Reply to: Rate advice for really short term contract

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Lance]

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

[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.

[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

[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.'

[greenlake]

At the moment I'm tending towards suggesting a k a day, but am concerned that night be underselling him.

Wow! A kilo per day... .?

[jds 1981]

I've been asked for advice (family)
He's recently retired, project is supervising a large IT project go live over a few early mornings.
The rate I've suggested above apparently isn't too far off what he'd previously have been charged out to clients at.

[northernladuk]

Either,

I accept there is very little context.
However, I had hoped someone might have experience with similar situations and be able to suggest numbers that they had found acceptable to bean counters previously.

At the moment I'm tending towards suggesting a k a day, but am concerned that night be underselling him.

I'm sure there is but honestly, even a clue about what they are doing would have been nice. Is he doing a bit of filing or time sheet shuffling, bit of code, some high end Vistex consultancy?
Many more questions about possibility of extra work, is it worth getting for parallel contracts evidence, which might pull the offer down a bit. Or doesn't he care, it's going to be evenings and he's super niche in which case the price can go way up.
Why not go fixed price so he can coin it in if he's that good and can do it quicker?

If you've no idea should you really be suggesting anything?

https://www.contractoruk.com/forums/...contracts.html

[jds 1981]

I'll leave that one to the OP to think about. Can't be giving them all the answers to a 4 line question with absolutely no context whatsoever can we?

Either,

I accept there is very little context.
However, I had hoped someone might have experience with similar situations and be able to suggest numbers that they had found acceptable to bean counters previously.

At the moment I'm tending towards suggesting a k a day, but am concerned that night be underselling him.

[northernladuk]

Per day or per hour?

I'll leave that one to the OP to think about. Can't be giving them all the answers to a 4 line question with absolutely no context whatsoever can we?

[jds 1981]

How long is a piece of string?

Oh come on, I made sure it was out of general before I clicked submit

[PCTNN]

Per day or per hour?

[northernladuk]