Hit a sweet spot billing at $150 flat rate and suddenly clients stopped questioning me... but am I leaving money on the table?

3 comments

3 Comments

That flat rate thing is tricky. I had a buddy who did the same with his handyman gig and he stopped getting called out on his prices too but then he realized he was basically eating the cost on jobs that took way longer than expected. One time he bid a flat $200 for some fence repair and it ended up taking three days because the wood was rotted underneath. He made like minimum wage that week. I switched to a day rate myself after seeing that mess. You gotta think about the jobs that go sideways not just the ones that go smooth.

samreed16d ago

That one bad job doesn't mean flat rate is doomed for everyone, does it @mason_murray8. Your buddy probably should have charged more upfront or added a clause for surprises. Don't think one rough week proves the whole model is broken.

sagejackson16d ago

You know what, I used to think flat rate was the way to go too... but then I read your buddy's story about that fence job and it got me thinking. "He made like minimum wage that week" really stuck with me because that's the kind of thing you don't see coming. It's easy to only think about the smooth jobs where everything goes right, but those nightmare jobs are the ones that can really mess you up. I was all for flat rate before but now I'm not so sure, maybe a day rate protects you better from the nasty surprises that always seem to pop up. Sometimes the simple approach isn't the best one when the work itself is unpredictable.