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!

Emergency callouts are anything outside business hours, and should be charged higher. Evenings, weekends.

You don't build a client base on emergency callouts - they're emergencies, not regular visits.

As LazyArse said, you also can't charge low to start with and then go up - clients will say fuck right off.

I don't get charged more by tradespeople if they ask when they can do the work and I say anyday next week, and they say what about saturday - because it suits them.

The exception to me for charging extra is if his hours are full, someone wants a job doing and doesn't necessarily want it done on a Sunday but Sunday is the only free day.

If he wants the work rather than lose it to someone else, perhaps because there may be further work, then he could offer Sunday at normal day rate on that occasion.

I'd say for regular stuff like quotes on a Sunday and things like that, and for calls booked in advance for people who can only be at home on a Sunday, then the flat rate.

But for emergency call-outs that are out-of-hours (late night, weekends, bank hols) then customers would expect to pay more. Doesn't have to be double though.

I've had to call out a plumber at the weekend. I thought it was perfectly reasonable to pay significantly extra.

I work for a heating and plumbing company. Our call out fees are £60 Monday- Friday between 9&5. £80 after 5pm and £120 on weekends.
When sending out call outs we always state how much the call out minimum charge is so that the customer is aware and can cancel if they don't want to pay it.
Good luck x

even getting a courier to deliver on Saturday is more
if you charge a flat rate all the time he could end up just working evenings and weekends and you have no family time for no extra gain

also if there is no extra cost for out of business hours there is no incentive to get normal stuff done in business hours so you could end up with not enough work 9-5 and run off your feet in the evenings
I am a retired dentist mainly NHS; call outs (in Scotland so a fee per item) NHS paid a call out fee if you reopened surgery after 6pm or before 8am or a the weeekend provided you were not already open so you couldn't claim a saturday fee if you opened 9-12 on saturday nor could you claim if you saw someone at 12 as you did not come back to surgery you just stayed late if was £40 10 years ago,
for private patients it was different 6-10pm and Saturday mornings rate A, Sundays and rest of Saturday rate B, there was a rate C for between 10pm and 7am but it was not available as a convenience only for dire general health threatening emergencies

with any business it is not reasonable for costs to jump too much
so if you charge £25 a call out this year next year you might get away with £27 you won't get away with changing to £40 next year
it is a very common mistake for new businesses to undersell themselves thinking they can increase prices later only to find when they put prices up to level with competition they lose to competition because psychological if I was paying you £25 an hour and now you want £45 i'm really annoyed at the nearly doubling in price so I go elsewhere even if it is still £45 elsewhere; if I had been paying you £40 and you increase to £45 i'm probably ok with it

most plumbers charge a flat call out rate which 1 would think would be business hours £x evenings and Saturday mornings £x ( + 25-50%)
overnight and Sundays bank holidays £x (+50-100%)

Emergency work isn't really a business builder it can be a business loser,
in an emergency people start with regular plumber and ring round till someone will come out thinking burst pipes etc
if I want a few new radiators I ring round and get quotes I might consider your DH in the group because he came out at 11pm but he wouldn't necessarily be first point of call

Flat rate Monday to Saturday 9am-5pm. Time and a half for unsociable hours (before 9am or after 5pm). Double rate for Sunday. Sometimes time and a half after lunchtime on Saturdays

Don't aim to be cheap, certainly don't aim to be cheapest. Only person can win that game at any point in time. There will always be someone to undercut you.

Aim for quality, and get a reputation for quality work. This, as a plumber, includes being easy to contact (weirdly, some tradesmen aren't), making your costs clear (eg, call-out fee + £x per hour / half hour or whatever + parts + vat as applicable), turning up on time (this means knowing you've allowed plenty of time for the previous job!), and being a clean and tidy worker who leaves the place as he found it.

And yes, charge a lot extra for weekends.

A former colleague's BIL was a tradesman and used to quote ridiculously high prices for jobs he didn't actually want to do (complex ones). Didn't always work, but at least he good a good price for the high-maintenance jobs .

Only1* person ..

OMG: "Only 1 person can win ..."

@Rowenaravenclawsdiadem my dh is a plumber and would definitely charge more out of hours, Sunday's and bank holidays.
Saturday's he charges normal rates or a flat day rate.

NDN is a plumber mainly works on new build sites (tells me it's less mucky and more money -London) but also does occasional 'emergency' weekend work for their holiday fund, his view is that if people want a plumber out at the weekend it's generally not pre planned work and you always pay a premium for urgent call outs.

I don't understand the concept of having an opinion based on a gut feeling or guess. Surely pricing is best left to those with market rate knowledge/on the job experience (i.e. your DH, op) OR you research into what your competitors are doing?

In business, for pricing.. the time for personal feelings is limited.. you may have an idea about what a customer like you would expect, sure, but if that's the only thing determining your pricing, you're not acting rationally or sensibly at all!

Leave the pricing to your DH or argue based on an actual knowledge of what the market will bear, rate wise...

Yes, usually pay more for a sunday, sometimes double.
Where he will build up a good rep is actually turning up when he says he will.

He is right, you do start as you intend to go on and your way is not a good one. .

Yes of course.

He'd cause himself problems if he starts off with one pricing structure, then changes it. People will be angry with him for not being as cheap as he was last time. It would backfire horribly.

When I use tradesmen, price isn't the only or main consideration. Sure it should be reasonable but cheapest is often not best. Reliability and good communication skills are what make a difference.

As a plumber, he could offer say one night a week that he will work, or Saturday mornings, something that would help people who find it hard to get time off work, but for emergency callouts beyond working hours, he should have a premium rate. The emergency callout fee in this area is around £75 with around £40-£50 being the callout fee generally.

It is mainly done to stop people taking the piss and just calling you on a Sunday.

I agree with waveysnail - charge the same hourly rate throughout the week but add on a set surcharge for "out of hours" which could be post 6pm on weekdays or any time on the weekend.

Depending on where you are in the country, I'd expect to be charged an extra £100-150 surcharge for an out of hours callout.

Last time I had to call a locksmith out (due to burglary) on a bank holiday weekend, I ended up paying a surcharge of £150 (well, I paid initially but my insurance covered it.)

your DH is not going to want to work 7 days a week longterm the body can't cope,

it's like insurance I pay you £375 for my car insurance if next years quote is 388 I'm not even go to look at price comparison sites at £400 I might if the renewal is £450-500, i'll be trying to change immediately i'll find something at £390 and go with them and tell you I'm cancelling as 450 is too much however when i ring you; you say you'll try and match it, now you have annoyed me because if you can do 390 why didn't you offer it in the first place, the same works if you do lower rate call outs for 6 months it will be difficult to up them later

unfortunately for you DH is right just admit he understands the industry better than you and he is right then when it is something you know best about it is easier to say you were right about the hourly charges but this time I know more about X so I think you should go with my ideas

I'd be wary of a plumber who didn't charge a premium for a Sunday call out, or for a late night call out.

Also you really don't want to massively up your prices once you are established as people get really pissed off. The playscheme I run lost a source of funding a couple of years ago and we had to up our prices from £8 a week (3 hours M-T and all day Fri with no extra costs) to £20 and even though it's massively less than other providers still people do nothing but complain because it more than doubled. Better to start high and offer introductory discounts if you want to take a bit off the price.

Nice to see you’ve already realised you were wrong!

As many have already said - he will get an excellent reputation & plenty of work/income if he communicates and does what he says, when he says (or communicates if he can’t) he doesn’t need to be the cheapest, he needs to be the best (and frankly, it shouldn’t be too difficult!)

It sounds like it’s going well so far!