Are flat-rate pricing models working in FieldPulse for anyone?

Made the switch two years ago and honestly it was rough for about six months, then smooth sailing. Pro tip: create your flat-rate items as Services in the catalog with the full price built in, then use the internal notes field to track your actual time for your own metrics.

We handle the "this got complicated" situation with a clear scope definition up front. Our flat rates cover standard access and conditions. Anything outside that scope gets a change order written up on the spot, signed by the customer before we proceed. FieldPulse makes this easy with the mobile signature capture.

The customer pushback thing is real but temporary. We ran both models side by side for a quarter and tracked close rates. Flat rate actually won slightly (53% vs 49%) once we trained our techs to frame it as "predictable pricing" rather than "this is what it costs." Older customers specifically appreciated not worrying about a tech taking their time.

One thing I walked back from an earlier post of mine: I used to recommend building material costs into the flat rate too. Don't do that. Keep materials line-itemed for warranty tracking and your own sanity.

in my experience flat rate is how you end up eating costs on jobs that should've been time and materials. seen too many shops bleed money on "simple" panel swaps that turned into rewiring nightmares

that said if you're gonna do it, FieldPulse handles it fine. just don't let your office set the rates without asking the guys actually doing the work

Art makes a fair point about rate-setting, though I'd frame it differently. The key is building in enough margin to absorb the occasional nightmare job while staying competitive on the routine ones.

We spent six months tracking actual time on every job before finalizing our flat-rate book. That data lives in custom fields on our work orders now — actual hours vs. flat-rate hours — and we review quarterly. Our electrician with 20+ years of experience was invaluable for flagging which jobs consistently run long.

One workflow improvement worth mentioning: we created a "Flat Rate Review Required" checklist item that triggers on any job where actual time exceeds 150% of the flat rate allowance. Forces a conversation between tech and office before we quote the next similar job.

alright that's actually not a bad system. the checklist flag i mean. still think flat rate is a numbers game that favors bigger shops with volume to absorb variance but i can see how tracking the delta helps

We want to make sure everyone's set up for success with pricing model transitions! A few customers have shared similar journeys in our tips for rolling out to larger teams piece — worth a read if you're navigating change management alongside the pricing shift.

I'd also be curious: for those of you running flat rate, are you using FieldPulse's quote approval workflows to get customer sign-off before work begins? We've seen that really help with the scope-creep situations Josh and Gwen mentioned.

Happy to connect you with our Professional Services team if you want to walk through setup — just reply here or reach out directly!

oh good call on the quote approval thing, we haven't really used that feature. gonna look into it

also that 150% flag idea is smart Gwen, stealing that for sure

Tried flat rate. Lost money for 8 months. Switched back.

Your market might be different. Ours wasn't having it.

We're in the middle of this transition right now and I have SO many questions! How did you handle training your CSRs to explain flat rate to customers calling for quotes? And are you showing the flat rate on the initial dispatch or just when the tech arrives?

We've also been debating whether to keep any T&M option for certain customer types or if that just creates confusion. Thanks so much for any insights!

Another way to think about the training question — we found it more effective to arm CSRs with specific language rather than general concepts. "Your repair is covered by our standard diagnostic and repair rate of $X" lands better than "we charge flat rate."

Another consideration: the initial dispatch screen shows estimated arrival time only, with pricing discussed after diagnosis. This avoids phone-quote commitments that don't account for actual conditions on site. From a broader operational perspective, this also reduced our rate of quoted-but-unscheduled appointments significantly.

Really appreciate that framing! Going to try that script with our team this week