Revenue per technician-hour is your billed field revenue for a period divided by the paid hours of the technicians who produced it. It answers a simple question every owner asks: when I pay for an hour on the truck, what comes back?
We are not an HVAC contractor and we never send anyone to your customers' homes. This service works only with your timesheets, invoices and dispatch records.
Paid hours versus billed hours
The gap between paid and billed hours is where most service companies lose money without noticing. A technician who works a 40-hour week might bill 26 hours. The other 14 go to driving, loading the truck, waiting for parts, warranty callbacks and the morning meeting.
Here is how the two measures compare, using example figures:
| Measure | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue per billed hour | $5,200 ÷ 26 billed hours | $200 |
| Revenue per paid hour | $5,200 ÷ 40 paid hours | $130 |
| Utilisation | 26 ÷ 40 | 65% |
The $200 figure is what most owners quote. The $130 figure is what pays the wages, the truck and the overhead. If you can move utilisation from 65% to 72%, the same technician bills about 28.8 hours, and revenue per paid hour rises to roughly $144 without a single price change.
What is included
- Hour definitions. We agree what counts as a paid field hour: regular, overtime, on-call and training time, and how to treat apprentices riding along.
- A baseline by tech and crew. Twelve months of revenue per paid hour, utilisation and average ticket, split into service and install crews because their patterns differ.
- A leak map. Where dispatch data allows, we break the unbilled hours into drive, wait, callback and admin time.
- A monthly line. Revenue per paid hour sits on the owner dashboard with a target and a short note on what moved it.
The levers behind the number
Revenue per paid hour moves for only a handful of reasons, and naming them keeps the conversation practical:
- Utilisation: more of the paid day spent on billable work, often through tighter service zones or better morning routing.
- Average ticket: more value per call, from accurate diagnosis and a clear menu of options rather than pressure.
- First-time fix: fewer second trips because the right parts were on the truck.
- Callback rate: fewer unpaid return visits on recent work.
- Pricing: your labour rate and flat-rate book, reviewed at least once a year.
We help you see which lever is weakest. The fix itself, whether that is a new parts list or a change to dispatch, is your decision and your crew's work.
Who it is for
This suits service-heavy shops with three or more technicians and a payroll or time system that records hours by person. It also suits install crews, where we measure revenue per crew-day instead, because a two-person install crew billing one large job is a different shape of work.
Timeline
Usually two to four weeks for the baseline, depending on how hours are recorded, and then a monthly line from the second month. The schedule is confirmed in writing.
How results are measured
We report revenue per paid hour, utilisation, average ticket and callback rate each month against your own baseline. You judge the service by whether those numbers are visible, explained and acted on; we do not promise a particular gain.
Mistakes to avoid
- Dividing by billed hours and calling it productivity. It flatters every crew.
- Comparing install and service crews directly. Their hour patterns have nothing in common.
- Ignoring seasonality. January hours on no-heat calls and May hours on tune-ups produce very different numbers. Compare each month with the same month last year.
- Ranking people publicly. It damages trust and hides the dispatch and parts problems behind low numbers.
For a step-by-step worksheet you can run yourself, read the technician-hour maths guide. To see how hours connect to job-type margin, visit gross margin by job type, or go straight to contact to send your first export.
Frequently asked questions
Why paid hours instead of billed hours?
Because you pay for every hour on the clock, including drive time, parts runs, callbacks and waiting at the shop. Dividing by billed hours makes everyone look productive. Dividing by paid hours shows the real return on your payroll.
Is this a way to rank or discipline technicians?
It should not be used that way on its own. Low numbers often come from dispatch, routing or parts supply rather than the technician. We look at crew and company patterns first and treat individual figures as a starting point for a conversation.
What is a good number?
It depends on your labour rate, job mix and service area, so we do not quote a universal benchmark. We set a target from your own history and your pricing, then track movement month by month.
Do you need GPS or timesheet data?
Timesheets or payroll hours are enough to start. Dispatch timestamps help split drive time from on-site time, but they are a refinement, not a requirement.