A while ago I picked up a contract with a local University. 200+ student flats, I go in one day a week to sort out small repairs. Nice work, only 15 mins away.
The premises manager wants time off between Xmas & New Year and they have asked me if I could be 'on call' for three days in case of any problems - quite a few of the students stay over the Xmas break.
I wasn't planning on doing much for those three days, so getting paid for them sounds good.
I've never been in the 'on call' situation before. I think standard procedure is to charge a fee for being 'on call' and then a fee if actually called out?
The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:
I think an "on-call" fee plus callout fee(s) are the way to do it. You might say the on-call fee includes perhaps the first hour's call out, if any.
While you are on-call, you have to be able to get in quickly, so no drinking, you'll need your mobile and if you go any distance to see a mate, you'll probably want to take your van loaded and ready.
OTOH, if you don't get a call, you can still do things subject to the above.
So, how much money per day would make you feel OK about no drinking, prepping the van and the possibility of an interrupted dinner, even if you do no actual work? 100 quid/day? 200? 50? Bearing in mind you are going to see rather less of that courtesy of HMRC. I don't think 200 is particularly excessive (especially if you do a "1st hour on-site free" deal) and 100/day certainly isn't IMHO.
Regarding being called out, given the time of year, perhaps 2 or 3 times your normal hourly rate? Will on-call include nights?
Don't overplay your hand by being greedy, but don't underplay it either. While you are obviously wanting to keep your customer's goodwill, he'll be glad he can buy himself 3 days of peace for Xmas, so I can't see reasonable charges being that much of an issue, especially with a University. Someone with the title of "Premises Manager" should have direct access to a budget, though sometimes he may need to get it counter-authorised by a beancounter.
24-our on call, or daytime only? How quick is agreed response time before you are on site? 1 hour? 6 hours? Consider the amount it cmpromises your leisure time, having to remain in the area, having to abstain from a tipple, the family upset if you're called in the middle of carving the turkey etc.
Maybe quote them a 6 hour response at double normal charges, and 1 hour at triple charges.
Standby fee is difficult, it really depends on the likelihood of being called - can you gauge that?
Does the premises manager want to give your tel. no. to all the students for them to call you direct? If so you might care to use that to negotiate a higher on-call fee. (This is on the assumption that (i) the premises manager usually filters out daft complaints and (ii) there are more likely to be daft complaints over a period when even students are more likely than usual to have been taken by drink.)
My experience of this (and there's a 1 in 3 chance it's the same university) is that the chance of callout is low. The students who stay behind over Christmas are usually 'overseas' students who can't get home, plus older ('mature') UK students although they are few and far between. Nationalities are usually Indian subcontient, and Far East.
Bear in mind he may have experience of some form of standby arrangement, so you need to pitch your pricing at a sensible level. You also need to establish very clearly what your remit is. Do you have full authority to do what you think is a right and proper job given the circumstances. You don't want to be quibbling with the manager when he's back and looking at potentially a large invoice!
There are three distinct elements to consider.
You may not even get called out, so you need to think about the implications first of all of being on standby. Being on 'standby' means just that, you have to be available to take calls and act if necessary. You're not actually out at work, but you may experience some inconvenience to normal family life, like no drinking!
You'll need to work out what sort of imposition that will be on your life over those few days. I would suggest a s/b charge per day, say £20. If you don't get called, you still pick up £60, less whatever HMRC are going to take; basically just for being available.
I'd then look at a flat call-out fee per day, irrespective of the number of times you get called out. I'd also go with the idea of the first hour in every period of 24 being free. That's a little sweetener for them and might help to keep up good relations. Be careful to stress that it's a maximum of one hour free in each 24 hour period. I'm guessing typical call outs will probably be for minor things that can be resolved or made safe until after the holiday period, so if you get called out just once on Christmas day you may only be out for less than an hour. With 15 mins travel each way, that's giving you 30 minutes on site for that free hour.
This could be during Christmas lunch, or 2 in the morning when it's piddling down, so you need to work out how much of an inconvenience that'll be for you. I'd suggest you start with your hourly rate and then factor in what sort of incovenience charge you want to make for getting that callout. A top of the head figure of £75 comes to mind, you may think otherwise.
If you get cslled out to just one simple and quick single callout each day you stand to get a payment of £225 for a maximum of 3 hours work and travelling over the Christmas period.
I'd also be looking at charging for all hours worked beyond the first 'free' hour during each 24 hour period. Again, you'll need to decide what hourly rate you're going to charge - the norm would be double time on bank holidays, time and half on other non-working days, if that makes sense.
Regular secure work is they key here!! - thus you don't want to take the P*ss, I'd therefore go along with The Wanderer, £20/day standby + £50-£75 / per call out, you may even be able to sort some of them over the phone
Depends what you're expected to do, when, and your required response time. You probably want to get these documented. So, when you're required to deal with some incident:
1) Max time allowed for you to make phone contact and get instructions?
2) Max time allowed for you to to be able to get on-site?
These govern the disruptive effect on your life during on-call times, and hence the amount you should be paid for that time. For example, if 1) is 15 minutes, then that's enough to get to the next motorway juntion so you can pull off and make a call. If it's less that this, then you are constrained not to be able to go out for a drive on a motorway. 2) will affect how far you can go from the university, i.e. how long it might take you to get there (possibly via home to get your tools). Obviously, you will need to remain sober so you can safely drive and undertake any work necessary.
Then there's actually being called out. This must be additionally chargable, and probably more so at anti-social times. Besides reimbursing you for your time, it's necessary that there's direct cost associated with calling you out, or there's no disincentive to do so for things which don't merit it, or things that can wait until the morning and don't need sorting out at 3am. This should probably be based on your hourly rate, multiplied by some factor based on how anti-social the timing is. You need a minimum charge (say 2 hours), and this applies if you're called, even if you don't need to attend (it already wrecked your night's sleep).
There's an issue of what happens if an extended call-out is required, something which takes longer than you can safely spend on a job without getting dangerously tired, and if skills are required which you don't have. Do you have the authority to call out someone else? If you've ended up working most of the night and you're now too tired to do your normal day's work, was your nightly rate adequate to recompense you for the following day's earnings being lost?
This is basically how I've run teams providing 24x7 support. This maybe a more strictly defined environment than you are expecting, but do consider all the points.
15 | mins away. | | The premises manager wants time off between Xmas & New Year and they have | asked me if I could be 'on call' for three days in case of any problems - | quite a few of the students stay over the Xmas break. | | I wasn't planning on doing much for those three days, so getting paid for | them sounds good. | | I've never been in the 'on call' situation before. I think standard | procedure is to charge a fee for being 'on call' and then a fee if actually | called out? | | Any ideas on what is paid in percentage terms? | | | -- | Dave - The Medway Handyman |
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Be clear about what you're signing up for. I was on call over christmas for student nurse accommodation - never again. The only calls I got was between midnight and 5 am and it was because they had locked themselves out. Bank on it being 4+ times a night - and you will have just got back into bed when the next call comes. I would never do it again!!!
Depending on the university (and the accommodation) that may be dealt with by separate staff.
We had three different things: a) staff to handle general queries, lockouts, etc. b) people like Dave to actually fix things c) senior staff to deal with fires, deaths, major parties, etc.
I was (c) !
(and we had all of the incidents named, deaths included)
I am second on the list as callout in emergency for a school which is usually an alarm triggered. Payment is a flat fee of £25 per call plus hourly rate. Two calls on a thundery day plus waiting for alarm engineers made it a good payday
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