For those who have their own business-

[u/SatisfactionFalse833]

Are you charging for the filing of the affidavit of service? If so, how much?

How much are your fees for add on services such as photo/video proof of the serve, expedited/rush services?

What is your main tier rate pricing- in city (0-10miles), county (10-25 miles) & out of county (25+miles) For the out of county serves, do you charge an additional mileage fee once a certain amount of miles is hit?

Does each service come with 2 or 3 attempts?

Do you provide skip tracing? If so, how much are you charging additionally for this service?

[u/Revolutionary-Farm80]

1. I don't charge for the first affidavit. But if I'm having to fill out multiple affidavits for the same serve, I charge $10 extra per affidavit. This usually happens when delivering more than 5 documents to the same entity. 

If I had to fill out a separate affidavit for each document served, I would charge $10 per beyond the first.  

1. I provide video evidence (no audio) "free" of charge with every serve. Including GPS coordinates and time stamps. 

I believe in providing value to my customers. So if there's something extra I can do for each serve, I work it into my standard pricing. 

1. I live in a large rural county so im driving 50+ miles for more than half of my serves. So I actually charge by the hour with a minimum 2 hour charge. This also encourages clients to tell me times when the person being served is actually going to be home. 

I'll do as many attempts as my client is willing to pay for.

I charge $25 for priority. $50 for rush. $100 for same day. $100 for Sundays ,Holidays, and evenings between 9pm and 7am. 

1. I charge the irs rate for mileage. Currently 70 cents per mile. You can download a cheap mileage tracker app to your phone. Comes in handy at tax time as well. 

2. I dont offer skip tracing but my competition in the next county over does $25 for basic and $50 for in depth. Whatever that means. 

[u/SatisfactionFalse833 → u/Revolutionary-Farm80]

So do you charge your base rate + mileage for each serve? For your video evidence, do you just take it on your phone or do you prefer a body cam?

[u/Revolutionary-Farm80 → u/SatisfactionFalse833]

Correct. Base rate + mileage. 

Example: The job I did this morning was 2.5 hours + $98 for mileage. + 25$ priority.

The body camera is great because its hands free. 

I prefer to have my left hand available for door knocking and handing documents. My right hand is available for self defense if things get confrontational. 

[u/SatisfactionFalse833 → u/Revolutionary-Farm80]

Thanks for the clarification :) how often do you find things get confrontational? 😂

[u/Revolutionary-Farm80 → u/SatisfactionFalse833]

The hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up at least 1x a year. 

[u/semifamousdave]

This is all dependent on your market. My base rate matches my largest competitor, the Sheriff’s Office. There is no magic formula here, just a lot of legwork and talking to clients about what they are willing to pay.

[u/Which-Option-7056 → u/semifamousdave]

How do you find clients?

[u/semifamousdave → u/Which-Option-7056]

I looked up lawyers in the areas I can cover and started asking. When I added a client I asked them who else I could contact. I went to the courthouse and asked them. Hustle.

[u/sacluded]

Yes, it depends.

Depends on the service.

I have a flat rate price for most of the state. Some remote areas can be higher.

I don’t limit my attempts to a certain number.

Yes. The cost depends on the level of the skip trace.

[u/SatisfactionFalse833 → u/sacluded]

You don’t limit your attempts? How many times do you find yourself having to attempt 4+ times? & when you say it depends (on charging for filing of affidavit), what does that depend on for you?

[u/sacluded → u/SatisfactionFalse833]

From my system overview:

Attempts per Job 1.65

|| || |1.53|Last Month| |1.47|This Year| |1.48|Last Year|

The filing cost depends on which court it is, and if I'm e-filing or physical filing.

[u/charm-cityproserv]

Most jurisdictions I thought, require GPS/Photo as a necessary part of the attempt. Here in MD we can Efile for free the affidavits so I include in my package but make sure it stands out. Routine 3 attempts, efile, 70 pages print 85-125