The technician should be paid the minute they leave there home as long as they are headed to the customer to start work or coming to the office for parts to do repairs. All this time should be billed to the customer. Now with the economy the way it is each company I'm sure is trying to find ways to reduce the cost of doing business. The tech here are paid for the time they can bill the customer. No customer bill no pay. When there is plenty of work to be done a tech should be able to bill 9 to 10 hours in an 8 hour workday. Right now I am happy if all the techs have enough work to keep them busy.