[Hidden-tech] Consulting fees?

[Jonathan Dill]

Seth Seeger wrote:
> -How much do I charge for site-visits?
> -How much do I charge for phone/email support?
We have 2 different price scales for "retainer" customers vs. one shot 
deals.  Retainers get a better rate, and usually pay something standard 
for mileage depending on where they are located.

For a one shot deal, we charge a higher rate for the first 1/2 hour to 
cover travel time and mileage and to cover ourselves if someone ends up 
wasting our time, and then a fixed rate after that.  Some customers also 
have a one hour minimum, usually if they are located farther away.

How much you charge should depend on the type of work that you are doing 
and your level of expertise.  We charge less if we are able to handle 
something remotely, via phone or e-mail, but we still charge something.
> -Do I charge for travel time?
Depends on the type of work that you are doing and what you think you 
can work out with your customers.  For some of our retainers, if we have 
to drop what we are doing to go take care of an emergency, we charge for 
time from the minute we head out the door.  We are less likely to do 
that for a one shot deal, because the hope is that it will lead to 
future business.
> -Should I worry about a contract?
Absolutely positively.  You want to be very clear about what is included 
in your service, and what is and is not guaranteed.  You don't want to 
open yourself up to be responsible for every single thing that happens 
to somebody's computer after you walk out the door.  Sometimes stuff 
just happens, especially on Windows--if you are dealing with a 
non-techie and you were the last person there, they are likely to blame 
any problems on you whether it had anything to do with what you did or not.

99% of people will act on good faith, but every once in awhile you could 
run into someone who will try to take advantage of you, then you need 
that contract to fall back on and make sure you get paid.  I use the 
"Judge Judy" test--What would Judge Judy say if this was a case in small 
claims court?

If this is for some kind of development project (e.g. software or web) 
you should be very clear about what the deliverables are before you sign 
a contract or start any work.  If the customer wants you to do work that 
is outside the deliverables / scope of work, you may need to remind them 
that isn't in the contract and will cost extra, possibly under a 
separate contract depending on how involved it is.

Also consider any "admin time" that will be involved in the project, 
like meetings, R&D, site survey, any "reverse-engineering" you have to 
do for example if the customer has poor or no documentation.  I don't 
know if it's better to quote a higher rate to try to cover some of that, 
or have an understanding that will be billable time.

Jonathan