Charging for your time
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010I’ve had an interesting week, and it’s only Wednesday.
I was fully booked in for work this week when I checked my calendar last Friday. It was a well-paid week. I am not taking on any new clients, as I’m technically overbooked. I really love the projects I’m working on right now too. They’re challenging, interesting, and I like the people.
But, with the exception of regular maintenance stuff, all my booked in projects have been hit with delays. Most of them are understandable, and I’ve agreed to delay them. So, I’ve gone from a well-paid week, to making practically nothing.
Should you charge?
With clients that constantly change their schedules, I sometimes tell them that if they continue to schedule in time with me, I’ll have to charge them for that time, even if they don’t use it. My problem is, I feel guilty about this: I’m not working for them then.
But, at the same time, I want them to understand that it’s really inconvenient for me to not be able to depend on the work and be able to organize my time: I could take on other projects in those days. This week has been the first time it’s been an issue: usually I’ve got enough projects on the go that I can fill my time and offer them a little flexibility, which works well for everyone.
The question
Do you charge? How much do you charge? How do you let them know, to encourage them to be more diligent in their organization? Or, is it merely the price you pay for being a freelancer?
5 comments
Leave a Reply
Hi Kat! This is a very good question
Personally, I think that the threat of charging for unused time is a very good one. I expect that the client would either a) get their act in gear, or b) be more conservative in the booking of your time.
I would imagine that ‘a’ is preferable, but you may find that ‘b’ results in more last-minute requests. I am not sure.
As a freelance developer, I have often wondered why people are willing to pay me much more than an equivalent full-time wage. I think a part of the answer is that I have no real job security (in that they can cancel at a moments notice, or even simply not pay an invoice). So part of the reason I can charge more is that I need to be able to cover my costs when this happens.
I hope that helps!
Adam
PS. Disclaimer: Kat’s work-free week is somewhat due to our startup, sorry Kat!
I personally charge for the whole project but in the contract I state my hourly rate.
When I get clients who overtime gradually change things here and there, apart from find disorientating I’ll ask that we meet up and regain focus.
I’ll let them know I’m happy to be paid by the hour but they would find it beneficial if they can sit down and rethink their strategy. As from experience this happens when they haven’t really got a plan or the person who is my point of contact isn’t the real person with the final word.
Thanks Adam, I agree with you about those two scenarios. Unfortunately, if they don’t book in the time they need, often times I can’t accommodate those last minute requests and must tell them so. I think you’re right about the job security too!
p.s. Don’t worry about it; I know you do your best to use your booked time, and understand what I’m going through
This is an issue we’ve struggled with at times: going from being happily booked for weeks on end, to paradoxically sitting around with little to do, waiting for customers to get back with feedback/comments/content etc!
Generally speaking, to overcome this, more, concurrent projects are undertaken, or rates are increased slightly to compensate, or (for projects which look like they may run over or have these problems), ask for a larger deposit up front – at least this means some costs are covered. If projects are delayed for quite a while, we’ll politely ask to be paid for what we’ve done so far (on that point, we tend to break medium-large projects into smaller phases which makes it easier for customers to sign off chunks of work, and/or, for us to invoice for those chunks if anything gets delayed or goes wrong)… we’re still learning though!
I also keep a few ideas for projects in the pot so if we go through a quiet patch we can experiment wtih those!
Jon
I’m currently struggling with a client, who I’m depending on week after week, to supply me with preferences and requirements for her online store. I’ve learned one very important lesson with this client, which I will share below.
My contracts for web sites all demand 1/3 payment, upfront, non-refundable to start work. This usually covers my expenses. Typically, the other 2/3 is due at go-live.
This is now changing thanks to my current client. The new contract will be as such:
1/3 non-refundable deposit to start work, the next 1/3 will be due at some agreeable milestone, such as a date, or when the site is online ready for testing. The remaining 1/3 will be due at go-live.
Most clients are great, some, not so much. But I think this type of payment milestone system will help keep their attention.
-my 2 cents