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Ask HN: How to bill clients in an hourly job, when you use your pre-built code.

4 points by minhajuddin 15y ago

I do a lot of freelancing work. Billing the client on an hourly basis is the fair way to keep the project realistic and on track. However, a lot of times when I start working on a project, I copy a lot of infrastructure code which I've built over the years. This helps save a lot of hours for the client. So it definitely adds a lot of value, but I do this within an hour or so. So, how do you guys suggest I bill this? How do I explain it to the client?

amccloud 15y ago
You can charge more when you expect fewer hours. Maybe not as much you would normally make. In the end your client would, or should, appreciate the price and how fast things got delivered.
AndrewDucker 15y ago
So bill them for the hours you spend. If your prebuilt code makes you faster than you would otherwise have been then that means you can move on to other work faster, they get a better deal, and they tell other people that you're awesome.
zachinglis 15y ago
Bill them for time and materials. Price your product before you start and let your client know how they should expect to spend.
kolinko 15y ago
My way of charging - a fixed fee at the start, for the absolutely basic functionality (you usually use the pre-built code in this part), and hourly fee for fixes/updates etc.
- minhajuddin 15y ago
  How do the customers respond to this? I haven't tried this approach but it sounds like a great way.
damoncali 15y ago
Raise your rate if you're reusing a lot of code. You deserve to be compensated for it. Bottom line, the final price should be as much as they're willing to pay. If you can't raise your rate enough (what do you mean $550/hour!), don't bill hourly.
devs1010 15y ago
I'd say be honest with them and rather than just bill extra hours, bill a flat fee for use of this code base and then bill for each hour spent customizing. I think any reasonable client would find value in having code already written that can be used for their project. Even if the project is open source, I'd still bill a flat fee for inclusion of it in a project given that you have very high expertise in it and thus can be more efficient and effective with customizations than an unfamiliar programmer could be.

4 points by minhajuddin 15y ago

amccloud 15y ago

You can charge more when you expect fewer hours. Maybe not as much you would normally make. In the end your client would, or should, appreciate the price and how fast things got delivered.

AndrewDucker 15y ago

So bill them for the hours you spend. If your prebuilt code makes you faster than you would otherwise have been then that means you can move on to other work faster, they get a better deal, and they tell other people that you're awesome.

zachinglis 15y ago

Bill them for time and materials. Price your product before you start and let your client know how they should expect to spend.

kolinko 15y ago

My way of charging - a fixed fee at the start, for the absolutely basic functionality (you usually use the pre-built code in this part), and hourly fee for fixes/updates etc.

minhajuddin 15y ago
How do the customers respond to this? I haven't tried this approach but it sounds like a great way.

damoncali 15y ago

Raise your rate if you're reusing a lot of code. You deserve to be compensated for it. Bottom line, the final price should be as much as they're willing to pay. If you can't raise your rate enough (what do you mean $550/hour!), don't bill hourly.

devs1010 15y ago

I'd say be honest with them and rather than just bill extra hours, bill a flat fee for use of this code base and then bill for each hour spent customizing. I think any reasonable client would find value in having code already written that can be used for their project. Even if the project is open source, I'd still bill a flat fee for inclusion of it in a project given that you have very high expertise in it and thus can be more efficient and effective with customizations than an unfamiliar programmer could be.