More $$$ ???

[brian john]

Re: More $$$ ???

Was no need to gouge

Jim: Why do you feel that charging a fair rate for top quality service to solve a problem is GOUGING?

When we started responding to EM calls we would often be the second electrical contractor on site.
The first had often been there hours; trying to locate a ground fault or re-set a bolted pressure switch (or repair it after they had improperly tried to close the switch) we usually could resolve the problem in a few hours. Why should I make less for knowing how to resolve a problem that the contractor that is not sure about how to address the same issue?

In Washington DC if you state 24 hours coverage you mean 24 hours, and customers expect the same, generally 1 hour recall with 2 to 3 hours to be on site. Never heard of anything else, but that is here and most government contracts state this, so everyone follows suit. We do not advertise, but if we did I would not advertise the 24X7 too busy with regular customers.

 

[jimwalker]

Re: More $$$ ???

Perhaps im using a wrong word.What im saying is charging say $500 is an offset for upsetting our schedule.Myself if i was to receive 8 hours pay from my boss because i spent 3am to 5am on a emergancy service call i would think it about fair.If all i got was time and a half i would not be on call.

 

[tonyi]

Re: More $$$ ???

Indeed, the client isn't really just paying for "the service call". They're paying for having someone (maybe several someones) willing to do it at odd hours, AND they're paying for the fact that doing it off hours means you have to carry more inventory/tools than a company that just does ordinary hours where a run to a supply house is an option. In effect, they're buying the availability as much as the service itself.

IBM has a deal where you can call the parts depot 7X24X365 and get any part in stock sent anywhere in the world in the fastest possible manner. That might be an IBM guy driving in his car to the airport, then using a similar UPS service where they're coordinate with the "next flight out" carrier (not necessarily a UPS flight), have it picked up and hand delivered onsite. A multi-million dollar system in NY could die at 12 midnight christmas eve due to some small $5 part failing, have parts sent from Boulder CO using this express parts service and be back online at 4am christmas day. The bill would run to several thousand dollars just for the part delivery. They're paying for the availability of getting that part in a matter of hours on say christmas eve.

That level of service availability basically commands whatever price you want to charge for it because price doesn't matter to the client when they make the call at that point.