Service Call
Definition
A service call is a single customer request for a technician to come onsite, diagnose an issue, and perform repair or maintenance work.
What Service Call Means for Your Business
What it means
A service call is the fundamental unit of field service work. One customer, one address, one visit. Everything else, pricing, scheduling, dispatch, revolves around the service call.
Why it matters
The health of your business shows up in the math of your service calls: how many you run per day, what they bill, and what percentage convert to bigger jobs. Track those three numbers and you understand the shop.
How contractors use it
Every service call generates a work order, an invoice, and often a follow-up quote. The best shops track close rate, average ticket, and callback rate on every call.
Real-World Example
A plumbing company averages 18 service calls per day across 6 techs. With a $385 average ticket, that is $6,930 in daily revenue or about $1.8 million a year before counting upsells.
Related Terms
Work Order
A work order is the digital or paper document that authorizes and records the work performed on a specific service call.
Dispatch
Dispatch is the process of assigning field technicians to service calls and routing them to customer locations in the most efficient order.
Diagnostic Fee
A diagnostic fee is a flat charge a service company bills to come onsite, inspect the problem, and provide a repair quote.
Average Ticket
Average ticket is the mean revenue generated per service call, calculated by dividing total invoiced revenue by the number of completed jobs.
Close Rate
Close rate is the percentage of presented estimates that result in a booked job or signed contract.
Put This Into Practice with Free Software
Kaldr Tech handles service call and everything else you need to run your shop. $0/month, 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction.