Families call with a weekday number: “Mom comes home Friday. Can you put it in Saturday? Same $3,995?” That sounds like the same stair. It is not the same freight ticket and it is not the same crew day. A stair-lift rail ships from the factory. Next-day air is a starting expedite on top of the rail invoice. Working around someone who just came home is the same wage on a slower set. Saturday is time-and-a-half plus a second dispatch, because a Friday discharge is not a stop you combine with a weekday route.
Open the free stair lift bid calculatorA weekday slot still carries the wage and the ground freight already in the rail invoice. Discharge week adds a starting next-day rail ticket and clock hours on the rail, the set, the chair, the attach, and the punch-list. On a typical cheap special — $42 wage, 30% burden, 15% overhead, 20% target margin, eight miles — the weekday bid is $5,333.37. Discharge week is $6,190.67. After-hours Saturday is $6,692.99. The walk-away jumps from $4,266.69 to $5,354.39. Taking $4,500 to “just do Saturday at the weekday number” covers the weekday slot and loses $854.39 after hours.
| Weekday, they leave | Discharge week, they stay | Saturday / after-hours | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freight | Ground, in the rail invoice | Next-day rail ticket | Next-day rail ticket |
| Wage | Weekday | Weekday | Time-and-a-half |
| Set hours | Empty house | Slower occupied set | Same set, plus a second trip |
| Your bid | $5,333.37 | $6,190.67 | $6,692.99 |
| Walk-away | $4,266.69 | $4,952.53 | $5,354.39 |
| At $4,500 Saturday special | Covers | Loses $452.53 | Loses $854.39 |
| At $3,995 Facebook special | Loses | Loses more | Loses more |
The rush special is more tempting when the stair is already a custom bend and they want it before discharge. The weekday bid is $20,983.85. Discharge week is $22,046.79. After-hours is $23,222.14 and the walk-away is $18,577.71. Taking $2,495 to “just hang something this weekend” still loses money — even on the weekday.
Customer-supplied lifts are their Facebook unit and an install-only number — see should I install a customer-supplied stair lift. Discharge week is when the rail can arrive and who is in the house. A walk-in tub Saturday is alcove plumbing overtime. A toilet Saturday is an overflowing bowl. This prices a stair lift: the rail, the expedite ticket, and the extras.
Open the stair lift bid calculator, pick the cheap-special or losing-job preset, and put their Saturday number in “price you’re considering.” The access table scores that number against a weekday slot, discharge week while they stay home, and Saturday / after-hours. Nothing is uploaded.
This is the same arithmetic as how much to charge to install a stair lift. It is not a medical-discharge plan, a labor-law determination, or a reason to refuse a customer — it is the walk-away number on each access window.
Only after you price next-day rail freight plus a slower occupied set, or Saturday overtime plus a second dispatch. A $3,995 Facebook special on a straight indoor rail sits under that walk-away number even on a weekday slot.
Yes. Same wage, slower rail, set, chair, and punch-list, plus a starting next-day rail ticket. On a typical straight indoor rail the discharge-week bid is $6,190.67 versus $5,333.37 when they can wait for a weekday slot and ground freight.
Usually not on the job they actually want. On a cheap straight indoor rail the after-hours walk-away is $5,354.39. $4,500 covers a weekday slot and loses $854.39 after hours. On a curved heavy-duty job, $2,495 still loses money even on the weekday.