Who bills by day rate? 1111 Responses

Last post: 4 months, 1 week ago | Thread started: Jan 10, 13, 4:24 p.m.

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• sublocked

  Hey dudes...

  So in case most of you don't know, I created an app called Cashboard ( http://cashboardapp.com )....we just launched a redesign. It's pretty cool.

  Anyway, from time to time I get questions (primarily from guys who work in video/post) about tracking time and billing by "day rate".

  My usual response is to tell people to modify their invoices so instead of "quantity" that heading reads "day" or something similar, then bill like that.

  A couple questions for anyone who bills by day rate (since I think a few of you on here do)

  1 - Is there software out there that specifically lets you track time and bill by day rate?

  2 - How are you billing by day rate now?

  Thanks

  Jan 10, 13, 4:24 p.m. – Permalink

• lvl_13

  day rate can vary. kind of depends on the place you are freelancing (and if you are flexible in how you bill). ie. some firms consider day rate as per physical day-as in doesn't matter how much you work 1 hour-24 hours you still get paid for 1 day of work.

  other places you can charge a day rate based on 8 hours, and then anything up and above you begin to charge hourly.

  is that your question? does that even make sense?

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 4:32 p.m. – Permalink

• sublocked

  Thanks lvl_13...it seems like people do it differently all over. That bit about 8 hours......then hourly seems tricky.

  My question was really how are you managing this now - and is there really a tool out there built specifically to handle this workflow?

  I'm considering adding support for it to Cashboard but up until this point I've put it off because of the complexity it could add to the UI.

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 4:38 p.m. – Permalink

• Julesvm

  I bill daily. I use freshbooks and just create a 'day-rate' service item.

  • boo on you.....freshbooks... :)– sublocked1/2

    i do this as well but usually i bill flate rate or hourly– JG_LB2/2

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 4:41 p.m. – Permalink

• sublocked

  PS: The reason I ask is because the more well known software packages out there don't seem to support this workflow directly.

  I continually evaluate all of em...(ps: they suck in comparison) :D

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 4:55 p.m. – Permalink

• Julesvm

  re; freshbooks. I create a 'day-rate' service item, but it doesn't have any direct link with their time tracking, which sucks. I used to just input 8 hours and divide by day rate by 8 so that I could easily use their time-tracking to keep it all organized. This isn't ideal at all. It'd be great to have support to directly input a flat day, or half day via a calendar input.

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 5:10 p.m. – Permalink

• Miguex

  

  why does it have to be one or the other?
  I bill some projects hourly, other daily, per project and monthly it all depends on what I'm doing and who I'm working with. It seems to me that there is no single answer, just like in design, there's always multiple paths to get to the same place right?

  • Thanks...but how does this relate to what I'm asking? I didn't propose any either/or situation.....I'm asking about a specific workflow– sublocked1/2

    ....specific workflow.– sublocked2/2

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 5:26 p.m. – Permalink

• pr2

  1. you put in google calendar "this fucker owes me that much for a job done on this day"

  2. by sending invoice at the end of the work day

  • well...that is one way of doing things i suppose– sublocked1/3

    pay no attention to pr2. he's a proven idiot on this site.– lvl_132/3

    ...unlike lev_13 who with the number to his name describes his luck with women.– pr23/3

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 7:50 p.m. – Permalink

• cannonball1978

  Just add a toggle when setting up a project. Shouldnt be hard.

  

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  Dog-earJan 10, 13, 10:27 p.m. – Permalink

• Continuity

  Some freelancers — including many I work with, and myself when I do any freelancing — have a day rate structure that says, pretty much:

  'x-number of days or less = Day Rate Y'
  'z-number of days or more = Day Rate A'

  So if a project is planned for less than a certain number of business days, they charge a higher rate than if the project was scheduled to run for longer.

  Good to keep in mind for any sort of time/cost tracking software.

  

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  Dog-earJan 11, 13, 2:33 a.m. – Permalink

• sublocked

  Thanks for the input guys. I think this can be a quick win for me, and my customers who bill by day rate.

  I think my plan is...

  - Setting the project billing type to 'day rate' & setting that rate
  - Defining how many hours are in a 'day'
  - When billing, anything under X hours logged in a day is '1' day, and anything over gets billed as a day + fraction

  

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  Dog-earJan 11, 13, 11:57 a.m. – Permalink

• fyoucher1

  Maybe even add in the option for hours in excess of that "day" to be either fraction of a day...or...hourly, just in case some folks do a combination

  • Seems a little more complex than it should be.....but perhaps.– sublocked1/2

    maybe default to fraction of a day– fyoucher12/2

  

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  Dog-earJan 11, 13, 12:01 p.m. – Permalink