Flat Rate

BFlanzbaum

Looking for best, easiest, any recommendations for Flat Rate program for small residential HVAC company. Thanks in Advance

geno907

"the new flat rate" ask for Tere. Tell them Geno sent you. they're by far the best i've seen. she'll hook you up.

GW

We have profit rhino, if you use a tablet for your pricing your tasks it’s pretty nice. 

EdTheHeaterMan

I was very pleased with Coolfront before I sold my business. They have online real-time invoicing that will populate into some accounting software systems. I liked the fact that the parts in the flat rate prices were continually updated every so often to keep up with what I was actually paying at the supplier. I used Quickbooks Online at the time. But I was told that there are new owners and they want you to use their accounting package. I believe you can use just the flat-rate portion independent of the other services. You only pay by the invoice. No exorbitant upfront fee for a "System" and they advertise that the fee per invoice is included in the pricing structure of the flat rates. So it really costs you nothing.

Each mechanic had an iPad on the truck and priced the invoices right in front of the customer. You can also just have your mechanical call into the office with the diagnosis and recommendations then the office can price up the jobs for customer approval. I did it both ways when a new tech has hired the pricing came from the office until they got the hang of it.

NO UPFRONT COSTS, Just pay for a minimum amount of invoices (like 50 I think) and start using the software for pricing. Easy Peasy.

EdTheHeaterMan

I just logged on to Coolfront and there are several unused invoices left so my account is still open.

If you are interested in more info on how I customized Coolfront for my business DM me


They also offer a printed book that you can get They want you to get one for each service tech in the field and one for the office. You pay upfront for the book, then a monthly fee for the license to use it. after a year (or 6 months) or so you update the price markup, labor rates, and other variables then they print your new book(s).

I did that for years before the online (real-time) version was available.

Respectfully submitted
Mr.Ed

P.S. The online version on the iPad really upped my game the last few years. Customers like the fact that they could approve the price before the work was started.

GW

Ed we just switched to QBO, very painful. Were you on Qb desktop before online? 

EdTheHeaterMan

GW said:

Ed we just switched to QBO, very painful. Were you on Qb desktop before online? 

Yes but that was many years ago. What was a real PIA was getting from QBO back to QB desktop when I needed to provide the records to the guy purchasing my company. It took a specialist to talk to their friend at Intuit (for 3 weeks) to get all the bugs out before the files could all be converted back. My QB desktop was started back in 2001 and the QBO was started in 2010.

Using Intuit products is definitely a case of making your business conform to the software. Not the way it should be.

Good luck with that Gary PM me with any questions. Are you using Flatrate?

Mr Ed

GW

Yes we are currently on profit rhino. 

I knew switching to online was going to be a miserable experience. It’s so far my feelings and reality are matching each other. The need for me to see the QuickBooks file from my phone overpowered everything else.

EdTheHeaterMan

@GW There is a code in each job/repair scenario that indicates the allotted time for each job/repair. Do your mechanics know how to read that? Do you have any incentives that allow for competing against the clock? A bonus or for billing for so many hours compared to the actual hours on the payroll timesheets?

There should be some reports you can generate and compare. I had a mechanic who consistently billed 10 hours in an 8 hour day. And the customers loved him, The flat rate price was agreed to before the work was started. Minimal customer complaints on the charges. He knew the shortcuts. Like when a repair included "drain the boiler" and allotted 30 minutes for that, he could reduce the pressure and swap the part on the fly. The customer is paying for his knowledge and experience... and the same price as if I sent a less experienced mechanic who took 45 minutes to drain and refill the boiler for the same repair. The customer was not overcharged for inexperience.

That is what I love about Flat Rate. Get approval first and get paid Fast!

GW

Ed That’s great, for better or worse we aren’t “that” numbers driven with the service work.