Still struggling with when to charge
Today I found a cool analysis of successful viral videos that I learned about on Seth Godin’s site. I took a few minutes to forward it to one of my clients who wants to do some video.
As I stirred in bed this morning, I received two emails from another client, who subsequently called me to set up an appointment.
I set an appointment time with a third client for an interview today, and a fourth client just called to set up another appointment.
None of these things took more than 5 minutes, but together they ate away at 45 minutes since I kept popping in and out of my other morning work to answer the calls, return the emails and set the appointments.
My philosophy is that my hourly rate needs to be strong enough to absorb these little connections. I can’t possibly charge 15 minutes per client (15 is my minimum these days) for these little pieces. I’ve written before about how little projects can eat away at a day, but these little admin pieces just don’t fit into the billable category, I think. I just need to make sure that I get paid enough to cover these little things.
Claire on 16 Jul 2008 at 9:01 am #
I don’t charge for email correspondence or other small items like that, but I do charge for travel time. If there tends to be a lot of little communications from one client, I’ll increase my hours billed accordingly. For example, if I have a conference call for an hour and a half, but had also had to spend a good 30 minutes on various emails througout the day (or before or after that day), I’ll bill for two hours instead of one and a half.
I also found a contract from a Canadian editorial association that includes stipulations for reimbursements for things like mailing, photocopying, and other sundry expenses. If you’re interested, I’ll forward to you.
Kurt on 16 Jul 2008 at 9:20 am #
Being an hourly worker for a small business, I can relate to this. It bugs me to stay “late” by five or ten minutes, because let’s face it, I’m not getting paid in five minute increments.
My company’s policy is simple: log billable hours in half-hour increments, and anything more than 15 minutes spent is billable as a half hour.
My boss’ theory is that the number of times I’ll work for 17 minutes on a project is about equal to the number of times I’ll work for 13 minutes, so it all evens out in the end.
Beth on 16 Jul 2008 at 9:27 am #
Claire, I, too, have started charging for travel time. I rarely mail anything or do any copying, so I’m not worried about those things. Like you, if I end up with 30 minutes of emails, especially emails that take thinking and organizing, I’ll charge.
Kurt, great points. I like the philosophy that says you’re just as likely to spend 17 minutes as 13 as a whole.
Thanks for the advice.
Daniel Edlen on 16 Jul 2008 at 9:32 am #
I’m not sure what convention is, but if you charge an upfront fee once hired and then billable hours for the project, you could build in a reasonable amount into that intial fee for all the little extra stuff like phone/email time.
Peace.
Beth on 17 Jul 2008 at 8:52 am #
I’m going to work on charging an upfront deposit, I think. I’ve found that some new clients can be flaky, and I need to make sure I’m paid in advance sometimes.
Thanks for the advice.
Claire on 17 Jul 2008 at 8:59 am #
I like Kurt’s recommendation about the 1/2 hour increments. I think I’ll include that in my final contracts – when I get there. I also know many copy editors that require a deposit of 1/2 the total amount up front.