A company approached me about servicing the displays in a chain of restaurants. Mainly swapping out TVs and projectors as needed. Seems like a steady gig, not a lot of money but steady. Some of these locations are over 50 miles away and will mean $30 in gas and tolls and 3 hours round trip. Is it reasonable to want my full rate for the full travel time, figure I would have to pay someone their $25 an hour to make the drive.

If the restaurants are located in remote locations, then sure.
If you however, are the one located off the beaten path, then figure travel time from metro area, and bill for travel time from there.

Also, if you can schedule jobs for that chain as a full day thing, with going from one restaurant to another, then yes, all the times in between should be billable.

Either that, or adjust you hourly rates accordingly.
Bottom line, don't do the work for free.

i used to not bill for travel time, BUT thats hours I or employees are "working" and costing money every which way. Ware and tare on the vehicle, gas, insurance, social security, fica, the large coke you spilled while taking a phone call while pulling out of Taco Bell etc...

I bill regardless and always factor travel time in to T&M estimates and package pricing. that is your time away from the office to do work they want you to do...so yes, bill them your normal hourly rate.

lol

Dude, give Bendon a break. He's from Jersey, that's how they talk there, ya know...

lmao



thanks mario! except duct tape is 45 minutes away from me and further south closer to the shore, he should talk worse then me :)

Time travel is extremely complicated and presents many unique issues of its own. first and foremost is convincing the client that their equipment was about to go out and that you did indeed swap it out yesterday. Its difficult for them to understand the service you provided and often don't want to pay.

what? Oh.. travel time...

Yeah, we bill for that too.... reduced rate depending on mileage.. 50 miles is not really that far...

We charge for travel on that type of project and also learned that sending documentation on the travel details helps.

People have yet to be interested in our time travel services, as the rates are still a bit high for the average client and the documentation is a bitch.

ah ha!  but Duct Tape is a native of Wisconsin, where we actually pay attention in school  :p

In construction it's simply called "mobilization".
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a line item explaining the costs to get equipment and personnel on site.

If you are lining out a bid and showing parts and materials and development time and/or programming, then having this line item is absolutely appropriate. If you just do a quote for a total amount, then that's it. You don't need it. You've built it in.

In the event that we are requested to drive a significant distance then we input the amount of time that we spent on the jobsite and below we put:

Travel to job 165 miles - time - 3.5 hours @ $75.00 $225.00

Dave T.

I like that...just added that as an itemization in the books, thanks.



I can't imagine what you are charging for that !