[consulting] Billing Increments

[Ben West]

I've had one definite instance last year where the scatter-shot, low-level
support requests from a particular client gradually become not so scattered
or not so low-level.  To the point the client was basically seeking to keep
an open channel for support requests w/o paying for it.

Although you can't completely avoid abuses of your time, I see how giving
the client up front an option to pay for unspecified support queries for
some period of time does at least help put both sides on fairer footing.

On a related note, the local market where I do freelance can be pretty grim,
so I try explicitly bill hours for "actual design work," letting me request
a premium rate.  The (usually unquantifiable) hours spent on staging, setup,
research are generally not billed at all, and I just try to be a diligent as
possible about tracking hours at the premium rate to make up for all the
random little crap.

Besides the bookkeeping tools themselves, have others who do freelance in a
very sparse market take the approach of distinguishing between design work
vs. staging/setup/research?

Even when the research/staging is directly related to the client's project,
and essentially impossible to have squared away ahead of time w/o knowing
the particulars of the project, I've yet to find a client willing to let me
bill for prep work.

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 2:48 PM, Larry Garfield <larry at garfieldtech.com>wrote:

> Another possible option for some clients is a standing support contact.
> $X/month for "all that random little crap".  They get a flat number they
> pay,
> and you spend less time tracking how long it takes to correct a spelling
> error
> (and you know a minimum amount you'll get from them as well).  For anything
> bigger (for some definition of bigger you negotiate with them) you actually
> give them an estimate and let them approve it as a "real" task, which you
> then
> bill at whatever your hourly rate is.
>
> If a fair portion of your business with that client is that sort of
> low-level
> noise, it's probably easier for you and them to just have a standing
> "$100/month gets you up to 50 minor tweaks" agreement.  It's less overhead
> and
> more predictable cash flow for both of you
>
> --Larry Garfield
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-- 
Ben West
westbywest at gmail.com
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