The call-out fee is the line customers question most. They see it as a charge for nothing: you have not fixed anything yet. You see it as the only way to cover the hour it took to get there, the hour it will take to get to the next job, and the fuel in between. Both views are right about what they see. The fix is to say what the fee covers, in writing, before you arrive.
What a call-out fee is
It is the price of turning up. That includes travel time there and back, the fuel, the wear on the ute, the time spent on the phone arranging it, and the first look at the problem. It is not a deposit and it is not the first hour of labour, unless you say it is.
Some trades fold the first half hour of work into the fee. Some charge the fee and then labour from the moment they open the toolbox. Either is fine. What is not fine is leaving the customer to guess which one you do.
Setting the number
Work out what an average trip costs you: average travel time each way at your hourly cost, fuel, and a share of the vehicle. For most metro trades that lands somewhere between a quarter and a full hour of your rate. Round it to a number that is easy to say and easy to read on a phone. If you cover a wide area, consider two fees, local and regional, and say which applies.
Do not set it low to win the booking and make it up on the labour. Customers compare the fee because it is the first number they hear; they compare the total when they get the quote. A fee that is honest and a total that is honest wins more than a fee that is bait.
Putting it on the quote
As a line of its own. Call-out fee, 1, $120. Not buried in the labour, not folded into a single total. When it is a line, the customer sees it, accepts it with the rest, and does not raise it at invoice time. When it is hidden, it comes out later as a surprise, and surprises are what reviews are made of.
In Quote Desk the call-out fee is the first item most trades put on their price list, which is why the price list form shows it as the example. It drops onto every quote with one pick.
Explaining it on the phone
Most call-out disputes start on the first phone call, when the customer asks what it costs to come and look. Say the fee and say what it covers in one breath: it is $120 to come out, which covers getting there and the first look, and then the work is quoted from there. Then send the quote while you are standing in their kitchen so the fee is in writing with the rest.
If a customer baulks at the fee on the phone, they will baulk at the invoice. Better to lose them at the phone call.
When the customer does not go ahead
This is the case the fee exists for. You drove out, you looked, you quoted, they said no. Without a fee you have given away two hours. With a fee that was stated up front, you invoice the fee and nobody is surprised. Make sure the quote or your booking message says the fee is payable whether or not the work goes ahead.
When the job is quoted fixed price
For a fixed-price job quoted from a photo or a site visit you have already been paid for, the call-out fee is usually in the price. Say so: price includes attendance. For a job where the first visit is itself the work, the fee is the first line and labour follows.
Waiving it
If you waive the fee when the customer proceeds, say that too: call-out fee waived if quoted work is accepted. It is a reasonable incentive and it reads well on a quote. Do it as a deliberate line, not as a concession under pressure on the doorstep.
After hours
An after-hours fee is a call-out fee with a reason. State the hours it applies to and the amount. A customer with a burst pipe at eleven at night will pay it without question if they were told; the same customer will dispute it for months if they were not.
The short version for the price list
- Call-out fee, each, your number.
- After-hours call-out fee, each, your higher number.
- A note on every quote that includes one: call-out fee covers attendance and the first inspection; payable whether or not the quoted work proceeds.
That is the whole policy. Three lines on a price list, one sentence in a note, said once on the phone. The fee stops being the most disputed line on your quote and becomes the most ordinary.