I had a situation today where an agent emailed me that she needed a listing taken care of on several real estate sites because the seller was upset that they hadn't been posted. I was in the middle of doing some marketing for my own business on a Sunday afternoon, but she is a good client and I decided to do the task anyway, which took about 45 minutes.

Normally, when someone sends me something on Friday afternoon, I explain that I have to apply a rush fee, if they want it done right away. Sometimes they accept, other times they do not. But this was a spur-of-the-moment situation and it got me thinking.

Should I charge in the future for a prorated rush fee for something small that might come in as an emergency on the weekend? (I do have set office hours that I generally keep.) Should I just charge my regular rush fee? Or, should I just oblige, as I did today, perform the task and bill my regular fee? I'm only asking this about tasks which are small; not projects.

What do my colleagues here at VAF think?

Janine

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If you already have an established rush fee and this client is aware of it, I believe you should go ahead and charge it. If she hadn't been aware of it, when she asked you to do the job you should have mentioned it and let her decide before proceeding. If she's not aware of it, just charge your normal billing.

We all do want to help our clients out. But at the same time we need to protect ourselves and not get caught in the trap of working for nothing. Hope this helps.

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Sue L Canfield
AwesomeAssistant.info
My Blog

Sue,
Thanks for your reply.
So do you think the rush fee should be charged even if the task is a small one? Say, something a half hour or less? Normally I charge a rush for projects but this time it was a rush for something small...if so, should that fee be prorated or just a flat rush fee? Or maybe it doesn't matter.
Janine

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My clients know that they will have a rush fee added on to the invoice if they require something quicker then my normal working timelines....

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Rebecca Thompson
CLR Virtual Connection * fanTABulous fan pages

I've always charged a rush fee, with a minimum of 1 hour. It's a flat rate and I don't prorate. Those clients who value your work will not "balk" at a rush fee.

If you have long standing clients you've never charged a rush fee for jobs it's your call. I value the commitment by some of my clients and their infrequent "rush" work is never charged a rush fee. But, all my new clients are informed that I will be happy to do their work after hours, or on any emergency basis, but they will be charged a rush fee.

Everything balances out in the end.

Carol
CJ's Virtual Business Solutions

I think you definitely should. I know that being in a "helping" profession we may not feel right charging a rush fee on something small. However, if you have a policy and the client knows about it, you should definitely charge. As Sue stated, you have to protect yourself. Furthermore, if you do decide not to charge for a small project (as you did in this instance), I would suggest letting the client know that you "waived" the fee. This serves 2 purposes. One, the client will know/believe that you did something special for them, making them feel important to you. And two, it lets them know that they can incur this fee. I hope this helps.

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Shannon

Great answers! Thanks for helping me sort that one out.

Janine

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Ok, I have to eat my own words...open mouth and put foot in mouth. Today for the first time ever, I had a client whom I signed last week with my regular contract and was in my mind as being labeled a steady client but according to the client she is really only a project client! This has never happened before!

My contract gives all the info about billing a min of two hours per week regardless of time actually worked, details how I bill on a weekly basis, etc. but never specifically states that this client is an ongoing client.

So I did a project for the client this week and then I ask for work for Monday and she says she doesn't have any for me.

I consulted on the phone with her before we signed and explained exactly what I put in my contract but I think she just wanted the projects done and was relating what I stated to only those weeks for which she had work for me.

I'm so bummed! I'm getting so many more project assignments than steady work lately. I have to rethink my business model, update my contract to specifically state on-going or project client and change my rates for project work vs regular rate. (I quoted her my regular rate because I thought this was a steady client.)

This has never happened before but I have to really spell ongoing v project OUT in my contracts and in my consultations.

Janine

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