[Hidden-tech] What to charge for emergency support ?

[matthew at the-spa.com]

you should ask for a small weekly stipend and then a substantial per
hour rate with a minimum of a couple hours.

if you get a call at 2am you don't want to just get paid for 25
minutes!

also put in a provision that things may change once you start doing
it and see what it is really like once you do it for a while.

my wife is on call one day a week and one weekend every six but she
gets new cases and can bill the insurance company so there is built
in compensation.

matthew

>
>
>---- Original Message ----
>From: andytk at charter.net
>To: Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>Subject: RE: [Hidden-tech] What to charge for emergency support ?
>Date: Tue, 3 May 2005 11:59:33 -0400
>
>>   ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group
>>   ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>>   ** Remember you must be counted to post .
>>
>>I just got off the phone with one of my clients and they wanted to
>know what
>>I would charge to provide emergency support for one of their
>products for
>>one of their major customers.
>>Based on the conversation it looks like they are thinking about a
>weekly fee
>>to have a beeper (though what's the point of a beeper when you have
>cell
>>phones?) attached to my hip and then a per call fee for after hours
>(7pm ->
>>7am weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday).  This would be in
>addition to
>>any hourly changes.  So if they call at 4am I get paid x plus
>whatever time
>>I put in (at a higher rate?)  If things can wait until 7am ->7pm
>then the
>>client gets charged my normal rate.
>>As further background, I am a senior software engineer specializing
>in
>>TCP/IP based server applications written in C++.  Over the course of
>the
>>last year I've ended up taking over the real time portion of an
>existing
>>product of my client's through repeated enhancements.
>>The questions are;
>>* Does the structure that they propose seem right?  (Seems
>reasonable to me,
>>but I've never done this before and want to avoid any gotchas that
>others
>>may have learned the hard way).
>>* What would reasonable rates be for wearing a beeper, getting a
>call at 4am
>>in the morning, and then for performing the work?  (2x normal rate,
>3x, 5x?)
>>* Do I want to be the first responder or have somebody else look at
>the
>>problem first?  (I'm thinking no, I'd rather sleep if possible).
>>
>>I look forward to hearing all of your experiences and advice on this
>>delicate issue.
>>
>>Andy Klapper
>>Asgard Technology Group, LLC
>>
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
>>Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>>
>>You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion
>list.
>>If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
>  
>>page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
>>http://www.hidden-tech.net/members
>>