Per hour basis - one hours work?

Julian KNott

Julian KNott

Junior Member
Hiya all

Got this client who has just asked me to layout a legal document nicely with his logo etc etc. 4-5 pages odd. He said can you do it in an hour as that what he wants me to charge (£30). Now I never do one offs like this for an hour and normally charge/quote for the job. I think it's taking the piss to ask me to spend an hour on something for £30. Different if it were 100 pages and he wanted an hourly rate. But a one-off hour charge for this? Just wondering what you guys think. I'd be tempted to say £125-£150. He said the old cliche "more work in the offing". Which could be true as he has put work my way before. Should I just file this under "potential more work, swallow the cost, move on" or say "damn you are paying for my 20 years experience I am worth more than that".

Thanks

J
 
One solution to throw your way...

In a situation such as yours I would explain that yes I charge £30 an hour as a guide however, have a minimum project charge of either £45 / £60 or £100 whatever you feel appropriate - plumbers don't get called out, change a washer and charge you a fiver.

Other than that you have a minimum charge for things like a slight amend to a previous project of £20. (even if it takes you 10min as obviously its not worth you doing and administering for less.)

It does seem cheeky they way he has approached it. To try and complete 4/5 pages in an hour you'd probably stress yourself out and why should you work like that?

Obviously depends on how well you know the client etc as I'm just looking at it from an unattached outside perspective.
 
Always nice for a client to be optimistic on how long the job may take! :)
Agree with Andy and Berry on this, minimum charge or perhaps an easier way to phrase would be min. number of hours for a new project? After all what the client believes to take an hour could quite easily take a lot more, or vice versa, less.
 
Thanks for the advice. He and I have worked together before and he can be a right royal pain in the bum (when he was working at two different companies). He is now totally freelance and probably feels I owe him. I can't afford to do that in this climate and want to set some boundaries. There is also the fact he always makes changes...I reckon I'll say right if the text is final then £75 but if you start making changes that would be extra. I think that's fair to me and him.

I can work quite quickly which is why he reckons an hour. But that working speed has been developed over 20 years!
 
Personally there's two sides to me here.
Side 1a is saying all money is good and there is the slight chance of more
Side 1b is saying low price might set precedent for future work
Side 2 is saying it's 30 quid, it's hardly worth the hassle of the paperwork, cost of running pc, wear and tear etc

Then there's the cynic - he's saying it will only take an hour, great if he know's how quickly it can be done and he know's the rough hourly charge of people to me it sounds like he's already had a quote which is considerably higher than his offer (I'd bet over £100) and is trying to pull a fast one or is trying to get someone to do his work and then make a profit from it.

If it was me personally I'd probably be edging towards side 2 unless he's willing to up his prices to make it worthwhile etc along with agreeing to no alterations etc as in my opinion (without seeing everything or the quality of supplied images/docs) it's realistically a £100+ job to make it worthwhile.
 
To be honest I want to say, £125-£150. That's my quote. Changes are extra. I suppose if I piss him off then I piss him off. At present I really don't want to piss people off but I have to live and pay bills.
 
Just remind him that this is your valuable time, while you may charge £30 per hour for a standard project, charging £30 for 1 hours work is different.

Contacting him, delivering the goods, keeping to a time line, sorting out contracts etc. would take longer than the actual piece of work.

The premium which you take off for longer pieces of work ( if you word it that usually it is cheaper normally, rather than more expensive this time you'd stand more chance? ) can not be removed due to the small amount of work. If he were to give you 3 or 4 pieces in one go then you'll lower the premium.
 
If they are a regular client, then it wouldn't hurt to throw them a bone.

It depends on how you feel. Personally, minimum sounds good.
 
I'd defo charge a minimum price, once you've committed to one job for £30 the rest will follow at £30 a time
 
Are you busy doing something else? If it's more profitable, walk away.

Have you got an hour to kill and fancy making £30 out of it? Take it.

Is it going to take longer than an hour? Then tell him - 'No, I can't do it in an hour - it'll take x hours and it's going to cost you y pounds'.

There's no point in specifying a minimum rate of 2 hours on a 1 hour job. But if you DO manage to get your £100-125 for that hour's work, if you ned a hand I'll split it 60:40 in your favour...
;)
 
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