A service call is the easiest job to lose money on. Forty minutes of work, ninety minutes of driving, a part off the van, and a number you picked years ago because it sounded reasonable on the phone.
What the call actually costs you
Count the whole block, not the wrench time: drive out, diagnose, fix, write it up, drive to the next one. A “thirty-minute” repair routinely consumes ninety minutes of your day. If your rate only covers the thirty, you are donating the other hour.
Multiply the real block by your hourly rate, add the van cost for the distance, add the parts, and you have the floor. Anything under that is a job you would be better off not taking.
Trip charge vs diagnostic fee
They are not the same thing, and conflating them confuses customers:
- Trip charge pays for getting there. It is distance and time, and it is owed whether or not anything gets fixed.
- Diagnostic fee pays for finding the fault. That is skill, and on intermittent problems it is most of the value you provide.
Many shops bundle them into one “service call fee” of $89–$149. That is fine, as long as you can explain in one sentence what it buys.
Should you waive it if they go ahead?
Waiving the fee when the customer approves the repair is a strong closer and most trades use some version of it. Two rules make it work rather than cost you:
- Build it into the repair price. You are repositioning the fee, not deleting it. If the repair price is unchanged, you just gave away $99.
- Never waive the diagnostic on a no-repair call. That is exactly the visit where your expertise was the entire product.
Say the number before you drive
Every price objection on a service call traces back to a number the customer first heard in their kitchen. Say it on the phone, plainly: “There’s a $109 service call that covers the visit and the diagnosis. If you go ahead with the repair, that comes off the price.” Customers almost never argue with a fee they agreed to before you left the yard.
After-hours is a different rate
Evenings, weekends and holidays cost you more and should cost more. Publish it. A stated after-hours rate also does useful filtering — some calls become tomorrow-morning appointments, which suits everyone.
The minimum that is not negotiable
Set a minimum charge that covers the block, and hold it. The jobs that feel too small to charge properly for are precisely the ones eating your week. Three $60 calls in a day is a busy, unprofitable day.
Turn the call into a quote on the spot
The repair you diagnose is worth quoting before you leave — and so is the replacement you spotted while you were there. Toolbelt turns a sentence into a priced, e-signable quote from the driveway, with your service call rate already in the price book. Three free estimates, no card.
See also setting your hourly rate and building a price book.