Surcharge for Second Floor

Guys, I make it a policy to assess a $40 surcharge in any quote if I need to do rooms up stairs.  I told a guy about that.  He scheduled the job.  I get out to the job just to end up with him attempting to debate the merit of the charge (machine is heavy, need to setup all over again, potential for damage to house and tech).  He was attempting to say that if he had only one room or 5 rooms upstairs to clean it was a ripoff.  His line of thinking was it should be based on a percentage of the job.  Basically, he had me out just to bitch about policy and turn me away.

Question is am I alone on this surcharge thing or do you try something else about up stairs rooms like higher per sqft charge?  He is the first person to complain in 3 years up here in Oregon and I never had a complaint in SoCal about it.

By the way, I would have turned down the job anyway to avoid being stiffed by this guy.  He is in a neighborhood with nearly all homes sold under 100% financing and according to the homeowners association very few homes in that development are single family (most have 2 or 3 separate families residing in them and on the deed). 

Not to say he has money problems, but why take chances with a guy who is already trying to build a case for why he didn't pay.

I don't charge extra for a second story but I understand why you would. One way to get around it is don't tell the customer.   As part of your estimate put it under "misc operating costs". If they question it then you can explain the time-is-money ritual.