The age old questions that will never be solved: blond or brunette, Coke or Pepsi, Ford or Chevy, flat rate or T&M.
I've done both, and even though with practice you can get fairly good at ballparking how long things will take you, there are still often complications that pop up that take longer or require more or different materials. IMO, it is a great beatching point for customers to say, "but you quoted me .... now you are playing bait and switch and telling me more." They don't understand, and they don't want to understand. They end up being disappointed, being pains in the a$$, etc. Much of that goes away with T&M. We all know the pros and cons of each, and we choose what we are comfortable with. I don't need to rehash them, but even as an employee it bothers me when I show up for a flat rate and there are unforseen complications that make us lose money. Ultimately that trickles down to my paycheck. Yeah, maybe it evens out with the easy installs you say. To each his own. I don't like losing on any job. With T&M you win on both. If something goes so quick and easy that you are in and out before you know it and feel as though you didn't make any money, there are ways to up it to some degree, increase mark up, disposal fee, etc.
Teaming up guys with skills who offset each others and tailoring the jobs you give to certain guys all sound great as business management talking points, but how well do they work in the real world? Maybe for some shops, but in my experience things like that last a few weeks tops before they are forgotten about. The phone is ringing off the hook because one dispatcher is out sick, the others need to just get the calls booked, and don't have the time or just don't care to figure out who is the best man for the job, or who needs training for what. Even the most experienced dispatcher is sitting there in a nice temperature controlled office (and runs out the door precisely at 3:00), not always appreciating all of the variables involved in doing a job, and best of all argues with you when you try to bring it up. The apprentice you had scheduled for a job which he needs experience on, with a guy who is best suited for it, and one calls in sick, messing up the whole dynamic, on and on..
Training and motivation are great, but EVERYONE has trouble finding good employees. We've lost some good guys who I liked and respected, who just can't follow the rules or learn how to pick their battles, but we've also lost some because management just won't pick their battles either, and realize that not everyone does things exactly the way they would, without some training, some understanding. Some people on both sides feel as though they are always right and refuse to see anything from someone else's point of view, or realize that no matter what, in any job you are going to have annoyances from management, and management is going to have them from employees.