Facts About Service Costs

We charge a minimum trip and diagnosis charge to come to your house and diagnose the problem.  Once we do that, we provide you with an estimate for the job based on a national flat rate guide, the standard in our industry.  The minimum charge goes toward the total charge we estimate to you.  This allows   

 Click here for our actual service call rates and to schedule 

Don’t judge service solely by the time the technician spends in your home. 

    The time it takes a physician to make a diagnosis and prescribe a remedy would not be possible without his many years of training, his continuing studies to keep abreast of latest medical discoveries, and his expense of maintaining an adequately equipped and staffed place of business.  You pay for his knowledge and skill plus a share of his cost of doing business—not for the few minutes he spends with you. 

    Similarly, the charge in for providing competent service in your home cannot be determined solely by the time it takes the technician to make the repairs. 

    A qualified service organization’s costs begin with the salary of the professional technician who provides the service.  This amount is the same whether the technician is actually making repairs in customers’ homes, traveling to keep appointments, or participating in training to sharpen his skills.  What’s more, since a technician typically spends less than half his time in customers’ homes, his company’s cost for each hour in your home is considerably greater then the technician’s hourly wage.

    All things considered, the cost to a service organization—except for the technician’s time on the job—could be about the same for a simple job of replacing a fuse as it is for a difficult job.

    When you are satisfied with the service but still question the fairness of the bill—even after taking into account these somewhat less visible, but very real, elements of cost—protest it.  Tell the company that provided the service.  Usually that’s all that’s needed to get a satisfactory explanation or an adjustment if one is justified. 

Specialized Training

Periodic lectures & course refreshers

Truck maintenance and operation - gas, oil tires, etc.

Test equipment

Travel time

Trucks (ladders, etc.)

Tools

Warehouse, shop, and office rent

Stock of replacement parts

Light, heat, phones

Service management - administration

Office Equipment

Business expenses - legal counsel, advertising, etc.

Employee benefits

Computers and office help

Stationary, office supplies, and stamps

Taxes-income, property, business, social security, unemployment...

Insurance - trucks, liability, fire, theft, property, workmen's compensation...

When that professional service technician knocks on your door, many costs have been incurred just to get him there, ready to do your job.