When you charge for meetings in the future with an active client, the math changes. Time for meetings—and travel time to get to them, when applicable—needs to be incorporated into your estimates. But and this is a big but I personally do not break out meeting fees as a separate line item. If a client happened to be ultra meeting-happy and I wanted to curtail wasted time, I might consider noting a cost.
Rarely do I charge for an initial meeting. I had one client who just would. And surprise! We were able to parse through everything he needed in just seven minutes. What about if they booked an hour of your time but only used half of it?
Before you start sending out invoices , make sure that you have a good understanding of what your billable and nonbillable hours are to keep your records clear, consistent, and clean.
Billable work is made up of the tasks you take on and complete for clients that you expect to get paid for. If a client schedules an in-person, video, or phone meeting with you, that time is typically billable. If a client requested your presence, even to observe a brainstorming session between employees or to watch a presentation, you can absolutely charge your hourly rate for the time you blocked out to attend it. If the client only booked you for an hour but the meeting turns into two, bill them for the entire amount of time you were required to attend.
Professional tasks are the skills and abilities you have centered your freelance career around — for example, writing, software development, social media marketing, or graphic design.
These skills are directly related to why a client hired you and how you will contribute to their project. Think of these tasks as the bread and butter of your working hours. Actual planning takes place after a contract has been signed and you and the client both have a strong understanding of a project and its goals.
Not all projects will require planning, but for those that do, make sure you get paid for the time you spend devising a strategy to help the client meet their goals. Most projects come with at least a little back and forth. Sometimes, revisions will be simple changes like adding a link or changing a color, while other revisions will be more intense and involve major updates. Regardless of size, when a client requests a revision, the time you spend making adjustments to a piece of work you already submitted counts as billable work.
However, make sure to review how you agreed to handle revisions in your contract. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you have to block out time for a client in order to attend a face-to-face meeting at their request, you can bill for it.
Otherwise, you could be using that time to earn money by working for another client. However, make sure to discuss your pricing and billing guidelines with a client upfront. When a client asks you to travel a significant distance, let them know that it will be an additional cost on your next bill.
If you need to conduct research or learn a new skill to complete a project for a client, you can usually bill for it. But many have questions about what activities they should bill to clients. In this post, I list seven common project-related tasks that clients often question. For each task, I discuss whether a freelancer should bill the client.
If you liked this post, you may also like 12 Realities of Pricing Design Services. What aspects of a project should be billable? Should you charge for the time you spend on an estimate? What about the time you spend on the phone with a client?
Should a web designer charge for technical support provided after the project is completed? There are many differing opinions about what a freelancer should include in their price. Some bidding sites actually track what a freelancer does on their computer and use that information to calculate how much money the freelancer receives.
The client may feel that they can lower the price of the project by removing what they view as an unneeded part of the project from their invoice.
My client above was a prime example of that kind of thinking. Developing an accurate project estimate is the first step to project success. The more accurate and more detailed your project proposal is which usually becomes your work agreement when the client accepts it , the better your project is likely to be. Yet, the process of developing a good project estimate is time-consuming. From personal experience, I know that it sometimes takes several hours to put together a good project proposal.
I actually know of some busy freelancers who do charge a fee to prepare a project estimate. Others you could just ask , keeping in mind they might have an interest to over- or undersell themselves. Find out what they are charging for similar work and for similar ideal clients. Compare yourself to those working in your field and determine how your experience and work stacks up to theirs.
This outsider information will ensure your freelance rate fits in with industry standards. Of course, you can help yourself with average salary and hourly rate research conducted online. So here are the insights gathered on freelancermap and our freelancer survey. You can research freelance rates for specific skills on your own.
On the right side you will see a box indicating, for example, the average hourly rate of a web developer in Germany. Looking for your next project? Hourly billing is not good for profit or for efficiency. We recommend running away from this pricing strategy because it simply does not take into account years of knowledge and experience.
If you have a client looking for a time-based price, you could offer daily billing instead. The number of hours you work is solely up to you and it allows you to adapt and modify the rate for bigger or smaller projects.
When billing your project daily , you can sell a package of several days at a cheaper rate. With this pricing, the freelancer guarantees the client that the job agreed to will be completed. As a freelancer, you price your work based on the value of the work instead of pricing based on time. In essence, show them why your work is priced the way it is. Tip : Always sign a contract and ask your client to pay a deposit upfront before you start working on the project.
Freelance Retainer agreements can be a great safety net for freelancers as these guarantee a certain amount of work for a client for an agreed amount of time.
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