Desired % of billable time

[Deleted User]

have a company van that they get to take home, some as far as 45mins away from the shop, and after the gas prices got ridiculous, we installed gps because of all the weekend moolighting/free gas usage. of course the thieves complained as theives will when their 'feelings of entitlement' are taken away. for the techs with nothing to hide, it meant nothing, because they also knew that detours home to get groceries is easily overlooked. and they also know that every time the gas prices go up, they get a raise, because they're not paying to get to and from the shop

we also bill as soon as the rubber hits the road; parts runs and all

Rocky_3

Technician billable time

Doing a little refiguring of technician efficiency at my humble heating company. If a technician bills you for 8 hours, and the work is there for him to do so he is not ambling around waiting for some work to come in, what percentage do you all like to see as billable time? Do you shoot for 80%? (ie: he bills 6.4 hours). 50%? What do you shoot for, and what is the real world average for everone else out there? I honestly find it hard to get much more than about 50% in real, day-to-day, rubber-hits-the-road life. Of course I would like it to be 100% (wouldn't we all), but between stocking the vans, trips to parts counter, call-backs, customer satisfaction calls, "lost" time, etc., just hard to get that number above 50%. We have gone to a full time warehouseman to streamline parts ordering, van stocking etc, better dispatching, P.O's for wholesaler purchases, (so the techs know that WE know they are at the parts house), in-house training two mornings a week to sharpen technical skills, etc. Still, unbillable time kills us. What are your feelings on this?
Warm regards from chilly Fairbanks,
Rocky

Mike Thomas_2

Time

I have attended several seminars on this very topic. According to the experts, you are doing a very good job to hit 48%. Structure your rate based on that figure, along with all the other factors, overhead, etc.

Tony_23

Typically

I've learned that 50% is about all I can count on. Some weeks better, some worse. I've set my hourly rate based on that figure. Things got a little easier once I figured that out

Rocky_3

What sort of steps have you taken?

What are some of the things you all do to improve that figure? Like I've said, I've hired a full time warehouseman (all overhead) to stock the vans so the techs don't have to spend as much time doing it in the mornings, instituted replicable parts lists for each van so everyone has the same thing on board, went to a PO ordering system so techs have to call in to buy literally anything on the company's dime so they know any stop to get a coffee and donut under the auspices getting a small part is being watched now, better office software for dispatching and tracking. What else are you guys doing to increase the billable percentage rate? Anyone doing GPS on the service vans? At what point though do you have to quit being "Big Brother" and trust they are doing what they are supposed to be doing? Hard to find that balance when I see 8 and 9 hours on a time card and we've billed 4.
Just thinking out loud here,
Rock

Leo_9

I am an employee

We fill out the daily/weekly time card which lists any ot for the day. We also fill out job sheets which have dispatch, arrive, and complete time. My sheet lists what I did. I do a lot of burner cleanings, some are a breeze some are a can of worms. If it takes longer than usual I list what I did. By choice I work through lunch and get out a half hour early if not busy. I don't sit in coffee shops but I do go through drive through windows or run in and get one to go. I don't feel that is taking advantage. Having a coffee as I drive to the next job saves time, I get to relax yet travel at the same time. I have nothing to hide but would have a hard time being "watched". As a boss you get to know what your people are capable of and how long roughly it takes a guy to do a certain job. If one is having a problem or not up to par deal with that person, why make everyone suffer.

Leo

larry_51

billable

I base my hourly on 5.65 billable hours from my well compansated techs (they are averageing above that at the moment) and hope for 15 hours aweek billable for the appentice. I look at the appentice as an investment. When I was a well compansated tech I would average 7 billable hours a day. I also stopped for refreshment; popped in to see mom; went to the bank, ect. to and from calls. I also dispatched myself alot of the time handled all my own special orders, schedualed return visits, sold lots of service and equipment, took night calls without grumbling; I had every thing I needed in quantity for 95% of the calls I encountered; I once went 2 months without going to the supply house, and rarley stopped for lunch. I was well paid, beniftted, and motivated. I was recruited by another company (the owner drove to my house on a saturday) where I continued my out standing performance for about four months. The new boss was beside himself with glee. He was anticipating his son's completion of college to be trained by the new go-to guy. One Thurs. I had a meeting with him as to why my van was idleing for 40 min at the shop. His wife was asking detailed questions as to procedures at my old shop. I did not recall at first so he whipped out my GPS report to jog my memory. Well that was a Thurs. I turned in my phone and shop keys Fri. The next day. I have been competing with him for 21/2 years now and hes starting to feel it. I left because I trusted him he did not trust me. I pay for exceptional performance and get good performance. That is simply the way it is. There is not a line of guys at some union hall desperate to work. There's a bunch of knuckleheads and some good guys and you have to pay for the good ones. I pay in the top 90% hourly wages, 401k, health, dental, vacation, overtime after 8 hours, sick days personal days, flex-time, get the radio or A/C fixed when it breaks, mornings off for school plays ad infinitem. I figure I get 1600 to 1700 hours a year. I bet my dad got paid for 2000 hours a year and worked 1920, but times have changed. What I am saying is look at what motivates your techs before you shackle them and spy on them. I was a proud tech not that long ago who supported my family, owned a home, took a nice vacation now and again (is it really vacation with 3 kids under 10?) and had two good cars. I would still be there fat and happy but somebody was spying on me. I think you will make your bad techs cheats and liars and your good techs go away. Are your techs proud (filled with self esteem for those under 35) or are they the slouching hang-dog workin' for the weekend ones?

tim smith

We run at appx 70% incl. call backs

We have a good solid crew, bill fairly and keep good stock.

Steve_35

Distributor

See if your distributor will work with you on a truck basis. IOW, Take the invoices from the previous day. Generate a material list used the previous day for each truck. Send the list to your distributor, have them package the orders separately for each truck and deliver them to you so they can be loaded on each truck by the second morning.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

No GPS yet

but it's on my mind every time a customer calls to say our service tech was only there for 15-minutes (to install a new circ, or install a new toilet, etc...). Man, I'd love to be in a position to say that I know the tech was there for the full two hours Mrs. or Mr. Chissler & no, I'm not reducing your bill.

RE the productivity rate? We track each employee's billable hours and call-back rate separately. If there's a piece of dead wood in the ranks, they stick out like a sore thumb. Helps me decide about raises.

A.J.

Rocky just because

you know that you have to keep track of billable hours VS. non-billable hours you are a step ahead of most.
Why don't you ask your techs. if they have any ideas it will give them a sense of self worth and they just might have an idea or two.

Rocky_3

Good answers, all

Just to clarify. I pay the best of any heating company in town, bar none. Usually my guys are making around 20K more than their counterparts at any other heating company. They have paid vacation, only pay 10% of their very generous medical/dental/vision premiums, and they will able to retire comfortably due to their retirement plan and profit sharing plan. I am by nature a very trusting guy. I always give someone the benefit of the doubt, and am more than willing to overlook small transgressions, because after all, these are people not automatons. I have done everything I can think of on my end to keep overhead to a minimum. Just seems like I should be able to expect more than 50% billable time. And in keeping with that, that is why we are trying to institute better tracking and efficiency indicators. Techs will be further rewarded by better efficiencies/billable time percentages, those who do not show improvement will be further trained or shown the door. I am just trying to find out what types of things do you all track out there? Just curious so I can get a comparison.
By-the-by, it is -41 out this morning. Have three completely frozen houses-toilets are solid ice. Every single one of them supposedly had a house sitter. "But I checked the house just last night" is their standard mantra. "Uh...no you didn't. Toilets don't go from liquid to solid in 6 hours. Not even at -40.

Warm regards from chilly Fairbanks,
Rocky

Steve_35

Offer your best clients this.

This may be just the thing to offer your clients. It's a device that will call out up to 3 numbers if the temperature in the home drops down below a set point. They don't have to wonder if the house sitter is really going to show or not.

www.protectedhome.com

Rocky_3

We have something called Freeze-Alarm

Same deal. If house goes below what you program, it will start calling. Actually have sold dozens and dozens, have sent out mailers to all my customers regarding these. Unfortunately, there are always those few who think it will not happen to them because "their" housesitter would never think about not coming to check their house.
Rocky

Steve_35

It's the same product.

www.protectedhome.com is Freeze-Alarm's web site. All we can do is offer the water. We can't make the horse drink.

You could however take a few pictures of the damage you encounter on a couple of jobs that did have "house sitters" for those who don't believe it'll happen to them.

lee_7

My old employer put GPS into Vans. They would print old reports each Monday, If your van had more then 20 minutes of idle time for the week, you got in trouble. If you missed a turn and went a little out of the way to your job, trouble again. Keeping track of your guys is one thing, but they took it to the extreme and lost their 2 top hvac techs and their top 3 plumbers. Now they are left with the parts changers who can't even read wiring diagrams. Just waiting for going out of business sale, they had a lot of nice tools, if any are left.

[Deleted User]

ooooo, i'm for gps systems,

but that's going to extremes. i'd be headed down the road and talking to me lunchbox

Darrell_3

Billable Time

I worked for an outfit that required me to bill every minute to somebody every day...so everyday was 100% with very few exceptions...the last year I was there I averaged 45 minutes of unbillable shop time per 40 hour week. I did my own purchasing, research, stocking, billing, scheduling, gas fills, and supply house runs. In my opinion...and the outfit was, and is, very succesful and well-respected and I loved working for them, it was alot of pressure and often tough to justify to the customer, and I fielded numerous complaints and calls. I am on my own now, (and you know what that did to my days)...I work alone, do all of my own purchasing, billing, banking, collecting, etc. and my goal is to bill out at 75%...and I usually make it. The thing that really relaxed my clock was to go to a 90 minute minimum call...and I haven't had any complaints at all for any of my customers. The 90 minute minimum covers alot of travel, supply house time, (a real time burner by the way if any supply house guys are reading this), gasoline and business chores. I try to pre-book an 8AM, 10AM, 1PM, and leave a 3PM open for call-ins, which gives me 6 billable hours per day and my budget is set with that level. If I get a 5PM it is overtime. I think the perception of value is better with a minimum charge than an invoice that counts minutes. I am in a kinda different position in that most of my customers have followed me from shop to shop for a number of years...I try to give them real value...so I don't have to constantly find new customers.

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