Shop Rate and Bill Rate let you set default labor pricing for invoicing. Shop Rate represents your internal cost of doing business, and Bill Rate is what you charge (and what will populate on bills by default).
Note: Shop Rate and Bill Rate are only available to customers on our Ops tier plan. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.
Understand Shop Rate vs Bill Rate
Shop Rate
Your internal hourly cost for labor (used to understand profitability).
Bill Rate
Your default hourly rate you charge for labor, this is the rate that will appear on bills.
Note: A margin or profit view (if enabled in your account) uses the difference between Shop Rate and Bill Rate to help estimate profitability.
Set your default Shop Rate and Bill Rate
Go to Settings.
Select Account Settings.
Open Invoicing.
Enter your Default Work Log Shop Rate and Default Work Log Billing Rate.
Select Save.
Tip: In most cases, your Bill Rate should be higher than your Shop Rate, since Bill Rate is what you charge and Shop Rate reflects your internal labor cost. If Bill Rate is set lower than Shop Rate, the system will display a warning, but it will still allow you to save.
Tip: If you do not want to use these yet, you can leave the defaults at $0.
See the Bill Rate applied when you create a bill
Open a Meld.
Add labor in Work Logs (for example, log 2 hours).
Click Add Entry.
Select Create Bill to open the billing wizard.
Confirm the labor line item uses your Bill Rate by default.
If you add a new line item and set the type to Labor, your default Bill Rate will also be applied automatically. You can still edit the rate per line item as needed (for example, cleaning at a reduced rate, specialty work at a higher rate).
Hide Shop Rate from technicians (optional)
If you do not want technicians to see the Shop Rate (since it can be higher than a technician’s wage), you can control access with role permissions.
Go to Settings.
Select Account Settings.
Open Roles and select the role used by technicians (for example, Maintenance).
Under Payments, disable View expenditures.
Save the role.
Tip: Most technicians do not need this permission since they log labor in Work Logs and add parts or receipts in Costs.