The after-hours labour multiplier
Some jobs have to run outside normal hours — commercial sites that can only be painted after 5pm, retail that can only be done on weekends, or residential clients who want zero disruption during the week. After-hours work costs you more. Surfacely makes charging for it automatic.
How it's configured
In Business Settings → Labour, set the after-hours multiplier. The default is 1.5× — standard penalty rate for evenings and weekends in most markets. Change it to match your actual cost uplift.
How it applies to a quote
When building a quote, you can flag a percentage of the labour as after-hours. Surfacely then scales both the cost and the sell of that portion by the multiplier. Your margin percentage is preserved — you don't accidentally absorb the uplift yourself.
Example with a 50 $/hr cost rate, 45% margin, 1.5× after-hours:
- Normal hours: 50 $/hr cost → 91 $/hr sell
- After hours: 75 $/hr cost → 136 $/hr sell
The breakdown shows up on the quote so the client sees why the number is what it is — transparency that builds trust.
Why it matters: painters regularly quote a flat rate for after-hours work and lose money on it. This system means you charge the real cost of antisocial hours and preserve margin, without doing math in your head at 11pm.
This multiplier only applies to labour. Material and hire costs don't change just because the work happens at night. That's by design — it reflects real cost structures.