Hourly Rates

[ChampagneTastes]

I am new to this whole freelancing lark and I'm currently bidding for my first serious bit of work. I am very much making this up as I go along and hoping for the best. This particular job is MASSIVE and could potentially take months or even years. My intention is to charge an hourly rate. What I want to know is when I should invoice? The job breaks down into component parts so I could bill at the point of completion of each one or I could send in an invoice every ten hours (or whatever). I'm not too sure about billing for each bit though as there will be bits and pieces that don't necessarily belong to one particular part.

What do other people do in this situation?

If you are going for time and materials I'd do monthly invoices. If you use a timer, you could reflect an invoice which breaks it down into headings eg: planning - 2 hours, writing - 3 hours etc.

If they want a fixed price (based on an hourly rate x the hours you think) I'd break it down into steps/milestones and then invoice at each one assuming that doesn't mean no invoice for months.

T&m is generally best if it has lots of unknowns/you are new to it.

Not sure if that helps?

That is fantastically helpful Margo - thank you. I think you're right; the first option you outlined seems the most appropriate. I don't see how I can do a fixed price for this as there are so many unknowns at this point. I will definitely break down my invoice as you suggest. Monthly seems reasonable. I would envisage perhaps 30-45 hrs per month so while it's a large amount (the client is an individual rather than a business) I think it should be manageable. And he can tell me to spend less time on it if he wants (there is no deadline as such, it is a completely new project).

No worries.

Try not to have the mindset it is a lot. He wants a service, you are providing one etc.

Good luck!

You are right! But it's hard to maintain such self-confidence this early on!