Re: Billable hours versus fixed bidding and flat rates for IBM i developers

As a contractor, you keep instructions, some detailed, some not,
describing how to do the various things you do in the apps you are
responsible for. When the client decides to bring your function in
house, are you ethically responsible to hand over your notes? Esp if
you billed the client for the time it took to write the notes.

yes.. if the customer paid for the time to write the notes, they paid for it..
But I would also bill the time for any transfer of knowledge, training,
or preparing hand over docs. If we are going to get into "who owns
the code.." start another thread.

Like many others, I tend to underbill. I've had other contractors complain to me
because the manager compared my 40 hrs to their 45 hours and knew we
came & went at approx the same time ...

I don't bill one customer for taking the phone time to deal with another
customer's situation - anything over a few minutes I clock out of where I'm
sitting. Whether I bill the other customer is it's own issue.

I also use some common sense and don't bill 8 hrs for what should have
been a 4 hr project unless I can verbally justify it.

I've done hourly, fixed price projects, and right now a flat daily rate no matter the hours.

Jim Franz