What you are paying for
The fee covers the trip and the diagnosis: travel time, the technician's time on site, and the judgment required to work out what is actually wrong. ServiceTitan notes a terminology difference worth knowing. Plumbing and electrical work more often use "service call fee," because the problem is frequently already identified. HVAC companies tend to say "diagnostic fee," because troubleshooting a system takes more time and skill.
Published rates by trade
- HVAC: $75 to $150 for a diagnostic fee, per ServiceTitan. Angi's HVAC cost guide gives $100 to $250 for the initial service call, with labor at $100 to $250 an hour after that.
- Plumbing: $75 to $125 in the Milwaukee metro, per askdoss. Angi's national guide gives $100 to $250 in its cost table and $150 to $250 in its summary, and notes a separate trip fee of $50 to $300 for clients more than ten miles out.
- Electrical: $100 to $200 covering the first hour, per HomeAdvisor, ConsumerAffairs and Bray Electrical independently. Many electricians also require a minimum of one to four hours even if the job takes less, and ConsumerAffairs cites an average $100 minimum for small jobs.
How the fee is structured
ServiceTitan describes several arrangements in use:
- Flat fee for the visit and diagnosis, owed whether or not you approve the repair.
- Time-based, such as a base amount covering travel and the first hour, then add-ons per time block.
- Credited toward the repair if you approve the work. This is common, but some companies only credit it if you approve within 24 to 48 hours.
- Waived or discounted during slow seasons, in competitive markets, for first-time customers, or as a benefit of a maintenance plan.
After hours costs more
Evening, weekend and holiday work carries a surcharge across every trade. Angi puts emergency plumbing at 1.5 to 3 times the standard rate. ConsumerAffairs gives $100 to $260 an hour for after-hours electrical work and notes emergency rates are usually double standard rates. Angi's HVAC guide describes an additional $40 to $80 an hour for after-hours repairs.
Two questions worth asking up front
First, is the fee credited toward the repair if you approve the work, and is there a deadline on that credit. Second, whether the quoted hourly rate starts when the technician arrives or when they leave their last job. Both answers change the final number more than most people expect, and both are easier to ask before the visit than to argue about after it.
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Where they disagree, the post says so rather than averaging them into a single number.