charging for meetings and e-mail?
Out of context: Reply #7
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- nocomply0
I have a general, loosely based policy which is that all my emails, meetings, etc.. before I land a gig are free. I figure it's part of the process of actually getting the work. I don't see how I would ever get any work if I made people pay for an initial meeting with me. Maybe my standards are too low, but I figure you gotta give some to get some. That's kind of a separate topic though...
So anyway, once I actually have a paid project, all (or nearly) all of that stuff becomes billable, and it is noted in my initial estimates as "communication," "server administration," etc...
Also, let's say a current client wants to talk about some new work that will bring me more money. That initial conversation is also free, but once I start the work I run the clock on everything.
I think that policy is fair to me and fair to my clients, and it has been working for me for years now.
However, I do see (and have experienced) how it can become problematic for projects that are just a hour or two of work. In those cases, I usually over-estimate in case the project runs long, and if I don't burn through the hours I bill them less and then I'm happy and the client is happy.