What to Say About Your Call-Out Charge Before You've Seen the Job

A caller with a dripping stopcock or a dead boiler usually asks the same thing early on: "How much to come out?" If you have no settled answer, whoever picks up improvises. One person gives a vague "it depends", another gives a figure that gets quoted back at you later as the price of the whole job.

The fix is to decide, before the phone rings, what you will say and what you won't. Here is how to work that out.

Separate the call-out charge from the repair price

These are two different things, and the caller often runs them together. The call-out charge is what it costs to get an engineer to the door. The repair price depends on what is wrong, which nobody knows over the phone.

Say so plainly: "The call-out charge covers getting an engineer to you and looking at the problem. Any repair and parts are quoted once we've seen it." That one sentence heads off most of the arguments that start with "but you said it would be..."

Decide what the call-out charge includes

Before you quote anything, write down what the charge actually covers in your business. Questions to settle:

• Does it include travel only, or travel plus an initial period of diagnosis?
• Is any of it deducted if the customer goes ahead with the repair?
• Are parts always extra?
• Does the charge change out of hours, at weekends or on bank holidays?
• Does it differ by area if you cover a wide patch?

You don't need to recite all of this to every caller. But whoever answers should know the answers, so they are never guessing mid-conversation.

What to say on the phone

Keep the phone answer short and in a fixed order:

1. Find out the problem and the postcode first. There is no point quoting a charge for a job outside your area. Checking cover also shows the caller you are taking the job seriously.
2. Give the call-out charge as a clear figure. Not a range, not "around". If your charge varies by time of day, quote the one that applies to the slot you are offering.
3. State what it covers and what it doesn't. Parts and further labour are extra, and you'll give a price once you've seen the fault.
4. Offer a slot straight away. Moving from price to booking keeps the call from turning into a comparison exercise.

What to leave until after the visit

Some things are tempting to answer on the phone and are better held back:

• A fixed price for the repair. Unless it is a job you do identically every time, wait until you've diagnosed it.
• A diagnosis. "Sounds like the pump" is a guess, and callers remember guesses as promises.
• Promises about time on site. You can say when you'll arrive. How long the fix takes is for after you've looked.
• Discounts or waiving the charge. Decide in advance whether you ever do this. If you do, make it your decision on the day, not something offered to win a phone call.

If a caller pushes for a total, a fair answer is: "I'd rather not guess and be wrong. Once the engineer has seen it you'll get a price before any work starts." Most people accept that when it is said calmly and the call-out charge has been given clearly.

Write it down once

Put the wording on a single card or note and keep it where the phone is answered, in the van and in the office. Include:

• the call-out charge and when it applies
• what it covers
• the one-line explanation about parts and repairs
• the questions to ask first (problem, postcode)
• what to say when someone asks for a total

If more than one person answers calls, have them read it aloud together once. You'll find the gaps quickly, such as one person including the first stretch of diagnosis while another doesn't.

If you use something other than yourself to answer

The same rule applies if calls sometimes go to a receptionist, a family member or an automated service: it can only repeat what it has been told. If you're curious about how an AI answering service handles a plumbing call, the example there shows it asking about the problem, checking the postcode against the coverage area and quoting the call-out charge it has been given before offering a slot. That works because the charge was decided beforehand. Whoever or whatever answers, the answer should be one you've settled in advance.

A quick check

Next time you hang up after a call-out enquiry, ask yourself: did the caller know the charge, what it covers, and that the repair would be priced after the visit? If yes, you've said enough. If you had to say "it depends" more than once, tighten your card and try again.