🔑 Key Points: An Extra Hour on the Job

• Initial Perception: An extra hour on the job seems costly—about $100/hr in overhead (wages, tools, gas, insurance, etc.).

• Hidden Cost of Skipping It: Not spending that extra hour can cost more due to callbacks, lost time, and damaged reputation.

• Real Example: A missed vent issue led to a callback costing over 2 hours and $230 in unbillable time.

• Impact: Callbacks reduce profits, delay other jobs, and risk customer trust.

• Solution: Use checklists or start-up sheets to catch issues upfront and avoid costly oversights.

• Bottom Line: Taking a few extra minutes now can save hours and hundreds of dollars later—and protect your brand.

What does an extra hour on the job cost you? 

The quick answer is ALOT!  But, Its a deeper question than what most of us think.

We budget time for each job to stay efficient, and make ourselves available, to move to the next lucrative opportunity. So spending that extra hour on the job can be costly for sure. But what happens if we don't spend that extra hour on the job? How much does that cost? It could be way more than you think. 

A service technician is approximately valued at $100hr in overhead. This includes all the things to run the business, Payroll, tools, insurance, gas, paper, lights, heat ect. So in technically, an extra hour on the job can cost upwards to $100 or more. 

Let's see what can happen if we don't spend that extra hour on the job.

Suppose we did a furnace replacement, 1yr warranty for the homeowner included. We get a callback from them 2 weeks later because the unit is locking out and creating a "no-heat". Start the clock: 10 minutes or so to take the call from the homeowner and have the conversation, another 10 minutes to figure out when you can schedule the return, 20 minutes of drive time to the job, 10 minutes unloading tools and having another conversation with the homeowner, 30 minutes of troubleshooting and looking around, we discover the issue (sagging vent pipe collecting water). This was overlooked at install because we attached to the old vent system, and didn't take the time to be investigative, and make sure that what we attached to was ok. Clock still running: another 15 minutes to make the repair, another 15 minutes to make the homeowner feel  assured that they would have no more issues. 15 minutes for loading tools and paperwork, and another 20 minutes of drive time to the next job. In total 145 minutes or 2 hours and 20 minutes or better yet, approximately $232.00 in unbillable time, cutting into your profits. 

We highly encourage Checklists, Start-up sheets, or whatever you want to call them, for this reason. A little extra time on the job making sure that everything is in order, working properly, reliable, keeping money in your pocket, and most importantly, supplying your customer with what they paid for. After all, it's YOUR brand as a company or technician on the line.

So again we ask, "What does an extra hour on the job cost you?"     

Carlos