What’s the cost of a callback?
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Most contractors know callbacks are eating away at their bottom line, but too few know the extent of the damage. Why? Is it fear of discovering that the problem might be even bigger than they thought?
Here’s the reality: callbacks destroy profitability, ruin your reputation, and burn out your team. Until you’re ready to face that truth, you and your crew will suffer until you go out of business.
To fix the problem, you’ve got to be willing to think about callbacks in a different way. In today’s blog, we’re going to reframe your thinking around callbacks, showing how they’re an even bigger deal than you might have thought.
The hidden costs of a callback
When you get that dreaded phone call, you may think you’re providing good customer service by addressing a mistake. But sending a tech to resolve an oversight or a mistake also counts as a callback. The first gut punch of a callback is the cost that ripples across your business. Think about it:
- Direct labor costs — You’re paying their hourly rate, and possibly overtime.
- Lost revenue — Every hour a tech spends correcting mistakes is an hour they’re not doing work that could bring in revenue.
- Overhead load — Your overhead expenses don’t disappear during callbacks. Instead of being spread across profitable jobs, they drag down unprofitable rework even further.
Multiply that across dozens (or even hundreds) of callbacks each year, and you’re looking at a massive drain on profitability.
Callbacks add up
The cost of a callback can be as low as $400 for a quick “drive-by” fix, but the typical average cost of a callback is around $2,500.
A 5% callback rate can cost a business over $100,000 in losses every year.
That’s money that could have gone toward hiring a new install tech and growing revenue. It also could have bought more trucks, more training, better tools, or even marketing that helps you grow your business instead of chasing your tail on rework.
Callbacks aren’t just an inconvenience — they’re a profit killer. They:
- Reduce your ability to serve customers in need
- Frustrate customers and damage your reputation
- Burn out your technicians
Once you start viewing callbacks not as “customer service” but as a huge drain on revenue, prestige, and team morale, you’ll see why ignoring them is no longer an option. The good news? There’s a proven way to drive them down dramatically.
How QI Certificates change the game
ACCA Quality Installation (QI) certificates use real performance data (powered by the measureQuick® app) to confirm that every system is installed and commissioned the right way, before your team leaves the jobsite.
That means:
- Performance issues are caught on the spot, not after a customer complaint
- Systems operate at peak efficiency from day one
- Installation callback rates plummet, and profits stay in their pockets
Contractors like Air Control Home Services in Arizona and Ray O. Cook in California are already seeing the results. By committing to the QI process, they’ve reduced callbacks, improved customer satisfaction, and used certificates as a powerful sales differentiator.
Ready to stop losing profit to callbacks?
In an upcoming post, we’ll walk you step‑by‑step through calculating the actual cost of callbacks for your business.
Until then, you can prove your quality, protect your bottom line, and turn installs into a powerful sales advantage by issuing Quality Installation certificates.
Get started today and learn how to issue QI certificates for your installations by visiting acca.org/qa/prove-it.
Posted In: QA, Quality Standards, Workforce
