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PR-06Pricing

Service call fee calculator

What a trip to the customer costs you in drive time and truck, and the call fee at your rate that covers it — without charging the truck or the drive twice.

Your call fee

Example: a customer 12 miles and 25 minutes away, the example shop’s $125.20 rate (truck included). Change any number.

Charge for the callExample shop

Service-call fee $105; the trip itself costs $44.78 before overhead and profit.

Exact $104.33 · rounded up to the next $5

See it drawn to scale
The trip, and what it costsDrawn to scale: road in miles and minutes, money on one dollar scale
Service call for the example trip, drawn to scaleRoute: 12 mi each way and 25 min each way, × 2 = 24 mi · 50 min round trip. On one dollar scale: the trip's cost floor $44.78 (red line) against the fee $105.12 mi each way25 min each way× 2 = 24 mi · 50 min round tripThe trip’s cost floor · the feeFloor$44.78Fee$105$0$20$40$60$80$100

Cost floor

  1. Drive time at labor cost0.83 h × $42.94$35.78
  2. Fuel and upkeep24 mi × $0.3748$9.00
  3. Cost floor$44.78

Fee at your rate

  1. Drive time at your rate50 min × $125.20/h$104.33
  2. Rounded upto the next $5$0.67
  3. Fee$105
  • Cost floor: below it every trip loses money
  • Rounded up
Cost floor
$44.78the drive itself
Fee, exact
$104.33at your rate
Round trip
50 min24 mi

0.83 h × $125.20 = $104.33 rounded up to $105

Already showing the example.

Count the drive once. If this fee bills the drive, count that time as billable in your labor rate; if your rate already carries unbilled driving, the fee charges it twice.

Your rate already includes the truck, so no mileage is added — that would charge the truck twice. Line items are rounded for display only; the total uses full precision, so items can add up a cent off.

What moves the fee

  • Every extra 10 minutes each way adds $41.73 to the fee.
  • With a 30-minute diagnostic included the fee is $170 ($166.93 exact).
  • The fee covers the trip’s cost floor 2.33 times; $59.55 is left toward overhead and profit.

Change the numbers

The trip

To the customer. The 12 miles is an example.

In normal traffic. The 25 minutes is an example.

Round trip50 min24 mi, 0.83 h
Your rate

Example shop: $125.20 from the labor rate calculator, truck included.

Does that rate include the truck?

From the labor rate calculator with a truck line it does. Without one, the example shop’s rate is $109.93.

What the fee covers

A diagnostic or minimum the fee covers: 0.5 for 30 minutes. Default 0.

After-hours multiplier

A pricing choice: multiplies the whole fee.

Round the fee up to
The trip’s cost floor$42.94 · $0.3748

Per worked hour — drive time between jobs is paid time. Example shop: $42.94.

Fuel, maintenance, repair and tires per mile. Example: $0.3748.

Fee: $105 · the trip costs $44.78. Back to the result

How the math works

Two numbers with two meanings. The cost floor is what the drive itself costs before overhead and profit — below it, every trip loses money. The fee prices the same drive at your billable rate, which already carries labor burden, overhead, the truck and profit.

  1. Round trip2 × one-way minutes ÷ 60 · 2 × one-way milesExample: 25 min and 12 mi each way = 0.8333 h and 24 mi.
  2. Cost floorhours × loaded labor per worked hour + miles × truck variable costExample: $35.78 + $9.00 = $44.78. Drive time between jobs is paid work time (DOL Fact Sheet #22).
  3. Trip feeround-trip hours × your rateExample: 0.8333 h × $125.20 = $104.33, rounded up to $105.
  4. Truck, only if needed+ round-trip miles × truck full cost per mileOnly when your rate leaves the truck out: never charge it twice. Example at $109.93 with 30 minutes on site: $173.32 → $175.
  5. On-site time+ included hours × your rateExample with a 30-minute diagnostic: $166.93 → $170.
  6. After hours× the multiplierExample ×1.5: $250.40 → $255.
  7. Round upto the next $5 (or $1, $10)Line items stay at full precision; only the shown total is rounded, so items can add up a cent off.

Where the example numbers come from

Billable rate
$125.20 (truck included) or $109.93 without itLabor rate calculator, example shop (site arithmetic on BLS, IRS, DOL and AAA figures)
Loaded labor cost
$42.94 per worked hourLabor rate calculator, example shop: yearly labor cost ÷ 1,872 worked hours
Truck variable cost
$0.3748 a mileTruck cost calculator: AAA maintenance, repair and tires plus fuel at $4.465 ÷ 17.4 mpg (EIA, price for Monday, September 28, 2026)
Truck full cost
$1.1146 a mileTruck cost calculator, example truck (AAA 2026 ½-ton pickup, 15,000 miles)
Distance and drive time
12 mi · 25 min each wayEditorial example: no source gives a typical service-trip distance
On-site time included
0 hEditorial choice (options: 30 minutes, 1 hour)
Rounding
Up to the next $5Editorial choice, 2026-10-04

Before you use the number

  • The fee is your choice; the math only shows what the trip costs you and what it brings in at your rate.
  • Don’t recover drive time twice, and don’t charge the truck twice. Field Promax data (a software vendor, via ACHR News) counts about 1.13 hours a day of driving not recovered through trip charges as non-billable — if your fee bills it, count it as billable in your labor rate.
  • Market ranges are wide and local. Angi’s consumer cost guide lists plumbing service-call fees of $100–$250 in its table and $150–$250 in its summary; it is a consumer guide, not a survey of contractors’ fees, and no typical HVAC or electrical diagnostic fee was found.
  • Drive time between calls is paid time for hourly employees under the FLSA (DOL Fact Sheet #22); ordinary home-to-work travel is not.
  • Emergency multipliers are a pricing practice, not a legal requirement: federal overtime pay applies only to hours over 40 in a workweek, not to weekends or holidays as such, and the FLSA requires no extra pay for night work.

Sources

Opened and checked October 4, 2026. The worked examples are the site’s own arithmetic.

  1. Fact Sheet #22: Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
  2. Overtime PayU.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
  3. Night Work and Shift WorkU.S. Department of Labor
  4. Report: Only 65% of HVAC Technician Time Is Billable HoursACHR News (Field Promax data; a software vendor)
  5. How Much Does Plumbing Repair Cost? (updated March 17, 2026)Angi (consumer cost guide)
  6. What Flat Rate Plumbing Pricing Covers (and Why It Beats Hourly)Roto-Rooter (plumbing company)
  7. Your Driving Costs 2026 (brochure)AAA
  8. Gasoline and Diesel Fuel UpdateU.S. Energy Information Administration

  • 1.10Guide

    How to Set a Service Call Fee That Covers the Trip

    Build a service-call fee from drive time, truck cost and any included diagnostic time, decide whether to credit it, and know the FTC Cooling-Off Rule.

    (0.8333 h + 0.5 h) × $125.20 = $166.93 → $170

    Length
    6 min
    Updated

  • 1.04In-depth guide

    What Your Service Truck Costs per Billable Hour

    Work out a service truck's cost per mile and per billable hour from ownership and operating costs, using AAA 2026 data, with the IRS rate as a check.

    $16,719.14 ÷ 1,216.8 h = $13.74

    Length
    10 min
    Updated

  • 1.01In-depth guide

    Flat Rate vs Time and Materials: The Break-Even Math

    How flat-rate and time-and-materials prices are built, one job priced both ways, where a flat price stops paying, and how to switch one task over.

    (322 − 85) ÷ 112.68 = 2.1033 h

    Length
    11 min
    Updated

Tools for the job

Tool listPlumbing + Cross-trade4 itemsSpecs read

As an Amazon Associate, Trade Price Book earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are marked “(paid link)”; prices aren’t shown here.

  1. Drain machinesRIDGID K-400

    K-400 Drum Machine

    • 3/8 in. cable for 1-1/2 to 3 in. lines and 1/2 in. cable for 3 to 4 in. lines; RIDGID notes it is not designed for root removal.

    Specs: RIDGID product page, read

    View on Amazon for RIDGID K-400(paid link)

  2. Inspection cameras and locatorsRIDGID micro CA-350

    micro CA-350 Inspection Camera

    • 3.5 in. color display with a 17 mm camera head lit by 4 adjustable LEDs.

    Specs: RIDGID product page, read

    View on Amazon for RIDGID micro CA-350(paid link)

  3. Thermal imagersFluke TiS20+ MAX

    TiS20+ MAX Thermal Imaging Camera

    • 120 x 90 (10,800-pixel) infrared resolution, 60 mK thermal sensitivity, 9 Hz.

    Specs: Fluke product page, read

    View on Amazon for Fluke TiS20+ MAX(paid link)

  4. Job-site and van storageMilwaukee 48-22-8426

    PACKOUT Rolling Tool Box

    • 250 lb weight capacity; IP65 weather seal.

    Specs: Milwaukee product page, read

    View on Amazon for Milwaukee 48-22-8426(paid link)

How tools are chosen for gear listsAll 16 plumbing tools