I have a question about the way I charge customers while doing sideline work

[Modat22]

Not saw mill related, the other day I answered a topic in a CAD newsgroup I visit now and again. It was a response on current hourly rates for computer aided design work in the USA.

I just tossed my rates out there and was totally slammed by other cad guys and I really don't understand why.

Basically I charge 50.00 per hour for all work I am proficient in and know that I can produce in a fast accurate time frame with minimal customer input.

However, if approached to do something I've never done before (which happens often) I charge a lesser fee, until my proficiency is that of my standard fee. Generally its 35.00 per hour and goes to 50.00 per hour after approx 1 month or 40 drafting hours stated in a contract.

I've been called several names and other detritus and don't understand. Am I totally nuts for my charging practices?

[Fla._Deadheader]

It's still a free country, isn't it ???  Charge what you feel is fair for both you AND the client. Let the others do what they want.

  Wish I could only BEGIN to understand and utilize CAD  : : :

[Modat22]

 ;D I wish I'd never seen a computer.

I dunno, Thats kinda what I thought and still do. Most customers feel like they are getting a bargain when in all honesty they aren't. For the reduced fee I'm getting unrestricted access to a person that basically trains me on new subsystems and operations that allow me to design a system or structure I've never done before and gives me the knowlege to do field contractor work for which I get a much higher per hour wage.

I guess I scared a few CAD guys with the way I do things.  ???

[Onthesauk]

Attorneys have something called "value billing."  If they get a case similar to one they have dealt with before they bill out some number of hours for the reasearch and reading up on that particular subject, despite the fact that they aren't really doing it again.  Not all do it, not on all cases but I have never been quite comfortable with the concept.

I think you have taken the high road and there is never a problem with that.

[Raphael]

I have a copy of AutoCAD 2000...
I also have a Vemco V-track drafting machine on my 5' table.
Guess what gets used when I need to crank something out this week.

I think the way you charge makes a great deal of sense, the landscape architect I ran crew for and learned from used to charge full price ($75/hr) for everything including wandering around a nursery all day checking availability and pricing; it is an important part of the design process, but it's also like charging for a day spent in the park.  I charge $50/hr for design and drawings, and then drop the price/hr for other portions of the job.  I charge a reduced labor rate when I doing something totally new, it may not save the customer any money but at least I'm not charging them extra for my ignorance.  My former boss would take on something new and then hand it to me to figure out how to do it, good deal for me as I'm getting paid to learn by doing, good deal for him as he's getting paid to learn from what I do...  Real lousy deal for the customer as they are paying for all my false starts and mid-project design changes, the boss wasn't an engineer and often couldn't be convinced an approach was wrong until I'd built it to the point of failure.

  When I'm wandering around a nursery my price drops to $25/hr and I generally only charge a given customer for about half my time there.  I often get my best design ideas in this sort of setting so it also helps offset guilt for the time spent staring at a blank sheet of paper trying to come up with something that's both unique and harmonious.  Actually I've defeated the blank sheet of paper with a digital camera, now I stare at a continously looping slide show of the customers property.   :D

If I were your $35/hr. customer I'd probably be learning AutoCad over your shoulder while you were learning that new subsystem.  So it would be a good deal for both of us which is always the best sort of business transaction.

[Modat22]

I have taught a few clients to use Acad slightly, Its hard to teach someone from a cold start but I have given general instruction.

I personally like the site work better than the computer work. It pays more and I get out of the house  :D

[Part_Timer]

When I do business I make it so both myself and the customer can sleep well at night.

I pay my bills, everyone else can pay theirs however they want.

Tom

[Ianab]

Thats a subject that has bugged me before.

I dont mind paying professional rates for specialised work, and charging similar rates myself.
But the reason you can charge the big bucks is because you have specialised knowledge / training / experience. Paying somone $50-$100 an hour to learn the subject you are hiring them to be an expert in just doesn't seem right  :  You pay the big $ BECAUSE they are an expert.

We do come across the same situation with our computer work, although we dont discount our hourly rate we will often write time on a job off to 'training' and only charge the customer what the job should have taken if we didn't have to spend 1/2 a day reading the manual. Some people take a different tack and charge full price for that, but often they dont get called back again  ;)
This is however only for training that will be usefull to us in the future, if the 'training' is figuring out a one off system that we need to learn just for that site, then they can pay for that. But if it's a setup of a new system thats going to be installed 10 more times then we will wear the initial learning time, and charge the $90 because we are now 'experts' at it.  ;)

Cheers

Ian