> I am converting from a straight contract to an hourly contract
> for one of my projects.
>
> I have just received an email from the person and I quote:
>
> <CF_QUOTE>
> 4) Telephone conversations, discussions, and meetings (within reason) that
> are required for the contractor to fulfill his or her obligations are not
> billable items unless approved by me in advance. For example, if
> you talk to
> me or Warren (or whoever) about a new feature on the phone -- you can of
> course bill for the time spent developing the new feature -- but the time
> spent talking about it is not generally billable. This is akin to the time
> you spend with the mechanic discussing a problem with your car --
> he doesn't
> bill you for that, he bills you for the time spent actually fixing it (if
> he's honest, at least!)
>
> </CFQUOTE>
>
> Am I off base in considering that time spent on the phone discussing new
> features, meetings, etc. are billable time? I don't consider myself a car
> mechanic. I consider myself a professional. After all lawyers bill for
> every second they spend on a case, even telling you that they don't have
> anything yet (at least my divorce lawyer did!)
> What is the standard practice for this type of thing. I don't wish to
> alienate this contract however I don't want to be screwed either.
Here's what we "tend" to do - if we're discussing a new item, then we don't
bill, if we're discussing errors, we definitely don't bill (as it's our
fault <g>), if it comes to telling them how it works and upgrades, then we
bill as they're now "beyond spec"
This, of course, depends on the client - if they're particularly nice or we
don't want to take the mick with invoicing, then we don't - if they're
particularly obnoxious, then we tend to invoice for just about anything (I
think in once case we charged one particularly bad client for the time it
took to invoice them <g>)
In general though, I'd say Support/Training is definitely billable, but
you'd have to make judgement calls on most other things
Philip Arnold
Director
Certified ColdFusion Developer
ASP Multimedia Limited
T: +44 (0)20 8680 1133
"Websites for the real world"
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