How to use the flat rate pricing builder
- Enter the job time (minutes).
Be honest. Use the time it takes on a normal day, not your best-case “perfect install” time. - Enter your loaded billable labor rate ($/hr).
This is your real hourly rate that covers payroll burden, overhead, and profit expectations. If you already built a labor rate with the other calculator, use that number here. - Enter materials.
What you typically use on this job, at your cost. - Optional costs (only if they apply):
- Subcontractor cost (if you sub any part out)
- Trip/dispatch fee (if you price that separately)
- Set your targets:
- Overhead % = the slice that keeps the company running (office, trucks, admin, software, etc.)
- Profit % = what you actually want to make
- Warranty/callbacks % = small reserve for the “free return visit” reality
- Contingency % = padding for jobs that run long
- Pick your low/high spread %.
This generates a Low / Mid / High option set around your base price (example: 10% gives you ±10%). - Hit Build Flat Rate Price and it prints your three price options plus a quick breakdown of the math.
Flat Rate Pricing Calculator
The pros and cons of using flat rate pricing
So what is it really. Flat rate is just a set price for a defined job. Replace a breaker. Swap a disposal. New water heater. Whatever. Customer gets a number up front. Not “we’ll see how long it takes” and then surprise them later.
Flat rate pricing in home services is one of those things that sounds simple, until you actually run it for a few months. Some shops love it. Some shops try it and bail. Both are usually right, depending how they set it up and how their crew works.
The good parts
Customers like knowing the number.
Most people aren’t sitting there thinking about your labor burden or your truck costs. They just want to know “what’s it gonna cost me” and be done. Flat rate does that. Less back and forth, less weird tension at the end.
It makes your shop run cleaner.
When you flat rate, you start noticing patterns. What jobs always take longer. What jobs are easy money. What jobs are secretly killing you. That’s useful. It forces you to tighten up, even if you didn’t want to.
It can stop the clock-watching.
Hourly pricing can turn into this odd thing where techs feel like they have to look busy. Or they take their time because hey, it’s hourly. Flat rate usually flips it. Good techs move smooth and efficient and don’t feel weird about finishing.
It’s easier to sell options without sounding shady.
A lot of flat rate books naturally turn into options. Like, here’s the basic fix, here’s the better fix, here’s the “do it right and stop dealing with it” fix. Customers actually like that if you explain it normal.
The bad parts
If your times are wrong, you get smoked.
This is the biggest issue. If you priced a job assuming best case conditions, you’re gonna eat it on old houses and nightmare access. The job takes 2 hours instead of 45 minutes and now you’re losing money while the customer thinks they got a deal. That happens a lot.
Customers sometimes don’t trust it.
They’ll say “wait, that’s it? you’re charging me that much for 20 minutes?” And yeah, it’s annoying, but it’s real. If your techs can’t explain what they’re paying for in plain speak, you get pushback. Then the tech gets defensive, then it spirals. You need a script, even if you hate scripts.
It’s not set-it-and-forget-it.
Parts go up. Labor goes up. Insurance goes up. If you don’t update the price book, you slowly start undercharging and you won’t notice until it hurts. A lot of companies screw this up because they build it once, then never touch it again.
It exposes weak techs fast.
Hourly can hide sloppy work because “well it took what it took.” Flat rate doesn’t hide it. If one guy takes twice as long on the same job, you feel it. That can be good long term but it’s painful when you realize you’ve been carrying that problem for a while.
It can lead to rushing, if you’re not careful.
If your whole culture becomes “faster faster faster,” somebody is gonna cut corners. Then you’re paying for callbacks, angry customers, warranty work, and now flat rate looks stupid. Flat rate has to come with standards. Like, this is how we do it, every time. Period.
When it works best
Flat rate is great when you do repeatable work. Service calls, common repairs, replacements you do every day. Stuff you can actually predict. It works even better when your dispatch and your parts handling is tight, because chaos will wreck it.
When it’s a bad fit
If your work is mostly unknown scope, weird old systems, constant surprises, flat rate can turn into a fight. You can still do it, but you need a way to handle exceptions. Otherwise you’ll be constantly “well this isn’t included” and that feels terrible for everybody.
Real takeaway
Flat rate pricing isn’t magic. It’s a tool. If you price it off real numbers and real job times, it makes life easier and usually makes you more consistent. If you guess at it, or copy a competitor’s price list, it’ll bite you. Hard.
