freelancers charging by the day - and people who have to count their billable hours - how much proper work do you do in a day?

[hatwoman]

Just interested in how people do this. Like lots of us, I guess, my hours are a bit irregular. I use a timer and would charge for a day's work when I've clocked up 7 or 8 hours - that is actual full-on hours at the computer actually working on the particular task. if I make a cup of tea or have a chat with dh the timer gets turned off.

dh thinks I'm anal and harsh on myself. He reckons that a "day" should be equivalent to what it's reasonable to achieve in a day in an office. Taking into account that when you're in an office you chat with colleagues, make tea, go and get a sarnie. you might have a meeting, tidy your desk ocassionally etc etc. he thinks that most people, in offices, would only do maybe 6 billable hours. and so 6 full-on hours is a reasonable "day" for a freelancer.

anyone thoughts?

anyone thoughts?? must proof read.

I price by the job / day
tax returns can be done in a short time or a long time but I tend to charge around the same
I working an office one day a week but its by what I get done, not hours served
start to quote on price - which is better for self employed anyway and then turn the clock off
you are not a factory operative, you are a professional
barristers bill you for the time you are taking them out to lunch after al...

I used an online time tracker and charge my clients by the hour, usually with a minimum.

Being a graphic artist/web designer means I don't always know how long something will take to complete, so it makes sense for me to give estimated hours (plus minimum) and then charge by the hour.

I do turn off the tracker for long breaks, i.e. lunch, but not if I am just making a cuppa.

I had this exact conversation with myself the other day hatwoman!

I reckon 6 solid hours is about right in terms of what you'd expect to achieve in an office.

But I actually count a full day as 7 hours solid work . I figure I'm saving 2 hours' commute time a day so I don't mind doing 7 hours as a day's work at home.

My dh is freelance.

He charges his day rate when he works over 4 hours. When he works 4 hours he is pretty much unavailable to work for anyone else, so therefore his day rate is applicable. No one seems to quibble about it! It has to be said, he has sometimes worked 12 or 14 hours for the same daily rate.

Its all about keeping your regular clients sweet isn't it?

good point doozle

Oh and yes I wouldn't turn the timer off if just making a cup of tea or for a short break. But I would stop the clock for a proper lunch break etc.

I think you're being a bit harsh on yourself.

Standard day 7/8 hrs here. I charge my full day rate when I've worked 6+hours for a client. If a day goes over 10 hours I charge them for an extra half day.

The only time I ever clock watch is when I've agreed a price for a whole job rather than charging by day, so it's in my interests to keep an eye on how long I'm spending on it.

Total thread hijack:

MadamDeathstare I have always wondered how that works. Do you get a set of written instructions, i.e. 2" square box at coordinates XYZ and make the drawing from that or do you get a rough drawing that you convert to CAD or what? I used to do drafting by hand (about 25 years ago, Technical Theatre Major) but that was out of my own head!

Sorry, back to the thread...

Charge by the minute for surgical time and by the hour for consultative time. I only charge for the actual time I work, but I create my rate by working out what I want to earn/ feel is reasonable divided by the time I am prepared to work, add in other overheads for individual circumstances hey presto rate created.
Depending on work is as much as £4.90 per minute to as little as £65 per hour. Though recently extremely arrogant client who abused staff got charged £15.20 per minute and even that was too little for the hassle she caused.

I work in an accountancy practice and we charge in units of 6 minutes. I aim to have about 75% chargeable time.

I charge by the day, and have this debate with myself often.

It actually makes me realise how little work I got done when I worked in an office.

I charge for a day if I'm at home working. I do occasionally check facebook, mumsnet, make a cup of tea for 5 minutes, put washing on, have lunch etc. However, I figure that I would also do this at work (not the washing obviously) so that it probably counts.

I also check emails etc in the evening so figure it all evens out.

I count a day as 8 hours. I work on multiple projects and tend to record my time in 1/4 days, and occaisionally in 1/8 days. I don't stop the notional clock for teabreaks etc...but I work fairly solidly and usually charge 3/4 - 1 1/4 days per day.

Anything from 5.5 to 10 hours, but I factor in non-paid stuff like initial meetings and follow up when deciding what's fair.