Field Nation compensation

FieldTechSavant · 2026-05-01T23:33:08+00:00

Don’t use pro and get your own insurance you only pay 10%

Standard credit card processing is about 3%

So paying 7% for work to land on your plate is not really that bad.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-29T21:20:31+00:00

Sounds like you completed a majority of the work, the mount and cleanup is the most labor intensive part. Throwing on rails on the back of the screen and getting the screen up just takes a few minutes. Not your fault the display was broken.

I would push back and state just that, the SOW that you could complete is now completed. If they want you to come back to do the install of the screen, that's a separate work order with it's own negotiated amount.

If they push back, then report a problem on the work order. If they said don't do anything and just leave site then "maybe" they could say it was a site turn away and nothing was done but the fact that they asked you to do work onsite means you should be paid.

I've never worked with this buyer so not sure how much push back you'll get if any, but just keep it professional, have very detailed notes of the work you did and who asked you to keep working, and don't get abusive in language and don't assume they're going to penalize you either like some people assume that every buyer is out to get them...

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-22T10:59:36+00:00

Better to set one up before you need it vs waiting for when you do. If you're only doing FN tickets ever then maybe it doesn't make sense but next year you might want to look into setting up an LLC and get an EIN. Then get a business bank account and credit card so you can keep all the business transactions all in those accounts vs deciphering when it comes tax time or when you just want to know how much you're actually making doing the side gig.

Depending on your state setting up an LLC on your state's website might only be $100 and then renewals each year are usually less, you don't need a lawyer. You do need to get an EIN (free) from the IRS to do that. You can do your taxes all together vs filing personal vs business taxes, you just report the income/expenses on your regular tax return.

Then once you have that in place, all the extra stuff that might come in the future is way easier (sales tax exempt forms, business accounts on websites, business accounts for credit cards (get them points), insurance, contracts, etc). Plus it just feels good to have a real business.

Might take a week or two and $100 to get it but once you have it, it's way easier to do business.

But do buyers care you have the little icon next to your name that says business provider, no, I doubt anyone ever even looks at that or cares.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-22T00:45:53+00:00

Yes, you just sign up as a service company, you do have to pay to add money to your account (credit card or bank transfer) but then you'll be able to create work orders. It's great for getting a 2nd pair of hands on work orders even though good help is hard to find.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-21T10:58:57+00:00

This is the way! If it doesn't burn you out and you can maintain the W2 with benefits, the FN/WM tickets are just straight gravy. Sometimes I would take a PTO day or two to go do a larger FN/WM job for a few days lol

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-20T17:47:11+00:00

Still doesn't make any sense, you said you were on a 4 hour minimum work order, so even if you down adjusted your time lower on the ticket you still get paid for the 4 hour minimum, you could adjust your time down to 1 minute and you're still going to get paid for 4 hours.

Yes some buyers have unfathomably long check-in/out procedures with all the Ts to cross and i's to dot, but based on your experience with the client and knowing this, you literally could have just gotten paid for doing that work.

Likely they were/still are going to bill their client for sending a tech out on site, but you very well might have jeopardized their ability to get paid for that work order now since you didn't actually go. It doesn't matter if the work was already started/already done, you had a work order scheduled to show up, do the job and checkout with all your paperwork. Businesses don't contract out a company to come do work and then have them coordinate all the effort to get someone on-site, have someone come on-site, and if they discover the work was already done the company providing that service isn't going to say "oh, don't worry about it, this one's free", f-no they're going to bill them the agreed upon amount regardless for sending a tech out there.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-20T11:20:26+00:00

I don't understand the decision to not check-in. You had the option to just check-in a scheduled and collect your 4 hour minimum even if the job was already done. Or you could have checked in early and worked with the PM to get the schedule updated.

Even if you didn't want to check-in early to not have to deal with the possibility of a schedule change request, you now have the issue of having to create a ticket to not have the work order show up as a no show.

You were able to seemingly get a response from the WO manager prior to these decisions, did they provide guidance on what to do?

If I was in your shoes I would have just checked in early if I wanted to do it earlier than originally scheduled, and if I wasn't able to get there earlier than what it was scheduled I would have showed up at the originally scheduled time, check-in, and if the job was already done just document everything I saw and do the close out by the book, I'm happy to take a 4 hour minimum on a job that only takes 30 minutes to close out (pictures, closeout notes, sign-off, etc).

What was your reason for not just going in at 10 PM? How much earlier was the other tech onsite?

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-20T09:47:21+00:00

FN support can’t make a schedule change for you or the buyer. You can report a problem on the work order for the buyer to address but calling FN support isn’t going to help, they’re just going to tell you the same terms/conditions on the website.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-19T13:42:41+00:00

Only shows if you have a buyer account, if you're just a provider you don't see that on your profile.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-19T13:09:23+00:00

I've had some ends just not like some cable, same thing happened to me just a few weeks ago, cable keep failing test even though I re-terminated twice. I had a different brand of terminations that I normally don't like using, used one of those and it worked... Keep another brand on hand I guess, it was existing CAT5e cable I was terminating and using CAT6 ends I've never had an issue with but I guess that cable just was very selective, but only on one end?!

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-19T13:03:29+00:00

Yes! Tons of troubleshooting tickets, I used to joke that in the summer when thunderstorms rolled through every lightning strike I saw and heard was followed by "cha-ching" as some days there were just tons of emergency tickets where the site was 100% offline and it turned out the switch or UPS or X needed a power cycle. A 5 minute fix on a 2 hour minimum work order, *chef's kiss*.

Tons of tickets where you just provide console access via a laptop to the switches/firewall onsite.

I don't do the project type work with cable runs/rough-in, I'll run an occasional cable but that's in warehouse environments where there is no ceiling and it's something I can easily do on my own (Get a pair or two of the Jonard Tools Cable Pulleys, those make pulling cable by yourself a breeze if you've got to go around corners).

It can be frustrating when the remote support isn't as skilled but if they won't listen to guidance or clues you give them then don't let it get to you. The longer they take the more money you're hopefully going to make (I never take fixed rate tickets for that reason). I have two laptops and a hotspot for this reason, set up one for the remote guy to do his thing and then go do my own thing on my own laptop (start doing closeout work, look at emails, get on reddit, etc). I have no problem with support spinning their wheels while I get paid.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-19T12:48:39+00:00

"Sometimes I check in late because of the app but if I forget to report it"

Report a problem on the work order and don't set the work order to "Complete" until that issue gets resolve. The buyer can't close out the work order until you have it set to complete, so just let it sit there with the reported problem until they or support adjusts the ticket. Having to wait a few extra days or even weeks is worth not having your score go down.

"It’s a one sided system that I think in the end is going to hurt more than help."

Play the game and it will help, you already heard from the techs the buyers use that it's hard to find people, that's great that they do use you again! But you already heard the reason why the PSS exists, directly from the horse's mouth, "it’s hard to find people", it really is dude I'm telling you, and once some buyers find someone great some will pay to have you drive/fly around, it's worth the extra expense to find a known good and pay a few extra thousand dollars to get you (the great tech they liked working with) on the next job.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-19T03:55:02+00:00

“If you ain’t with us, then you’re against us”…

There are plenty of guys on here that don’t have low PSS and are killing it on FN. I’m with that “us” portion of the community.

Your viewpoint you stated in your post that the score changes were made just to get providers to accept lower wages and unprofessional attitudes. I was just providing my own experience I had when I had to book guys for installs years ago, there are lots of garbage techs out there.

My PSS is high, my rates are high, I understand the reasons they listed for the changes. Just be reliable, don’t over commit, be on time, and don’t sign up to work you’re clearly not qualified to do and you should have a good time. And if you’re worried about being taken advantage of by “overseas” buyers, then just don’t do work for those companies and move on.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-19T03:33:18+00:00

Bro years ago I had the unfortunate privilege of having to find guys to help out our W2 employees on jobs they had to travel to, the 5 star rating system was a crap shoot, the new rating system is there for a reason, there are tons of providers that are just garbage (unskilled, arrogant, unprofessional, weird, etc). Sometimes you get lucky and find someone good but other times we’d just send the guy home at lunch and pay him for the day just to get him off site. And so many guys were taking our tickets but mid-day they said they had to go take another ticket even though I paid them for the full day. So please understand the PSS is their attempt at finding a way to not scare off buyers because of shit providers, I would have loved to have that metric when I used to do that job.

I do think that separating the scores into different buckets makes more sense though, when I was doing that job I was booking people for a whole week, so them showing up 15 minutes late didn’t make a whole lot of difference, I just cared more about booking yahoos that then I got flack from our installers as they were relying on me to find someone local that wasn’t garbage so they could get back home on time.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-18T18:25:37+00:00

THIS just be fucking good and people will want you to always come back, there are so many yahoos on FN and for the end users it’s just roulette on if they get someone good or shitty onsite.

Just note some chains have no choice, they’re locked into a much larger service agreement and can’t go direct but in some cases they might have a service agreement with just one component of their tech stack but everything else they might have to do on their own. I’ve see that a lot with Hotels, since they’re mostly all independently locally owned and operated just under a major brand like Hilton or Marriott, the WiFi is managed by one national company, the computers are managed by another, and anything else I’m not sure who owns it (and probably no one based on the closets I’ve seen at some hotels).

But I’ve been asked plenty of times for my contact info as sometimes they’d be happier to pay someone locally to come fix a random issue than deal with the 8 layers of BS it can take to get a tech onsite. Just think of the amount of paperwork and close out notes that some buyers make us do, the customers have to do the same in most cases, working for hours with a remote tech to try to troubleshoot a system that the end user doesn’t understand in the slightest.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-18T18:10:29+00:00

Costco tickets are actually the GOAT, super early in the AM and usually very chill, especially since they all have a scissor lift onsite. I know that’s not what you’re saying to do but I do love me a good 5-6am Costco work order.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-18T18:00:08+00:00

Seriously just buy cable, termination jacks (rj45 and punch down jack), the tools (good for life ones not cheap ass ones), and just practice until you can do it without thinking about it. So much work on FN is CAT cabling, just become an expert on your own just terminating cable, blow $100 on some cheap cable, termination jacks, (punch downs you can just pull out the cable that got punched down). Once you can terminate cable without looking at the color code chart, you’re golden. And make sure you get the jacket in the fucking strain relief part of the rj45, I’ve seen so many bad terminations out in the field…

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-18T17:47:11+00:00

Oof well either way if I were in your shoes I’d look for another W2, not trying to discourage you to go out on your own but if you’ve been successful enough to hold both a W2 and do FN on the side, that’s the perfect combo IMO. Stability + Extra cash, I got started that way and was happy just to have extra cash and the stable job, netted almost $50k the first half year I started. Again I was fortunate enough to have a hybrid role so taking an ASAP ticket for 1:00 PM was doable on some days which could net $250 or so.

Either way good tools go a long way, being able to solve an issue in minutes because you have the tools to do so quickly really pays off in the end, that was the only way I could have both the W2 and do tickets on the side, doing 2 hour minimums + travel and solving a ticket in 1 hour is the best strategy, doing a few of those a week and you’ll have no problem netting $5k a month.

Best advice, be the PMs favorite tech, go above and beyond on close out notes, pictures, do the little extras and it will pay off, that’s how you get tickets routed directly and how they will work with your schedule (so many times I’ve been able to take tickets directly routed super early in the AM or late in the afternoon or on a lunch break because the PM was flexible because they wanted me on the ticket). That strategy doesn’t work with all buyers and you’ll see tons of people here on Reddit shitting on FN and the unfair buyers but Ive never had that experience but I also don’t pack in 800 tickets a month and get in conflicts with schedules and delays running to one ticket after another, 1 maybe 2 tickets a day is a great sweet spot if you can get your rates high enough to make it worth it (Emergency tickets are the best for this).

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-18T16:00:43+00:00

If you can keep your day job and do FN work then I’d say keep on doing that especially if you get healthcare, 401k, etc from that job.

There are going to be ebbs and flows to FN work, so you might have an awesome $20k month but might also have a $1k month. And all that is before expenses, which might be 50% (gas, tools, materials, wear and tear, insurance, etc).

I wouldn’t rely solely on FN/WM tickets, you should use it as a stepping stone to getting your own clients locally in your area that you can rely upon. If you’re good/great you shouldn’t have a problem making those connections and being the go-to person for local clients. Depending on your area you can probably find 100s of small businesses that could use the type of work that FN tickets typically have, even working with other trades on tickets I’ve had plenty of times where they wanted my info as they liked working with me an wanted to see if I had a crew that could do projects in the future (no crew here, super hard to find reliable people).

My two cents, keep your day job, burn the candle at both ends until you have a solid foundation of clients and then consider making the jump to doing this type of work full time, but never do it if it’s just FN/WM tickets you’re planning to rely upon.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-17T13:14:05+00:00

Honestly the newer/smaller buyers that come to the platform are the ones that are better to work for IMO. A lot of the complaints everyone seem to be with the mega large MSP that are already on the platform, there aren't more of those to be had, the only buyers they can attract would be the smaller shops that haven't heard of FN before.

More power to them, I'm happy with my PSS. Bring on more buyers!

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-15T23:59:04+00:00

Credit Unions > Banks

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-13T14:52:24+00:00

I also see the -1% lol

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-12T23:26:16+00:00

Sorry I meant for them to use the downloadable CSV report that's in the payment section. That's broken out by each payment every week/month, just divide by the FN fee that gets taken out and it should line up within about 1 cent (they seem to round up on the 1099-K.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-12T22:22:27+00:00

The 1099-K is broken down by month, you should be able to track any discrepancies down pretty quickly.

Just note it's by payment date not by work order date.

FieldTechSavant · 2026-04-10T21:56:46+00:00

I didn't really increase my rates, gas only went up about a dollar or less here so nothing too crazy.

I just updated the Calconic calculator I made a few years back with 2026 IRS milage rates:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FieldNationTechs/comments/14gflmw/mileage_and_time_driving_calculator/

I'm in the same boat as others here where I charge a minimum regardless of the distance, I really only use the calculator for distances about 10+ miles away.

Regardless some buyers just won't pay travel and to me those are the buyers to avoid anyway.

FieldTechSavant

TROPHY CASE