Call-out fees: how to set, explain and charge a service call fee

A call-out fee is a fixed charge for coming out to a job: it covers the drive, the vehicle and the first stretch of time on site working out what is wrong. In the US it is usually called a service call fee or trip charge; in the UK and Australia, a call-out charge. Set it from what a visit really costs you, tell the customer before you book, and decide in advance whether it is credited against the work if they go ahead.

Businesses that skip it end up paying for every visit that does not turn into work: the quote the customer shops around, the fault that fixed itself before you arrived, the job that turns out to be someone else’s trade. This guide shows how to put a number on that cost and how to charge for it without losing the customer.

What a call-out fee should cover

• Travel time. The technician is paid while driving, and those hours are not billable anywhere else.
• Vehicle cost. Fuel, wear, insurance and servicing, per kilometre or mile driven.
• The first period on site. Most businesses include a set time, often 15 to 30 minutes, to assess the job and give a price.
• Admin. Taking the booking, confirming it and raising the paperwork.
• A share of overhead and margin, like every other line you sell.

What it does not cover is the repair itself. Once the diagnosis is done, the work is priced like any other job: by the hour, at a fixed price from your price list, or as a quote.

How to work out your call-out fee

1. Find your loaded hourly cost: wage plus on-costs plus overhead, spread over the hours you can actually bill. The hourly rate calculator does this step.
2. Measure your average round-trip travel time per visit from last month’s jobs, not from a map. Traffic, parking and finding the address all count.
3. Work out vehicle cost per kilometre or mile with the mileage calculator, then multiply by the average round trip.
4. Add the included time on site, costed at the same loaded hourly rate.
5. Add admin minutes per booking.
6. Divide the total by one minus your target margin, so the fee makes money rather than just breaking even.

A worked example, for illustration only (use your own figures, in your own currency):

Round to a figure customers can remember, such as 145. If that number feels high next to what competitors advertise, the gap is usually travel: a smaller service area or zone pricing closes it more honestly than cutting the fee and losing money on every visit.

Four ways to structure it

After-hours and emergency call-outs

An emergency visit costs more to deliver: overtime or penalty rates, a technician taken off planned work, and the disruption of being on call. Price it separately rather than applying the daytime fee. Common approaches are a separate after-hours call-out fee, a multiplier on the hourly rate, or both. Whatever you choose, publish the hours it applies to, for example weekdays after 6pm, weekends and public holidays, so the customer knows which rate they are on before you set off.

How to explain it to customers

Most complaints about call-out fees are really complaints about surprise. State the fee, what it includes and whether it is credited, at every point the customer sees a price:

• On the phone or booking page: “Our call-out fee is 145. It covers travel and the first 20 minutes on site to find the fault and give you a price. If you go ahead with the repair, we take it off the bill.”
• In the booking confirmation, in the same words.
• On the quote, as its own line, so the credit is visible.
• On the invoice, as a separate line, never folded into labour. See what goes on an invoice for the other lines.

Tell the customer before you book, and put it in writing. That is fair practice everywhere, and it is the difference between a fee that is accepted and one that is disputed.

Common mistakes

• Waiving the fee for everyone who asks. Then it is not a fee, it is a discount you give to the customers most likely to shop around.
• Setting it from a competitor’s number instead of your own costs.
• Treating it like a deposit. A deposit secures future work; a call-out fee pays for a visit that has already happened.
• Leaving it off the paperwork, so the technician has to argue it on the doorstep.

Recording call-out fees in Primemgr

In Primemgr, add the call-out fee to your price list as a fee item, with its price, or with no fixed price if it depends on distance. It can then be picked straight onto a quote or an invoice line, and edited there for the job in hand. Because the fee is its own line, you can see in the reports how much of your revenue comes from call-outs. See invoicing for how the lines, due dates and part payments work. You can try it free for 14 days on your own jobs: see pricing.