Found out a Whirlpool tech gets 90 minutes for a job I've been doing in 40 for 12 years
A buddy of mine who works for a big box store's service arm showed me their flat rate book at his place on Tuesday. They pay their guys 90 minutes for a front load bearing replacement. I've been doing that same job in about 40 minutes since 2012, charging by the hour because that's how I've always run things. I sat there doing the math on my own ticket from Monday, same exact job, and I left almost 50 minutes of billable time sitting on the table. It's not that I'm slow, it's that I got into the habit of quoting what feels fair instead of what the book says. Drove home half mad at myself, not at him. Any of you switched to flat rate after years of hourly, and did your customers push back or just pay it?
Reminds me of when I switched from charging by the job to by the hour on installs and my regulars acted like I'd raised their rent. Customers don't really care about your clock, they care about the number on the invoice, and if the number looks the same they never ask how long it took. Flat rate just makes you price the work instead of your guilt.