Do You Charge the Service and Diagnostic Fee with a Flat-Rate Repair?

A Contractor University Member recently utilized the Ask-The-Expert Q&A feature within the member dashboard by submitting the following question and received the response below.

Contractor Question:

“Do you charge the service and diagnostic fee with a flat-rate repair?”

Contractor University Expert Response:

“This is something a lot of companies work through when setting up their pricing.

Yes, the service/diagnostic fee is typically charged separately. Most companies will waive that fee if the customer proceeds with the repair, but not all do. The key is consistency and clear communication with the customer.

A simple way to position it is:

“Today there’s an $89 diagnostic to figure out exactly what’s going on. Once I walk you through the solution, if you decide to move forward, we’ll waive that and just take care of everything under the repair.” In my experience, it really comes down to educating the customer upfront so there are no surprises. Let me know if you’d like to jump on a call and walk through it further. “

Contractor University members can click here to log in to their member dashboard and submit a question through the Ask the Expert portal.

”