Time to invoice

[ians]

This is always the best part of the job ...

You arrived on site at 8:47:30 am you left the site at 13:27:40.

The customer made a note of time of arrival and departure ... when he/she opens the PDF invoice they are expecting to see 4 hours labour and R12345.67 for material.

they dont expect to see an amount for travelling to and from site ... nor the hour it took you to get there ... just the hours on site and an amount for material.

I dont blame them ... because the uneducated tradesman business owner who still hasnt figued out that if you own a business you need to think like a businessman and make a profit ... you not just trying to improve your hourly rate you earned as a tradesman ... and shyte costs money.

That van that you are driving had to be bought and paid for ... the thing has to be serviced ... you have to fill it with petrol and insurance and etc etc etc.

So let me help everyone understand and share what is involved in doing a 4 hours job.

The phone rings ... someone has to answer it.

A job card is created (install a small DB with an ASC ... a couple lights and a plug)

a visit to site to view what is required ... a sketch and a few measurement.

back to the office to plan the job.

then a list of materials must be created and ordered ... either collected or delivered to your workshop.

So what I do is lay everything out on the table make sure we have everything .. some of the equipment will already be in the van (glands/lugs/screws etc) a quick stock check just to make sure.

Pre wire the DB ... drill the holes and label the DB.

Drill the holes in the lights and fit the glands.

Make sure the gas gun is fully charged so that the saddles can be installed.

Laser batteries are charged.

Then we still have to stop to get a cold drink and something to eat because for some reason electrician and semi skilled dont seem to make lunch in their own time ... then the garage to fill up with fuel ... then stop at the wholesaler to collect the 2 glands you short ... then eventually you head to site ... 4 hours later job is complete and you leave site ... and that is because you are so efficient ... generally a DB a plug and a couple lights take more than one day.

We wont add in the trip back to the wholesaler because you forgot to get insulation tape.

Head back to the office to hand in your service sheet so that the admin can invoice and email the invoice.

We wonder why more than 70 % of businesses fail within the first 5 years and 98 % within 10 years.