Hi all
I'm adding a 'rush' policy to our business procedures and I was wondering if anyone else would care to share the details of their own, if you offer such a thing?

How do you handle requests that come in and are clearly required by the client same-day? Do you charge a premium? Do you guarantee rush services? Does your rush service apply to evenings and weekends? (I'm thinking in the case of evenings and weekends we'll handle rush requests whenever possible but won't guarantee anything.) As to the premium, I was thinking 25% above normal rates - any thoughts on all of this?

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I was planning to have a policy that rush requests would be subject to a 25% rush fee. I was also going to make it on a case by case basis so that I wouldn't be implying that all rush requests would automatically be honored but would more likely be a once in a while type thing.

Weekends would definitely depend on what needed to be done. I'd also probably be taking into account who the client was...like how long I'd been working with them and whether or not they had a tendency to ask for more rush requests than other clients.

I'll be interested in hearing from others who have actually had to use their rush request policy with clients and how the increased rate was handled by the client.

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

I did consider about this - not only if they ask me to work on weekend in a rush, but after hours as well. I'm interested in what others have to say about this.

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Brenda A. Jones
www.brevos.com

This is my rush policy:

"Basic office support receives 24-48 hour attention. Each new or special project requires a minimum of three (3) days lead time. Client will provide sufficient notice and allow for reasonable timeframes for project completions. Rush projects of 24 hours or less and projects requiring weekend or holiday work may be subject to a 25% surcharge and/or other rush fees. Service Provider reserves the right to refuse any project or service request."

I don't normally charge for after-hours or weekend work because I currently don't have set hours and often work nights and weekends, but this is due to my own scheduling. I still require sufficient amount of time to complete all projects.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

Originally Posted by Rebecka

This is my rush policy: "Basic office support receives 24-48 hour attention. Each new or special project requires a minimum of three (3) days lead time. Client will provide sufficient notice and allow for reasonable timeframes for project completions. Rush projects of 24 hours or less and projects requiring weekend or holiday work may be subject to a 25% surcharge and/or other rush fees. Service Provider reserves the right to refuse any project or service request." I don't normally charge for after-hours or weekend work because I currently don't have set hours and often work nights and weekends, but this is due to my own scheduling. I still require sufficient amount of time to complete all projects.

I have the same clause in my letter of engagement and I haven't charged for rushes or same day yet, BUT clients know that there is a chance that I may not be able to accomodate same day and I'm making that clear to all new clients right from the start.

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Julia

I know of others who do have a policy for rush jobs, but I do not utilize one.

My clients are all retainer, and I do rush jobs for them and they know I can say 'No' if I cannot do the job for them.

I'm pretty firm with my boundaries. My agreement states that if something is requested at the last minute, I may not be able to help. I do not charge a rush fee, because I typically don't accept something that can't be done within my normal business hours without completely rearranging all my other work - I will either tell them when I CAN have it done for them or let them know that I'm not available. I don't do client work during the evenings or on weekends. Another key to this is using a virtual phone system that only rings through to my office during my business hours and not checking email outside of my business hours.

I remember my husband's shock when I started this business - he told me I would never be successful if I wasn't more flexible with my hours and availability. Now, he frequently tells me how grateful he is that I've been able to structure my business the way I have so that I am available to the family when they need me. I work far fewer hours than I did in the corporate world, and while I'm not yet making the same money, I expect to exceed it by 2010.

I agree Lorri, and as a general rule have not worked weekends or after hours BUT that doesn't stop the requests from coming in and I will admit that there are random weekend hours when I'd be perfectly happy to work a bit for a premium (at my discretion of course) so wanted to figure out the details...

Thanks so much to everyone for your input so far, it's been a tremendous help!

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Wow, yet something else I hadn't considered. I guess because I do alot of email vmail follow up with basically require immediate attention during business hours. I will however, need to add that going forward for any graphic design projects that I might take on.

I also don't state office hours, because I work whenever I need to depending on the deadline since I have technically have a full time job.

Once again, this forum is an invaluable resource.

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Tamika R. Johnson, MBA, Principal
administrative partners, llc
www.administrativepartners.net | http://adminpartners.blogspot.com

I will have a rush fee of 25% and basically it'll be applied to whatever keeps me from following the schedule I had planned.

I do not plan to have set office hours though realistically, once I start traveling, most of my working time will be during US working hours since I prefer to work late at night rather than during the day.

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Amanda Moore
Virtual Assistant
VagabondetteVA Blog