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I tell clients that identifying the problem is at least 50% of the work, and that includes meetings. Well, I call them "work sessions", and I don't think it's a
by mgbmtl 4y ago
I tell clients that identifying the problem is at least 50% of the work, and that includes meetings. Well, I call them "work sessions", and I don't think it's an euphemism.
And then they can pay 100 hours for a narrow scope of perfect, or they can pay 20 hours and iterate until it's good enough (bugfixes).
- rebuilder 4y agoIs it controversial that meetings should count as billable time? I mean, it’s not like you’re there because you just really like meetings!
- nathancahill 4y agoI bill double for meetings. Suddenly was invited to a lot less meetings that I never needed to be in as a contractor. Perfection.
- ncallaway 4y agoWe bill for project management and work related meetings, but not contract and business development related meetings. So if we’re getting feedback for our performance, ways we can improve, or discussing a contract extension we don’t bill for those. But if we’re discussing the thing we’re building, or doing project status updates we bill for that. We’ve never had a client push back on that.
- nivertech 4y agoMeetings before signing a contract are usually free. Mean people call them "exploiting freelancers". They would invite consultants to their office and try to pickup their brains. They usually asking for free estimation, or some other free work, in the best (and very rare) case they will ask your rate and shake the hands right at the first meeting. There are very few people who would agree to pay even for the initial meeting. After signing the contract, you can bill for all the time you spent working, meeting, thinking, answering emails or phone calls, or even being on standby or warming up a seat at a client site. In case the client set up a meeting and then canceled it on the short notice, or worse, didn't show up at all - you can also charge for this if you've lost the opportunity to work on other things. Of course it's best to discuss this with the customer before signing the contract, and if possible made it clear in the contract itself.