Paying more because it’s a Sunday

[Rowenaravenclawsdiadem]

To ask would you expect to pay more if you called a workman out on a Sunday?

DH is in the infancy of a new business and is looking at having a 7 day a week call out but says people charge double for carrying out work on a Sunday.

I think when you are just starting out you should charge a flat rate, build up a reputation for being reasonable and reliable etc.

He says not, I say shops etc are now open 7 days a week as standard and Sunday is no longer a big deal.

Settle an argument!

Yes I would. Sunday may be the norm for shops etc, but most other business areas it isn’t.

I'd expect to pay more at weekends. Its quite hard to find someone willing to come ut outside of Monday to Friday 8-6 ish.

I would expect to pay more for a tradesperson to come out on a Sunday or a bank holiday

If it's an industry standard then why would you buck the trend?

But would you expect to pay double? I think it’s too much.

Depending on the business some charge extra for Saturday call outs as well...

If it’s just him, you really don’t want to encourage people to treat weekends as workdays tbh, because he’ll end up working 7 days a week...

Yes definitely. Your way wouldn’t work as once you’ve started not charging more, you can’t exactly start later on. That would piss people off.

Yes I would expect to

I would expect to pay more and double is not unusual.

However, it could be a good business plan not to and to get a rep as being excellent weekend value. Might get more work in the long run?

think when you are just starting out you should charge a flat rate, build up a reputation for being reasonable and reliable etc

Don't build up a reputation for being cheap if you don't plan to continue to be cheap

My thought is that as he has only recently started and is trying to build a business. Being recommended etc by people of you are shown to be flexible could help him grow.

Unless they had a maintenance contract or were a lucrative client, he should definitely charge more for a call out.

Not build up a reputation for being cheap. Having a flat rate throughout the week.

Maybe more for an emergency call out?

Realising now why I’m not a millionaire.

I would be suspicious of cheap labour even if they’re new.

So he should charge in line with what others do. Build up recommendations and work from there.

If he needs to rely on repeat business then it would be worse to start cheap then up rates.

But most of all, he needs to work out a proper budget. What are his costs to recover etc? How long can he make a loss for?

I’d expect to pay more.

If he’s cheaper and doesn’t charge Astra for weekends, I’d assume he was crap and desperate for work.

He’s right I’m afraid!

It's perfectly normal to charge more for a weekend call out, it's expected. Set your stall out from the very beginning and be consistent but certainly have an extra charge for the weekend. As my dear old Nana used to say 'if you don't put a high value on your time, neither will anyone else.' Your husband is correct. Good luck to him with his new venture!

*extra not Astra

What kind of work is it? Is it mostly work where people will book in advance, decorating, window cleaner, plasterer? Or a job where someone would expect emergency call outs, like a plumber/gas engineer?

He is charging in line now, it’s taken him a while to do some research into standard rates. It fluctuates massively.

Definitely I’d expect him to charge me more for coming on a Sunday call out. Plumber or etc.

What is it that he’s doing?

He is a plumber so emergency call outs and booking in advance.

Have a flat rate plus out of hours call out fee - so more after 7pm in evenings and for weekends

Weekend is always extra. And late evenings.
I get that he wants to get clients so he doesn't want to charge extra at the beginning, but he must make sure they know it's just an introductory offer. Or just charge normally but say "First x weeks xx% discount including weekends"
People are FCF and will do "But last time you charged less! I am not happy! I will call someone else!" until he says "Yeah ok, discount price then" for ever and ever and EVER.

Ok I’m wrong I will casually tell him I’ve changed my mind.