Hourly rate or flat rate: structuring your service pricing

The hourly-versus-flat-rate debate is badly framed. Profitable service businesses almost always use a hybrid: fixed fees for what's predictable, billed time for what isn't, and multipliers for urgency.

The building blocks

• Travel fee: flat per visit or per kilometre. It covers a real cost; hiding it in the hourly rate makes your rate look uncompetitive.
• Diagnostic fee: the expertise to make the right diagnosis has value — common practice is to waive it if the work is awarded. "$95 diagnostic, credited if you proceed" protects your time without alienating the client.
• Hourly rate per work type: planned maintenance, standard repair and specialized work don't carry the same rate. A category-based rate card avoids case-by-case negotiation.
• Emergency multipliers: evening, weekend, statutory holiday — 1.5× to 2× is the industry norm. The key: announce it before the trip, not on the invoice.
• Warranty: covered work, non-covered, denied claim — each status has its billing rule, written in advance.

The golden rule: the rate card decides, not the mood

A written rate card, applied by the system, eliminates the two poisons: the improvised phone discount and the invoice surprise. Your dispatchers quote consistently; your clients compare apples to apples.

In MainteQC, per-work-type rate cards, travel and diagnostic fees, and emergency multipliers are configured in account policies — and every quote applies them automatically. See plans.