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

Jerry wrote;
I don't do consulting now, but, when I did, there was one customer
that I charged a 2 hour minimum for support calls - even if it took only 5
minutes.
I did this because they kept calling with stupid questions that could be
found
by reading the documentation (which I wrote) and expecting me to answer
these questions gratis.
The president of the company, when I explained the change to him,
agreed that it was fair, reasonable, and necessary.
He did, however, want these calls itemized;
he used it to raise hell back at the office, not at me.


Jerry -

I took on a small client in the early 90's (Colter's BBQ in Dallas, running
JDE on a S/36) that indicated they only needed occasional on-site support.
I explained to them that if I ever have to come to their office to do the
work, that there would be a mininum charge of FOUR hours of billable time.

They called me with a payroll emergency one day. I left my regular client
(BlockBuster) and drove to their office, fixing the problem in about 1 hour.
I sent them an invoice for 4 hours. The manager called me back the
following week, telling me that he was NOT going to pay me for 4 hours since
I was only there for an hour.

I explained to him that I had indicated a minimum charge of 4 hours when I
took them as a client. He insisted that he was only going to pay for the
ONE hour that I was on-site in their office. Finally, I told him: "Don't
worry about paying this invoice. I'm firing you as a client. I'm not
interested in doing any work for you in the future."

I then gave him the telephone number of another Dallas consulting company
(owned by a guy that I considered a crook) and told him to call them in the
future for any assistance...

- sjl