How Much Do You Charge For A Service/Maintenace Package?

It's a good question, but the maintenance contracts my integration company proposed never used a 'rule of thumb' percentage.

This might be due to the fact our 'maintenance scope' typically included the door, frame, and existing hardware not just the access control pieces like readers and strikes.

In almost any facility, there are one or two sets of doors that cause more trouble than the others. In the interest of not losing our shirts on rolling a truck to mend the trouble units every month, we would 'trial' a facility for two or three months at a flat rate, or even free if the customer was big enough (rebate the cost into a signed agreement). After that trial, we'd use the service call information to put together an agreement based on actual work/problems, not just a projection.

Let me tell you - large customers love this approach. Rather than extrapolated percentages, they have a 'fair number' based on a real expectation of work. A true 'cost of operation' amount.

For access, if you lead with a line item like "Update all firmware in controllers", end users wonder how much cheaper they could do it themselves. However, if you lead with "Adjust all locking hardware and realign doors to stay locked", they tend to see the value right away.