Rate advice for really short term contract

[WordIsBond]

Because of the kind of stuff I do, I get these. I charge former clients double my usual rate for anything less than 30 hours, 150% of my usual rate for less than 50 hours. I have several clients on retainers that cover this kind of thing, though. These higher rates would be for a client who had been offered a retainer and had declined it -- they made their decision.

If it were a completely new client and I thought it might be a good relationship to build, that would be different. I might offer my standard rate. I might even give them a discount, if I want to get my foot in the door, with the usual, 'To be clear, you'll never see this rate again, this is just me giving you a chance to see what I can do.'

[jds 1981]

Because of the kind of stuff I do, I get these. I charge former clients double my usual rate for anything less than 30 hours, 150% of my usual rate for less than 50 hours. I have several clients on retainers that cover this kind of thing, though. These higher rates would be for a client who had been offered a retainer and had declined it -- they made their decision.

If it were a completely new client and I thought it might be a good relationship to build, that would be different. I might offer my standard rate. I might even give them a discount, if I want to get my foot in the door, with the usual, 'To be clear, you'll never see this rate again, this is just me giving you a chance to see what I can do.'

Thanks

[Hertsseasider]

If he was previously employed as a Contractor, take his average day rate and divide into hours and multiply by the number of hours planned. If employed as a permie do the same calculation from an average annual salary. i'd look at a one off invoice for the total work done also
Maybe add on 10% as it's a short term job.

[Lance]

If it’s just for 15 hours max then I’d at least double my normal hourly rate.

[malvolio]

Don't mess about with rates, that just introduces complexity. I would go (and have gone, several times) with a one off cost for the whole exercise plus expenses,, billed on completion.

[dogzilla]

Yes I echo above, for 15 hours, you do not want to be quoting yourself in terms of time and materials. Firstly, the two things are not in anyway comparable, and so you don't want to give them an opportunity to compare like for like against say their normal hourly rates.

Better to quote a fixed price for the job with a slightly ambiguous estimate. E.g. if I think it's going to take 15 hours, I'll round up to 20 and then tell the client it will take roughly 3-4 days.

As for how much to charge, that's up to you to decide, it really depends on business specifics.

But for me, I do routinely do small run jobs like this, I would quote around 250% of my daily rate calculated against my rounded up figure of 20 hours. This is to account for pre-sales, tooling up, post-sales... all the work involved which the client never see's but which their payments have to cover to keep my business profitable.

[clearedforlanding]

Don't mess about with rates, that just introduces complexity. I would go (and have gone, several times) with a one off cost for the whole exercise plus expenses,, billed on completion.

+1

What problem is being solved and what is the value to the customer?

What is the urgency?

The hourly rate is not relevant in this case unless it is a can of worms with multiple touchpoints and 3rd party dependencies.