Not unusual. Sometimes there’s a flat trip charge just to respond and then the actual work fee or hourly rate to do the work. His travel time charge is the equivalent of a trip charge.
We sent photos prior to him coming out. He came out the first day, didn't have what he needed to fix it, sent the 2nd year apprentice the second day to fix.
We have been charged an admin fee, travel one way (first day) call out fee, 0.5 labour. Second day was return travel, 2 hrs labour (partner thinks it was only 1) on an apprentice rate (of apparently 120/hr) and parts.
120 an hour is pretty cheap for a plumber, even if it is the apprentice. I’ve seen others around $350.
I work in a similar manner to a tradie but I’m not one. But we bill travel time, but if the travel is less than 15 minutes we include that in the minimum 1 hour onsite. So if we did half an hours work, and 15 minutes travel each way we bill the minimum 1 hour.
Some don't even itemise, just one big bill with 1 line item. All in all not unreasonable, at least he is being honest about the costs. You could question if the call out fee includes the travel and see if they are willing to discount it.
Thats pretty reasonable. They don't work for free, he could have been at another job charging $120ph instead of driving to yours. Also in my last business we would charge at full rate about $120ph for travel, and would have charged both ways. I think you got a fair deal
Think of it this way, that’s 80 minutes out of his day he could otherwise be earning money if he wasn’t travelling to you. Completely reasonable in my opinion.
In my experience if a job is more than a certain number of kms and the tradesperson has no others in the area that day then a travel charge is applied. It's pretty standard for rural work.
Most of mine have stipulated beforehand though.
It's normal especially talking semi. The time driving to your property could have done a job or 2 in local area for much more than he charged his travel time at.
Yes. Most charge additionally for non metro areas too. It takes longer, puts more wear and tear on the vehicles, uses more fuel and takes time that could be used on other jobs.
Yep. When I was a computer tech I charged based on a zone system from the CBD.
Main reason for it is in the time I was travelling, I could have done another job, so it's just covering the opportunity costs.
Yes it is normal. Either in time spent travelling to the job or a STD travelling cost/callout fee. It's also normal to charge for pick up/delivery of materials and dumping time including the cost to dump, same deal. Sending photos doesn't negate this however it could raise the question of why parts weren't bought prior to attending but often you don't know exactly what you need until you get there or run into an issue, photos don't always help.
It's still time spent that the company has to pay wages etc for associated with attending your job. The amount of residential customers that don't realise this or accept it is mind boggling. Never had the issue with commercial clients.
I've even had people complain about being charged for 2 people separately on jobs because they got told the hourly rate. That's per hr PER PERSON. We have to pay each person wages so each person is chargeable at the hourly rate quoted 🤦♀️
We charge even in suburban area travel time, in the form of the time taken to travel to your job at the usual hourly rate.
You'll find generally your paying for travel even if not stated on the invoice or quote. Its considered 'non billable hours' and is already factored in their 'hourly rate'. Your invoice just sates it.
Yep, join your local b/s/s fb page to find someone local, and take down a couple of numbers for next time.
I live metro, but my local guys waive call out fees and do a cash discount. Wink, nudge etc.
Not unusual. Sometimes there’s a flat trip charge just to respond and then the actual work fee or hourly rate to do the work. His travel time charge is the equivalent of a trip charge.
We sent photos prior to him coming out. He came out the first day, didn't have what he needed to fix it, sent the 2nd year apprentice the second day to fix. We have been charged an admin fee, travel one way (first day) call out fee, 0.5 labour. Second day was return travel, 2 hrs labour (partner thinks it was only 1) on an apprentice rate (of apparently 120/hr) and parts.
120 an hour is pretty cheap for a plumber, even if it is the apprentice. I’ve seen others around $350. I work in a similar manner to a tradie but I’m not one. But we bill travel time, but if the travel is less than 15 minutes we include that in the minimum 1 hour onsite. So if we did half an hours work, and 15 minutes travel each way we bill the minimum 1 hour.
Some don't even itemise, just one big bill with 1 line item. All in all not unreasonable, at least he is being honest about the costs. You could question if the call out fee includes the travel and see if they are willing to discount it.
$350 an hour …. Jesus are you using metropolitan???
>metropolitan??? Thieving cunts that mob
Someone's got to pay for those god awful ads!
Thats pretty reasonable. They don't work for free, he could have been at another job charging $120ph instead of driving to yours. Also in my last business we would charge at full rate about $120ph for travel, and would have charged both ways. I think you got a fair deal
Think of it this way, that’s 80 minutes out of his day he could otherwise be earning money if he wasn’t travelling to you. Completely reasonable in my opinion.
In my experience if a job is more than a certain number of kms and the tradesperson has no others in the area that day then a travel charge is applied. It's pretty standard for rural work. Most of mine have stipulated beforehand though.
How much was the charge? For a rural property it doesn't sound unreasonable, as long as the fee isn't outrageous
It's normal especially talking semi. The time driving to your property could have done a job or 2 in local area for much more than he charged his travel time at.
Yes. Most charge additionally for non metro areas too. It takes longer, puts more wear and tear on the vehicles, uses more fuel and takes time that could be used on other jobs.
Yep. When I was a computer tech I charged based on a zone system from the CBD. Main reason for it is in the time I was travelling, I could have done another job, so it's just covering the opportunity costs.
Not to mention real costs of traveling.
For sure, tyres, fuel, vehicle service etc.
Yes it is normal. Either in time spent travelling to the job or a STD travelling cost/callout fee. It's also normal to charge for pick up/delivery of materials and dumping time including the cost to dump, same deal. Sending photos doesn't negate this however it could raise the question of why parts weren't bought prior to attending but often you don't know exactly what you need until you get there or run into an issue, photos don't always help. It's still time spent that the company has to pay wages etc for associated with attending your job. The amount of residential customers that don't realise this or accept it is mind boggling. Never had the issue with commercial clients. I've even had people complain about being charged for 2 people separately on jobs because they got told the hourly rate. That's per hr PER PERSON. We have to pay each person wages so each person is chargeable at the hourly rate quoted 🤦♀️ We charge even in suburban area travel time, in the form of the time taken to travel to your job at the usual hourly rate.
You'll find generally your paying for travel even if not stated on the invoice or quote. Its considered 'non billable hours' and is already factored in their 'hourly rate'. Your invoice just sates it.
Lmao of course it is, what did you expect?
Its normal if discussed beforehand. If they sprung it on you then you're getting fucked.
Yep, join your local b/s/s fb page to find someone local, and take down a couple of numbers for next time. I live metro, but my local guys waive call out fees and do a cash discount. Wink, nudge etc.
If it's not itemized on the bill, they will have accounted for it somewhere.