[consulting] Billing Increments

[David Hazel]

I charge either by project, or by hour (billed by the 1/4).  For the
projects, that "staging, setup, research" is included in the quote.

For hourly projects, I bill for actual time,whether that be research, setup,
coding, training, etc. I do not break those tasks down into different rates
(although the actual tasks are detailed in Freshbooks). I do have
contractors working for me from time to time, and those I generally bill out
at different rates, based on the skill level of the contractor (and I hire
less skilled contractors for less skilled work). The contractor that
actually did the work also shows up in Freshbooks (another benefit over
iBiz).

All that being said, if you are using a dev server that's already
configured, using tools like Aegir and Drush you can really minimize that
setup time.

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 6:30 PM, Ben West <westbywest at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>> consulting at drupal.org
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>
>
>
> --
> Ben West
> westbywest at gmail.com
>
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>


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