Truck + two men rates...flat? Or depends on what?

[HudsonSignCo]

We currently send our bucket truck out with two men in it for X amount per hour regardless of what they're doing as long as it's not a pre-quoted installation. I feel like this may not work all the time and wanted to get a feel for what everyone else does.

My concern is that we're leaving money on the table. For example, a truck and two men charge the same amount if they're haning banners one poles (simple task) or troubleshooting an electrical repair and swapping out parts (more skill and knowledge involved).

Thoughts?

[Brian]

the two men cost you the same no matter what they are doing..... charge the same

Edited January 25, 2013 by chubbygumby

[paul321]

Everything we do is based on $ xxx per hr. Everything is also a 3 hr min. charge. Includes 1 hr travel and 2 hrs on site. If we go over the hours, then we charge per hr based on what is required. So if I am doing a simple service call or install its 3 hr min. charge. I do not care if "its only a 30 minute work time" its 3 hrs minimum. If the job requires more then $ xxx minimum, we quote it out to what is needed to complete it.

Lets look into the 3 hr minimum. 2 calls per day is 6 hrs. plus lunch time. Plus the office work involved in billing and chasing. 8 hrs gone. We can not make money if we do 2 calls per day. We all need volume and prompt payment to make it work in the end. It is not uncommon for us to do 5 to 6 calls per day per service truck. You need to know your overhead and determine your pricing.

[ssigns]

I don't send 2 men unless the job warrants a helper or requires 2 lead guys. We get $95hr 1 man 60' elliot ($160 for 2 men) and $85hr 1 man 35' Bucket ($150 for 2 men) Customers large or small never like to pay for 2 guys doing a 1 man job. There is always the case when you have a quick install on same day as a big one, so you have eat the second man's labor on the first call and hope the guys get it done really quick. We run a 2hr miniumum if the service call gets done on the first trip, otherwise I bill at least 1.5hrs per trip regradless of how little time he was onsite. After reading Paul's response I am going to try 2hr minimum on every call, every trip. More often than not I am billing 12-14hrs for a day for a tech working 9- That's what pays the bills a keeps the $150,000 crane trucks running.

[teksign]

Very Interesting here. I like the minimum charge. We always send two men, for a safety reason. A couple of installers were killed here in Canada while servicing signs that you have to crawl inside to service.

Our rated $140/hr for bucket truck and $170/hr for the Elliotte. My boss has calculated with office staff, insurance, plates, and just plain overhead, that our cost is $69/man, so basically were breaking even on the bucket truck. I'd like to charge more if I could.

Do we get complaints about our hourly rate? Yup!!! I try to offset it with materials used, our volume buying allows better breaks in purchasing. When quoting a service call for example, I avoid the hourly rate, but provide them with a total quote with hours in.

Thx

Dave