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creationtalk -> RE: How Much to Charge? (4/13/2008 11:49:14 PM)
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No idea what she should charge, though I'd be happy to have her help...
I think that this type of job should pay more than a typical housecleaning job--have you looked around to see if there are others in the area doing that type of thing and asking about costs? Also get rates from people who do other types of cleaning. This might help come up with a fair rate.
As to charge by the hour or job...just starting out with no experience, it may be very hard to determine how long a job might take and if she charges by the job and doesn't spec it at enough, she might find herself working for pennies on the hour. On the other hand, if I have a job that I need done, I want it done and I want to know the maximum that it will cost. It is very frustrating when I hire someone to do a job, they don't finish but charge more than the quote (has happened). So maybe she needs to determine the minimum per hour she can take (and keep in mind, in this type of job she would be considered self-employed so will have to pay her own taxes, the employer and employee portions of social security (15%), etc. She will also need to do some bookkeeping for her "business." So the per hour charge will need to be MORE than she would be paid if she was working for another by at least 15%--7.5% for social security and 7.5% for "overhead." The amount she needs to charge for overhead may actually need to be higher if she needs to pay rent and utilities on a space, if she is not compensated for travel time (and costs), if she needs specialized equipment, etc. So anyway, she determines the minimum per hour she can take, the when she specs out a job she can quote a price for the job up to a certain number of hours with a statement that if it takes longer, she will either stop at that point or will be paid $X per hour in addition to the quote. The amount of time specified should be at least 1.5 times longer than she thinks the job will take. That way if it doesn't take as long, she will make more money and if it takes a bit longer, she still can finish without suffering. And truthfully, if she is charging too much, you will know it because she won't have any work. But it is important that she does not under charge as well.
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