For those of you who offer onsite support I wondered if you charge a day rate or just your hours worked.

I will be offering conference, seminar and committee administration and will offer on site supprt (depending on location). If I am administering a conference and my client wants me on site for registration, meeting and greating and general smooth running, I would be very happy to do this.

However, I'm not sure how I would charge for on site support or what people do generally. If I am travelling then do I charge for the travel time as I may not be able to work with other clients during this time and I certainly won't be able to do other client work during the time I am at the conference.

I thought perhaps a flat day rate plus expenses would cover this and wondered what other people do. Do you base your day rate on so many hours (8 or 10 perhaps) or do you charge for your travel time plus hours worked.

My rule of thumb is this...

If the work I am doing is for the client, I charge for it. They get my time, therefore, my time has value and I charge.

I would charge for weekend work at a different rate than the normal work week rate. I do that now and I work that out with the client before I begin the weekend project.

I would charge either my regular rate for onsite work per hour or consider offering a package of hours at a set fee.

If I was traveling, I would charge for that time as well. It is your time which otherwise could be used for another client.

I only work 100% virtually so I have not done any onsite work but if I did I would follow the above.

I believe that clients find flat fee based upon XX number of hours or one work day to be a value package. Make sure that if you decide to do a flat fee, have something in writing as to what you will charge if you go over the number of hours the client has been contracted or what is determined to be a 'work day'. You may be asked to stay late or overnight which might not be covered in your flat fee rate and you still want to be reimbursed for your time.

Really the billing decision is your call. I know that is not a great answer but much depends upon how long you will be onsite. If you think you will work an 8-hour day for example, you could charge a flat fee. But if your time onsite will vary thus becoming an unknown factor, I would charge a flat fee and then an hourly for the overage.

Bottom line is that you are paid for all of your time whether it is fee based, hourly or a combination of both.

Janine

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Thanks Janine, your post made a lot of sense. I want to be fair to my client and fair to me!

Although my first feeling was that I can't charge my full rate for travelling, your point that even though I may not be working directly with the client the fact I am travelling to do something for them means that is time that cannot be spent working with another client and therefore I am losing out.

I don't expect to do a lot of on site work but as I am offering conference and committee support it is something I should think about. To be honest I would enjoy seeing something I have worked on through to the end.

Does anyone else have any thoughts?

This is bit of a tricky question. Should one not be charging more than the regular hourly rate for onsite work? After all, you're neglecting other clients during that time and could be missing really good opportunities.

Just a thought.

Lynne

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The Wordpro Wizard
www.wordprowizard.com

Originally Posted by Your Virtual Wizard

My rule of thumb is this... If the work I am doing is for the client, I charge for it. They get my time, therefore, my time has value and I charge. I would charge for weekend work at a different rate than the normal work week rate. I do that now and I work that out with the client before I begin the weekend project. I would charge either my regular rate for onsite work per hour or consider offering a package of hours at a set fee. If I was traveling, I would charge for that time as well. It is your time which otherwise could be used for another client. I only work 100% virtually so I have not done any onsite work but if I did I would follow the above. I believe that clients find flat fee based upon XX number of hours or one work day to be a value package. Make sure that if you decide to do a flat fee, have something in writing as to what you will charge if you go over the number of hours the client has been contracted or what is determined to be a 'work day'. You may be asked to stay late or overnight which might not be covered in your flat fee rate and you still want to be reimbursed for your time. Really the billing decision is your call. I know that is not a great answer but much depends upon how long you will be onsite. If you think you will work an 8-hour day for example, you could charge a flat fee. But if your time onsite will vary thus becoming an unknown factor, I would charge a flat fee and then an hourly for the overage. Bottom line is that you are paid for all of your time whether it is fee based, hourly or a combination of both. Janine

Janine, what great advice! For a newbie, I am finding this forum extremely helpful. It helps me figure out what I will do if such a situation should arise.

Thanks,

Penelope

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Penelope Myer
Penelope and Partners

I have been working on-site for a client for the past two weeks. This is the first time that I have done this through my own company, and I offered this client a 25% discount off my hourly rate.

I agree with Lynne, committing oneself to this type of situation really does hamper doing business with other clients. I found myself in this situation, and it made me think twice about doing in-office assignments again. Although a schedule of a few days a month would be fine, committing as I did to a such a long assignment was simply WAY TOO LONG. I won't do it again.

I made some good money, learned new things, and met new people, so my experience did have good aspects to it. But remember, as Lynne pointed out, this type of thing really does make it hard to work with other clients.

Sometimes the only way to know if something works for you is just doing it! Good luck!

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Patty

Just to add to my previous comment -- looking back, I think the 25% discount was too high. Even though there were a lot of hours contracted, those hours spent with only that one client may have done more harm than good.

Did I lose out on anything? I had to put one potential client on hold, and hopefully it won't hurt that possible association. I'm moving on and feel I learned something from my experience.

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Patty

Hi:

Charge for all hours spent working for a specific client, whether it be on or off site. You will have trouble keeping up with other clients if you are doing the job "on site" for very long. There will be phone calls and computer time that you may miss.

Good luck,

Penelope

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Penelope Myer
Penelope and Partners

Originally Posted by eXPERT Business Support

looking back, I think the 25% discount was too high.

Patty: If you were to do something like this account again, would you consider giving the onsite client a discount at all.

My thinking is by working even one day onsite, I am losing the time, never to be regained, I could be working for another client as well as this one (I would probably be multi-tasking, which one can't very well do at someone elses office) or working on my own business. To me, it's almost like working for a temp agency or a full-time job and my business becomes a part-time job.

I would enjoy the change of pace, the challenge presented by the client's needs, and the chance to build a good working relationship. However, I don't know that I would think it would be worth any kind of discount since the unknowns are problematic.

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A L Camien
Manager Member

Hi Patty

My discount is reversed. I charge higher rates for onsite work since it means that I need to leave base and possibly miss out on other connections and activities. This also helps the client to think seriously about the extent of on-site support required.

For events I do charge for prep and travel time. Here is a great link which I have used as a guide in structuring my event planning fees:

http://eventplanning.about.com/od/ev...ers/a/fees.htm

There is a wealth of event planning information available from this writer.

Best.