How do you handle working from home on an hourly rate ?

[d000hg]

On site it's easy to simply count the number of hours spent in the office and take off a bit for lunch... you don't stop the clock when you spend 15min getting a cuppa and chatting in the canteen.

But at home do you follow the same approach, or feel that you should be more accurately recording the actual time spent working?

How's everyone handle that?

[v8gaz]

What are the expected daily hours? Then thats what you bill.

[SteelyDan]

Ditto what v8gaz said, although when working at home I probably do more than the required hours...

Surprised you're asking though d000hg, what with your 'Godlike' status, or are you just polling general practice?

[d000hg]

are you just polling general practice?

Yes, just curious what everyone else does.

[russell]

(Wanking + Surfing + TV) = Hours Claimed (Feel free to add actual worked hours but its probably not going to make a difference).

[Hex]

I've been working from my home office for the last 18 months with very infrequent visits to the client's office.

For the first 12 months I tried to keep the hours I had previously when I worked in the office most of the time, so I'd be glued to my screen between 9 and 6 with an hour for lunch. I did go to get a cup of tea and didn't deduct for that, nor for trips to the loo or answering the front door. So I billed for 8 hours a day as I had when I worked in an office.

For the last 6 months I have been working whatever hours I like as long as I get the job done. I now bill by the half hour. I have a spreadsheet in which I put my start and end times (as many as I want in any single day) and it adds up the total time and rounds up or down to the nearest half hour. I bill using this. Trips to the loo and cups of tea are not significant as I see it, so they are part of what I am doing and I don't "stop the meter running" for them.

If you are expected to work similar hours from home to the office I would bill in the same way. If you want complete flexibility and you have an hourly rate then I think you need to do something like I do with my spreadsheet.

[yasockie]

Most of my clients don't care as long as job progresses nicely.
I just bill and keep the timesheets on a daily rather than hourly basis.'