[thelist] Bill E-mail As Consultation Hours?

[Richard H. Morris]

Aileen Wrothwell [aileen at stonebikini.com] asked:

> -----Original Message-----
> However, lately I find that I'm spending more than an
> hour a day
> answering e-mail from each client.  I'm thinking that this should
> be billed
> as consultation time.  Your thoughts, please?  I'm not asking how much you
> charge, but rather how you charge.  As always, thank you.  Aileen

It strikes me that when it gets to this stage, you should really start
billing the hours:

a) like you, I don't bill time answering general e-mail queries from
Clients;

b) I don't bill for minor updates - "please add a new link..." - that only
take a few minutes as I regard these as off-timesheet goodwill building
amendments;

c) when anything takes more than say 1/2 an hour to do or when there's a lot
of minor amendments to make, that's when we do charge our maintenance rate;
and

d) let's not forget that when you're dealing with these e-mails, you're not
able to earn money on other sites...

It's a question of degree, really.

HTH

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Richard H. Morris, Director, Web Designers Ltd
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