Trip charge

Definition

The minimum a customer pays for the visit itself, before any work is done.

Why It Matters

A handyman book lives or dies on drive time, and the trip charge is the only lever that prices it. Whether it is waived when work is booked, credited against the invoice, or charged flat decides which jobs are worth taking and which ones quietly lose money at the third stop. It also tells you what kind of book you are buying. A high trip charge with high conversion is a business with real demand; a waived one with long drives is a marketing subsidy the seller has been paying out of their own margin.