How to calculate a call-out fee: travel, time and margin

A call-out fee should reflect the cost of making the visit, the time included on site and the margin you want to earn. Start with your own costs, then check whether the resulting price fits your service and the market you serve.

Use the free call-out fee calculator to work through the numbers. It produces a cost breakdown and wording you can adapt for customers. It does not tell you what other businesses in your area charge.

Define what the visit includes

Decide whether you are charging for travel only, travel plus an assessment, or travel plus a stated amount of work. Those are different offers. A fee is difficult to explain if your team and customer have different expectations about its scope.

For example, a minimum visit might include travel and the first 60 minutes on site, with parts and additional work quoted separately. That is an illustrative scope, not a recommended policy for every trade. If you credit the fee against later work, write that rule down too.

Count the time outside the property

Estimate the travel time attributable to the visit. A standalone appointment may involve an outward and return journey. For several nearby jobs, you might allocate part of the route to each visit. Use a consistent rule rather than counting the same journey more than once.

Multiply travel and included on-site hours by your loaded labour cost: what providing that hour costs the business, rather than your selling rate. Use your actual employment or contractor costs. Owner-operators should also account for their own time; treating it as free can hide an unsustainable price.

Add vehicle costs and overhead

Use the same distance unit throughout: miles with cost per mile, or kilometres with cost per kilometre. Fuel alone may not represent the full cost of operating your vehicle. Choose an appropriate allocation based on your records.

Then add overhead not already included elsewhere. Avoid double counting: if vehicle or labour costs are in your overhead allocation, do not enter them again. Parts and job-specific materials need their own treatment if included in your offer.

Worked example: a minimum visit

These illustrative figures use pounds. They are not a UK market-rate survey.

Allocated travel time: 30 minutes.
Included time on site: 60 minutes.
Loaded labour cost: £30 per hour.
Journey: 20 miles at £0.50 per mile.
Other allocated overhead: £10 per visit.

Labour costs 1.5 × £30 = £45. Vehicle cost is £10. Adding overhead gives £65 of allocated cost.

For a target margin of 25% of selling price, divide £65 by 0.75. The result is £86.67 before any applicable tax. The difference between price and included costs is £21.67. Any uncounted costs would reduce that amount.

Margin is different from markup

Adding 25% to the £65 cost gives £81.25. The £16.25 difference is 20% of that selling price. To target a 25% margin on price, use cost ÷ (1 − margin), as in the worked example.

The calculator uses that second method. Its output estimates contribution after the entered costs, not a guaranteed net profit for your business.

Explain the fee before confirming a visit

Here is draft wording to review:

Our minimum visit fee is £86.67 before any applicable tax and includes travel and the first 60 minutes on site. Parts and additional work are quoted separately.

Check this against your actual policy and the price-presentation requirements in your market before using it. Round your selling price deliberately and recheck the margin. Staff should understand what happens if the visit takes longer, additional work is required or the customer cancels.

What if the result seems too high?

Check your assumptions before reducing the margin. Is travel realistic? Have costs been counted twice? Could nearby visits be grouped? Does the offer include more time than necessary? The calculation can reveal a route or scope problem as well as a price problem.

Next, use an enquiry checklist to collect location and scope before agreeing the next step. If answering calls interrupts your jobs, explore an AI receptionist configured around your approved fees and booking rules.