Policies and paperwork
After-hours and emergency callout policy generator
What counts as an emergency, what it costs after hours, and when the clock starts.
Define it by what you attend, not by what is dangerous
The instinct is to write a policy listing what counts as a real emergency. It puts you in the position of telling a frightened customer at eleven at night that their situation does not qualify, which is a judgment you cannot make down a phone line.
The version that works describes your side: here is what we turn out for, here is how fast we aim to be there, here is what it costs. The customer decides whether their situation warrants the call. You decide what you attend and what it costs.
The rate has to be worth the call
An after-hours rate that only slightly exceeds the day rate guarantees you take the calls and resent them. It has to price in the disruption honestly, or you will stop answering the phone, which is worse for everyone.
State the minimum charge and when the clock starts. 'Two hours minimum, charged from when we leave the depot' is unambiguous. Discovering a travel charge afterwards is how a genuinely helpful midnight callout turns into a bad review.
What to say about waiting
The one instruction worth including is where the main water shut-off valve is and to turn it off if they can reach it safely. Beyond that, this generator deliberately will not write instructions for a customer to follow while waiting.
Telling somebody to do something with plumbing they cannot see, over the phone, in a panic, is how small floods become large ones. Get there, or tell them honestly when you can.
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