How to price emergency and after-hours work
You are not selling repair — you are selling immediacy
At 11 pm on a Sunday, the client is not comparing quotes. They have water coming through a ceiling and they need it stopped. What they are buying is your availability, and availability has a real cost: your evening, your sleep, your family time, your Monday performance.
Undercharging emergencies is the most common pricing mistake in the trades, and the strangest — it's the one moment where price sensitivity is at its lowest.
A structure that holds up
Build it as a multiplier of your standard rate (calculate that first):
| Window | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Standard hours | ×1 |
| Evenings & Saturdays | ×1.5 |
| Nights, Sundays, holidays | ×2 |
Plus a fixed emergency call-out fee covering the first 30–60 minutes on site regardless of how quick the fix turns out to be. If it takes eight minutes, you still gave up the evening.
The phone script that prevents every dispute
Never travel without announcing the numbers. Before you get in the van:
"I can be there in about 40 minutes. To be clear on cost: the night call-out is $180, which covers the first hour on site, then $130 an hour after that, plus any parts. Shall I come?"
Two things happen: unserious calls disqualify themselves before you drive across town, and no one can dispute a price they explicitly accepted. Say it, then send a one-line text with the same numbers — that's your written trace.
Rules that keep it clean
- Never quote a total blind. You haven't seen it. Quote the call-out and the rate, not the job.
- Stabilise first, quote the full repair after. Stop the leak tonight; give a proper estimate tomorrow in daylight, calmly.
- Photograph everything on arrival. Emergencies are chaotic and the client is stressed — timestamped photos protect you both.
- Invoice the next morning, not next week. Urgency memory fades fast, and so does willingness to pay.
Emergencies are your best margin — if you record them
Most artisans never measure it. Do the job costing on your last five call-outs. If they're your highest-margin work, that's a strategy signal, not a coincidence. With Pro Speak Artisan you can dictate the estimate on the spot at midnight and send the invoice from the van the next morning.