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

Connor Burke

so our shop has been doing time + materials forever basically and we're looking at switching to flat-rate pricing for hvac installs and repairs. my boss wants to know if anyone's actually made this work in FieldPulse or if it's more headache than it's worth

the main thing i'm wondering is like... do you set up flat-rate items as services in the catalog? or do you handle it some other way? and how do you deal with when a job ends up being way more complicated than the flat rate covers

also curious if customers push back more on flat rate vs seeing the actual time on the invoice. we've got some elderly customers who really like seeing the breakdown

anyway would love to hear what's actually working for people in the field bc the office is all theory and no practice lol

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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