I am a new EC starting out, an up to this point I have been doing service jobs with time and material. I have been looking into flat rate pricing, and was wondering how it has worked for some. How to come up with a good set of solid prices to use and be able to quickly and confidently quote to customers.
here is a good suggestion, in my experience.
https://ellenrohr.com/the-bare-bones-biz-plan/
get the plan. i think it's all of $10.
take a weekend, and do what she says. it isn't any fun.
i don't care. do it anyway.
you will end up with a spreadsheet that will tell you how much
you need to bring in each hour to not have to eat cat food.
the number will make you gasp. this is why you need to flat rate
the jobs. if you tell someone what you are going to make an hour
from their job, they will throw up.
case in point. service change, overhead feed, from 60/100 amp to 200 amp.
$2,275.
i'll do them all day at that price. $700 in materials, $1,500 for you. a days work.
i'll quote it over the phone, after a discussion, and a photo from the customers
cellphone. let's say one out of ten sucks, and i have more work than normal, or
more material expense. so i only make $1,000 instead of $1,500.
i've saved TEN round trips to look at chit i don't need to look at to give a price.
around here, southern california, ten round trips is three days.
with the three days i've saved, i can do three service changes, making $4,500
and losing $500 on that one job.
so i'm $4,000 ahead, and have cut my hours worked to do it.
if i'm doing T&M, i'm making $85 an hour nominal, and 25% on the material.
and the only time i'm doing that is if i cannot determine the scope of the work.