My partner is an industrial electrician. He has many regular clients. The thing is that when he gets new clients, in the past he has traveled to see them to look at the problem, spent up to an hour assessing if he can do the work and then told them that it is a mechanical problem and referred them on. He tries to get as much info over the phone from them before he goes to see them to asses the problem and insists on COD for the first three times he uses them, however some of them think that they do not need to pay him for such a short time. They also know that it is not worth him chasing the money because it will cost more to recover it than what the job is worth. We are trying to work out a new system whereby he lets them know over the phone that there is a minimum call out fee payable on the visit. He is a sole trader and works on his own, so there is no fallback. How can he enforce this new rule without being rude, and what do other tradesmen do?

As we were in the same position, l sent a fax/email to all our regular clients stating that as a sole trader & a small business,with the rising costs of petrol /materials we were left with no other choice but to charge a small call out fee for our services. Any other clients that came on board from that day we explained our call out fee charges. Most businesses charge a call out fee now anyway, so that didnt make me feel bad.and every time my husband goes out to look at a job, because l had already emaild/faxed them the terms l will automatically send them out an invoice for the call out fee & any other services he did while he was there.