On call/Standby - whats your approach?

[Paralytic]

I try to push back as much as possible. Sometimes there is no avoiding it, in which case it has always been at my hourly rate * number of hours called out.

So no charge for being on call? I'd never offer that.

[WTFH]

Current place asked me in principal …

You’ve missed so many key elements. If you are asked, even “in principal”, then there are a few facts that you need to know…
Is this a one off, e.g. for a go live?
Is it over an extended period, e.g. Christmas?
Is it due to permies going on strike, i.e. it could be multiple times over several months?

If someone wants me on call, I’d want to understand why.
If I’m part of a project, I’ll probably know why. If I’m doing BAU stuff, then I’d hope I knew why, or if not I would ask.

But, as usual, you’ve provided very few pieces of relevant contextual information and a lot of emotional/irrelevant fluff.

I’ve done “on-call” in the past, where I agreed a number of hours per month and a rate (about 1.5x my normal hourly rate). They would get invoice for those whether they used them or not. If they needed more, then the additional hours were at 2x my normal rate.
I’ve also done it where I agreed a rate of 1/4 my daily rate, whether I was used or not, and then if I was needed, they paid my hourly rate on top if there were any calls.

In all cases, I’ve agreed an SLA on it as well, which was normally a 1-2 hour response time (allowing me to go out and do things and not just sit at home waiting for the phone to ring), also advised them if there would be times that I would not be available.

Good communication with your clients is key to a good working relationship.
If you communicate with them as poorly as you do on here, then that’s where most of your problems lie.

[Lance]

You’ve missed so many key elements. If you are asked, even “in principal”, then there are a few facts that you need to know…
Is this a one off, e.g. for a go live?
Is it over an extended period, e.g. Christmas?
Is it due to permies going on strike, i.e. it could be multiple times over several months?

If someone wants me on call, I’d want to understand why.
If I’m part of a project, I’ll probably know why. If I’m doing BAU stuff, then I’d hope I knew why, or if not I would ask.

But, as usual, you’ve provided very few pieces of relevant contextual information and a lot of emotional/irrelevant fluff.

I’ve done “on-call” in the past, where I agreed a number of hours per month and a rate (about 1.5x my normal hourly rate). They would get invoice for those whether they used them or not. If they needed more, then the additional hours were at 2x my normal rate.
I’ve also done it where I agreed a rate of 1/4 my daily rate, whether I was used or not, and then if I was needed, they paid my hourly rate on top if there were any calls.

In all cases, I’ve agreed an SLA on it as well, which was normally a 1-2 hour response time (allowing me to go out and do things and not just sit at home waiting for the phone to ring), also advised them if there would be times that I would not be available.

Good communication with your clients is key to a good working relationship.
If you communicate with them as poorly as you do on here, then that’s where most of your problems lie.

principle

Actually it's not incorrect spelling. It's the wrong word.
Ands yes PC got it wrong first, but I expect that.