Dispatch Fee

A fixed fee a service business charges to send a technician to a job site. Covers travel time and the visit itself; usually credited toward the final invoice if work is performed.

Also known as: Service Call Fee, Trip Charge, Show-Up Fee

A dispatch fee (also called a service call fee, trip charge, or show-up fee) is a fixed amount a service business charges to send a technician to a job site. It covers the technician’s travel time, fuel, and the time spent diagnosing the issue — separate from the cost of any work performed.

Most service businesses use dispatch fees to filter out price-shoppers and tire-kickers, and to ensure techs are paid for time spent regardless of whether the customer agrees to the repair.

How Dispatch Fees Work

Two common structures:

  1. Standalone dispatch fee. Customer pays the fee upon arrival. If they decline the recommended repair, you keep the fee. If they accept, the fee may or may not be credited toward the work.
  2. Dispatch fee waived if work is performed. Customer is told the fee is “$X to come out, waived if we do the work.” This reduces friction and encourages the sale.

Most service businesses use the second structure because it sounds friendlier in the call script and converts more.

Service Business Benchmarks

Typical dispatch fees in 2026:

Premium markets (NYC, Bay Area, LA, Boston) push the high end. Rural markets compress to the low end.

Why It Helps

The dispatch fee is one of the quietest profit improvements a service business can make. The benefits:

  1. Filters out price-shoppers. Customers unwilling to pay $89 to have someone come out are usually unwilling to pay for the actual repair.
  2. Pays for diagnosis time. Techs are paid even on jobs that don’t convert to repairs.
  3. Recovers travel costs on customers who decline work.
  4. Sets the buying frame. Once a customer has paid $89 to have you on-site, they’re more likely to approve the repair than restart the search.

When to Skip It

A few cases where waiving or skipping the fee makes sense:

Related terms

CRM

Software that stores your customer information, history, and communications in one place — so you have context on every customer interaction.

Field Service Management

Software that runs the operations of businesses with technicians in the field — scheduling, dispatch, work orders, invoicing, and customer communication.

Job Costing

The practice of tracking the actual labor, materials, and overhead spent on each job to determine real profitability per project.

Route Density

The number of jobs a service business completes per geographic mile traveled. The single biggest lever on field productivity.

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