conveyor belt along with the interlocked sewing machine, now removes power from the bin level sensors (vibrating rod) and another auger control. I guess no one needed to know.

Once my help traced it out he pulled out on the Stop button and magic, it all works.
 
Two years ago, mid-December on a Friday, the electrician I was working for was almost done with the rough in of a 7k sq ft house. All that really remained on the last day was a few receptacle boxes, some j-boxes, and some keyless lights, all in the crawlspace, as well as all the firestopping. It was 76* that day, so he decided to leave early, and wouldnt let me stay late to get that work done.

A week later, our rough-in inspection was due. We get there at 7am....9*F. Firestop is REALLY hard to apply when it's frozen, and the caulk-gun hard on the hands too. What would have taken me a few hours when it was 76* took all day that week later. Oh, and the plumbing contractor, who strung his own temporary lighting in the crawlspace, had removed it sometime that week, so all the work was done via a headlamp.

Idiot? That would have been the politest thing I said about him that day. and ditto for scheduling attic work past noon in July when it's 140*.

Seriously tho, bad weather slows you down. We've done generator installs in the rain, erecting a 10' x 10' x 8' tent over the work area. Still, contending with mud and extra time to keep tools and equipment dry has to be factored in.

One thing he did do is give quotes that were good for just 30 days. and plan that when a trench has to be dug that the ground is frozen and will take a lot more time.

Winter work for me can be more expensive since I am generally burning a tank of propane or a few gallons of kerosene a day running a forced air heater, and the shorter days mean I have to work more of them. Then again, installing a room full of can lights in January is much better than July, so it usually works out over the year.

I've had the pleasure of installing ENT in sub-freezing weather....lots of fun.
 
retirede said:
My brother no longer believes that since we went deep sea fishing and he spent the better part of 8 hours puking his guts out.
Click to expand...
Did that too, halibut fishing in Alaska in 25ft seas. Had dry heaves for 6 hours. Caught a 125# halibut though and hooked one that they said was likely 400#, but it straightened the hook and got off at the last second when it saw the gaff coming at it.

STILL better than working...
 
Been maybe about 25 years ago and before I was self employed - we were roughing in a new home and it was at a time when daytime high temps were maybe zero to 5 deg at best.

We had a space heater (probably 200-250k BTU) but it didn't do a whole lot to raise temp in that building - unless you wanted to crawl around in rafter space all day. I'm sure my productivity was less then it would be at even 40 deg F but the apprentice I had with me kept standing in front of that heater all the time. Not only was he not getting anything done when doing so, but it just made him feel colder every time he did walk away from it and he was somewhat useless as a result. I remember I went outside and cut a couple holes for exterior outlets - coming back in did make me feel warmer, I told him to do something similar but he wouldn't do it. This was a 19 year old kid that thought he wanted to be a utility lineman at the time yet couldn't take working where we were at least sheltered from wind.:blink:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top