Minimum charge

Do you always charge a minimum charge when working on a customers property? For example, for me, anything under 30 mins I charge $26 (half of my hourly rate), but anything over 30mins I charge my minimum hourly rate of $52. So if I work 25 mins, the customer gets charged $26, and if I work 35 mins, the customer gets charged $52. How many others follow the same type of guideline when charging a minimum hourly rate?

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

You could even consider charging more for a half hour job than just half your hourly fee because you are not going to have a full hours work. It will take you time to get to the next job location. So ultimately you will not be able to perform 16 half hour jobs in an 8 hour period. But I do think you are handling it in a good way.

__________________
- Subscribe to my Lawn Care Marketing Blog Feed and get daily tips sent to you. Free!
Download your Free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Software.

That is true

[kc2006]

I pretty much round it up to where it needs to be. 25 minutes is a half hour, 35 minutes would be 3/4 hour.

The only time I do actual by the minute pricing is for leaf cleanups.

When I go over an hour, I always round it to the next quarter mark, 15, 30, 45mins. But under an hour is always my big thing.

I am thinking about just charging the $52 no matter what, even if it only takes me 10 mins.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I am thinking about just charging the $52 no matter what, even if it only takes me 10 mins.

This just might work.

Have you played around with the pricing with different customers and seen if they really care if you charge them these differences?

A friend of mine had replaced his dryer a while back and wasn't comfortable reattaching the gas pipe to the dryer so he called a plumber and the plumber charged him for the full hour to do a 5 minute job.
Just a thought.

I do play around with prices. For example, customers that I know are tight with money or I know would complain I don't charge them the full amount.

[kc2006]

I'd just tell people up front that you have a minimum charge. You may scare away some business but it would be better then having to fight/go to court when someone decides not to pay because they weren't informed.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (tiedeman @ April 28 2006,12:35)]When I go over an hour, I always round it to the next quarter mark, 15, 30, 45mins. *But under an hour is always my big thing.

I am thinking about just charging the $52 no matter what, even if it only takes me 10 mins.

We just charge our hourly rate whether it takes 30 minutes or 1 hour. Its just easier, plus then our customers know what are hourly rate is.

Wouldn't you lose money if you don't charge the full hourly rate? Just a thought!