After-hours and emergency rates

Choose the hours and work you will cover

Define what after-hours means for your business: evenings, weekends, holidays, or calls outside your published schedule. Decide whether you offer an on-call response at all, which areas you cover and what kinds of work fit your qualifications, equipment and availability. It is reasonable to say you are unavailable or that a request needs a different provider.

Separate a request for a prompt assessment from a promise to complete a repair immediately. An emergency label does not tell you the scope, access conditions or parts required. Explain what you can do on the first visit and what may need a later appointment.

• Your available hours and service area.
• Any after-hours attendance or assessment charge.
• How you price additional time, parts or follow-up work.
• What happens if you cannot safely or competently take the job.

Set a policy you can apply consistently

Work out the price using your own costs, the time you reserve and the disruption to planned work. You can use a separate attendance charge, a different time-based price, or another method that fits your business. The amount is yours to set; avoid copying an unexplained market figure that may not fit your travel, overhead or workload.

Write down when the policy applies and whether it changes by time, day or location. Keep ordinary service-call terms easy to compare with after-hours terms, and decide how a visit charge relates to any repair work the customer later approves.

Tell the customer before the visit

Before accepting the booking, say the charge, what it covers and how further work will be priced. If you cannot know the total until you assess the job, say so and explain that you will pause for approval before doing chargeable work outside the agreed first step. Confirm the address, timing or arrival window, and the best contact number.

Use calm, direct language. A customer should not have to infer an after-hours premium from the time of the call or discover it only when the invoice arrives.

Make the invoice match the conversation

Show the visit or after-hours charge as its own line, with a description that matches the terms you gave. List approved labour, parts and any other agreed charges clearly. If the scope changed, record when you explained the change and received approval. Keep the invoice factual and do not add an emergency fee that was not disclosed and agreed.

Review how often after-hours calls affect your schedule and wellbeing. Adjust your availability or terms when needed, then update the wording wherever customers see it: your phone script, booking confirmation and website.