Timeline for Advice when pitching a day rate to maximize billable time
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 12, 2019 at 1:27 | comment | added | user70848 | Yes, I meant to say "charge however I want...". Thanks | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 1:17 | comment | added | joeqwerty | Well... what you charge has to be based in some reality, but yes, charge what you think is fair, reasonable, and realistic. Just don't make it complicated for the client to understand. If it is complicated, present the client the end result, not the steps that got you there. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 1:14 | comment | added | user70848 | Ok, well that's up to you. Ultimately, sounds like your advice is to charge whatever I want, but just don't make it sound complicated? | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 1:12 | comment | added | joeqwerty | The work I do doesn't lend itself to project based, fixed fee pricing. I do offer a somewhat fixed fee pricing model for managed services, in the sense that I charge $xx.xx per endpoint per month. 10 endpoints is 10x. 100 endpoints is 100x. Most of my work lends itself to a per hour pricing model. Some of it is short term and some of it is long term. If a client commits to a longer term block hour contract then I offer them a discount because the benefit to me is income predictability over a longer period of time. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 1:05 | comment | added | user70848 | Ok, I guess I don't know why you would not charge a project rate if you know you have a project that will take 50 hours. Sounds like you're leaving money on the table. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:59 | comment | added | joeqwerty | 8 hours of work is 8 hours of work, whether remote or on-site. I don't see why that would or should change your pricing. I work both remotely and on-site. At the end of the day, we're both trying to achieve the same thing, that is, to illicit a larger/longer commitment from the client by offering them a discount. I'm just doing it in what I think is a less complicated fashion. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:59 | comment | added | user70848 | Do you calculate in this way because you typically work remotely? I think a day rate makes more sense for someone who goes into an office. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:53 | comment | added | joeqwerty | A minimum commitment from a client would have an effective rate of 2.5x what an employee would be making per hour. A larger commitment would reduce the hourly rate to 2x, then to 1.75x and then to 1.5x what an employee would make per hour. 1.5x is the largest discount I'll offer a client (the lowest hourly rate I'll offer). | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:49 | comment | added | joeqwerty | It varies by client. 10 hours per month, 50 hours per month, 100 hours per month, whatever they want. I calculate my standard hourly rate as a multiple of what an employee doing the work would be making per hour. The multiple I use is typically 1.5 to 2.5 times what an employee would make per hour for similar work. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:40 | comment | added | user70848 | Ok, so how many hours do you offer per month? What is X? And what do you use to determine X? | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:40 | comment | added | joeqwerty | So... x hours per month will cost you $xxx.xx per hour. xx hours per month will cost you $xx.xx per hour, which is a 10% discount on my hourly rate. xxx hours per month will cost you $x.xx per hour, which is a 15% discount on my hourly rate. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:37 | comment | added | joeqwerty | In all honesty, it's probably similar in principle to what you're proposing (which to simplify this conversation is a means of offering a client a discount for larger/longer commitments), but I don't calculate it in the manner that you're calculating it. For x hours per month my hourly rate is $xxx.xx. For xx hours per month my hourly rate is $xx.xx." Etc., etc. It doesn't matter how many or few those hours are on any given day. You get x hours per month at $x.xx per hour. Use those hours as you like. | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:31 | comment | added | user70848 | "I'll also sell block hour contracts". So how do you come up with that formulation? Or how is that different to your normal hourly rate? | |
| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:27 | history | edited | joeqwerty | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 12, 2019 at 0:13 | history | answered | joeqwerty | CC BY-SA 4.0 |