

Ask HN: Consultants - How do you charge your clients? - volandovengo

Do you charge per project or per hour?  If you sub-contract out and work with designers are you transparent about this?
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mgkimsal
I'm up front about bringing in other people when needed, and typically have
one separate bill rate for those people, and it's disclosed up front before
the project starts. I don't try to pass people off as my own employees - I
simply indicate I have professional colleagues in my network that I
collaborate with, depending on the project's needs. Most people seem to
understand that, and I've never had an issue so far.

I've occasionally submitted to being subcontracted out under someone else's
company name, and it's ended poorly about 80% of the time, due to
misunderstandings about communication between all parties involved.

I typically charge per hour with a base estimate up front that spells out the
understandings. If the understandings change, more work is done and more hours
are used, but I let the client know, and they make the final decision as to
whether or not to have me/us do the extra work.

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petervandijck
Per project or per hour depends on the client.

They often have a preference; in large companies, they may be able to get a
"per project" budget approved, but not a per hour budget - so be it. You have
to be a little flexible.

What I used to do when I contracted was to estimate the amount of time needed,
and then say X weeks * Y$/hr = total Z$ project cost.

You learn to pad that, depending on the client, to calculate in "unexpected"
costs. ie. for a difficult/inexperienced/unknown client, I would double the
estimated hours.

Both as a contractor and a client, if there is some trust in the relationship,
I much prefer per-hour based jobs. But it's not always possible.

If you bring in other people, don't hide it. There's no need to.

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hluska
Personally, I charge per project and am extremely transparent about every
single person who I bring into the project. However, I'm not very successful
so you may want to do the opposite...:)

Good luck consulting!!

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volandovengo
lol - ok, well thanks for sharing! :)

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gte910h
I use "we" and bring in people as needed for skills that I don't have in high
enough levels

I explain THAT I do this all, but not exactly when for many clients

