The Traditional Model: 4 Layers of Overhead
A company needs an on-site technician and goes through an agency. The mission passes through four layers before it reaches the person who does the work.
The Account Manager
- Puts the brief into the agency system
- Adds the agency margin to the cost
- Never visits the site, never touches the equipment
The FST Manager
- Searches the internal database for an available technician
- Matches roughly on skills
- Dispatches with a simplified or incomplete version of the brief
The Travel Agent
- Books flights, hotels and rental cars
- Done by a travel team, or an outsourced travel company
- The technician often has no say in the arrangements
The Invoicing Department
- Processes timesheets, generates invoices, matches purchase orders
- Adds administrative overhead
- Often delays payment to the technician by 30, 60 or 90 days
Four layers between the company and the technician. Slow and expensive, and the tech sees a fraction of what the company pays.
The FindFST Model: Direct Connection
Same mission, three steps. One party sits between the company and the technician: the platform.
Company posts a mission
- Location, equipment, skills needed, timeline
- Published directly, no phone call to an account manager
- No waiting for somebody to translate the requirements
- The brief goes live in minutes
FindFST connects, verifies and handles payments
- Matched to verified technicians on skills and location
- Technicians read the full brief
- Platform handles identity verification and payment processing
Technician accepts, books travel and does the work
- Reads the brief and decides whether it is a good fit
- Submits their quote
- Manages their own travel and logistics
- Arrives informed and prepared
The mission goes straight to the technician. It is faster and cheaper, and the technician keeps 100% of their agreed rate.
The Platform Fee
6%
flat platform fee
- 3% payment processing + 3% platform
- Marking a mission urgent adds 4%
- Nothing else is ever added
- Charged on top of the technician's rate, so the technician keeps 100% of what they quote
- Does not scale with headcount or mission length
What Gets Eliminated
No travel agent needed
- Technicians book their own travel
- They know their schedule and what is cost-effective
No invoicing department
- Invoicing and payments handled automatically
- No chasing timesheets, no matching purchase orders
- No waiting months for billing
No FST manager dispatching
- Technicians choose their own missions
- The best techs go for work that matches their skills
- Companies get somebody who chose the mission
No account manager adding margin
- No intermediary adding an opaque markup
- The company sees the technician rate
- FindFST charges a transparent platform fee
- Everyone knows what everyone is paying and earning
Side-by-Side Comparison
For Technicians: Set Your Rate, Choose Your Missions
If you have spent years working through agencies, you know how it goes. You do the work and keep the line running. Then you wait weeks or months to be paid a fraction of what the company was charged.
- You set your own rate
- The full mission brief is yours to read before you commit
- You choose which missions to quote on, by skills, location and availability
- You book your own travel
- Your public profile, with ratings and reviews, follows you
- You keep 100% of your agreed rate
Your reputation is years of work and certifications. It belongs to you, not to an agency brand.
For Companies: See Who You Are Hiring
If you are a facility manager or procurement lead, you know how the agency model goes. You describe the problem. The agency promises somebody good. You find out what you got when the technician turns up at your gate.
- See exactly who you are hiring: full profile, qualifications, certifications, equipment experience
- Compare quotes from multiple technicians and make your own decision
- No account manager filtering your options, no opaque margin on top
- Book trusted technicians directly next time without repeating the process
- One platform across Europe
When Agencies May Still Make Sense
Agencies will not disappear. They can still be the right call for:
- Very large-scale staffing mobilisations
- Highly regulated contract structures
- Where a company wants to hand the whole hiring process to somebody else
For everyday industrial field service, the direct model is faster and more transparent: a commissioning engineer for two weeks, a PLC programmer for a migration, an electrician to track down a fault.
Disclaimer: This guide is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional, legal, or financial advice. All rates, timelines, and market data referenced are indicative estimates based on general market observations and may not reflect current conditions. Actual costs, qualifications, and regulatory requirements vary by country, industry, and project. Always verify information with relevant local regulations, obtain professional advice where appropriate, and request multiple quotes before committing to any engagement. FindFST accepts no liability for decisions made based on the content of this guide.
Try It
Companies get industrial field service support without the overhead. Technicians choose their own missions and set their own rate.
Find and hire your next field service technician in minutes. Just a flat 6% platform fee, and the technician keeps 100% of their rate.
When the work needs someone at the machine, post an on-site mission: describe the machine and the fault, and technicians who know that equipment send you a price.
