HVAC Service Callbacks: Their True Cost and What You Can Do to Prevent Them
HVAC contractors know that callbacks can have a negative impact on business, but have you ever calculated how much they actually cost? At minimum, a single callback can cost hundreds of dollars, not in addition to potential damage to your business’s reputation.
An unbillable return service call to correct work on a job that has already been completed can impact profit margins in a number of ways. Dollar-wise, some fairly basic calculations can give you a good idea of what’s lost on a callback. Factors include:
- Travel time and vehicle cost
- Time spent on the call
- Cost of materials
- Loss of chargeable business
Other callback costs that can’t easily be quantified include loss of customers, loss of referrals, and loss of potential business through poor online reviews. For more accurate calculations, HVAC-specific formulas can be found online.
Reducing the Number of Callbacks
Callbacks due to equipment malfunction usually can’t be helped, but there are a number of things HVAC contractors can due to reduce the number of callbacks caused by human error:
- Training: If you find you’re being called back repeatedly on the same type of repairs, or if a particular technician has an inordinate number of callbacks, some retraining is probably in order. In fact, an ongoing training program should be built in to every HVAC business.
- Develop checklists to help service techs avoid missing details that can lead to callbacks.
- Provide incentives like bonuses or paid time off for service techs with the fewest callbacks.
- Review callbacks with the technician to determine what happened and how to prevent it from happening again in the future.
- Avoid overburdening technicians with too many service calls. Rushed, shoddy work results in excessive callbacks.
Never accept the status quo when there are ways to improve your HVAC business and enable it to prosper. Keeping callbacks to a minimum is always a good place to start.
About E.P. Homiek
E.P. Homiek Sheet Metal Fabrication & HVAC Supply, with two convenient locations in Lakewood, NJ and Union, NJ, provides one- to two-day turnaround on all residential and light commercial ductwork, as well as one- to two-hour emergency fabrication service, rapid delivery, and competitive prices. HVAC parts, supplies, and equipment lines include Goodman, Honeywell, Bryant, Bradford White, Crown Boiler, Daikin, Weil-McLain, York Commercial, Sea Breeze, Generac, Fantech, ZM, A.O. Smith, Hart & Cooley, Malco, Mueller, and many more.
