@petersonra makes some good points here. I'd like to address them based on my experience.
I think some of this stuff you're just going to have to work out as you go.
I agree. You need to calculate your own flat rate prices based on your costs and profit requirements. You can't just copy someone elses price book. The one thing someone's price book is good for is giving you a starting list of tasks.
I actually don't use a book. I calculate the price for every job. I'm familiar enough with the various costs to make an accurate estimate quickly. I also know from experience how long it takes to run various types of pipe and cables.
I think you're going to find first service work that it's an expensive business to get into because a lot of your time is going to be spent basically doing sales work on relatively small jobs that even if you charge what you think is a lot you won't make a whole lot of money on. If you spend a couple hours of overhead on a job that only lasts an hour or two you going to have to find a way to recover that time that you spent that you can't charge for. For instance, I don't see how you can afford to come out to a job site for free.
It's true that you can spend way too much "looking at" a job. It costs me between $100 and $300 to send an employee (or myself) out to look at a job considering labor and travel costs. This is why I do most quotes over the phone. For small jobs, generally you can get all the required information to make an accurate quote over the phone. It becomes worthwhile to go see a job when you expect to charge at least $1,500 and the drive isn't crazy. I usually go look at panel jobs. If the potential client can't adequately describe the job to you and you sense it's going to be less than $1,500, either just decline, or offer to do it T&M (but usually T&M is a mistake).
I think you have to charge some number just to show up and the number just goes up from there.
Unfortunately the "free estimate" is a fact of life. If you try to get paid just to look at a job, most potential clients will just hang up. Keep in mind that you recover the cost of time spent giving estimates (either on the phone or in person) by charging for them in your overhead. My only exception to this is for real estate agents. I charge them $50 for "go look at" estimates. Most times they have no intention of buying the job, they are just looking for a bargaining number for their client.
I think people worry way too much about the mechanism by which they price things. Those are really rules of thumb that I think you can only come by with experience.
Pricing is simple and there is an exact mechanism for doing it. Price = [manhours x labor rate] + [material x material markup] + [rentals x rental markup] + [travel charge x days] + [permits x permit markup]. The more experience you have, the better your guesses on each component cost will be. My experience is I'm usually very close on material, rentals, travel, and permits. I usually underbid on hours, but I'm trying to improve.
Using the above formula I am able to give fixed prices for jobs rather quickly over the phone, and after a few minutes thought on larger one and two day jobs. Big jobs that require a written proposal still require much careful thought to price correctly.
People do not like surprises, but until you get there it is very hard to know what you're going to have to actually do.
People definitely prefer no surprises. This is why flat rate pricing allows you to charge more than T&M pricing. I will give a flat rate price for any job were I understand and can control enough of the variables. This is true most of the time for residential and light commercial jobs. but sometimes I can't. In those cases I offer a flat rate troubleshoot charge (which is basically the first hour) after which I tell the client what the price is to continue the job. They can accept or decline. If they decline, they only owe me the troubleshooting charge.
I think you also have to be pretty mercenary about what you do when you get there. If you agreed to install a light fixture for $200, that is all you should do while you are there. If they need a replacement outlet, you need to charge them whatever your fee is for that. If you start working for free because you feel sorry for your customers you will go broke.
Never work for free. If the client brings up a "while you are here could you...." you must immediately say "I'm happy to do that for you. There will be an extra charge of $XXX." Rarely does a client react negatively. If they do, just decline to do the additional work. It bears repeating, never work for free.
