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Billing clients for travel time

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by hellbee 1 view

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As an independent consultant, I pass the costs of travel directly to my clients. I have never had any issues with this. I do, however, have some clients who expect to not be billed my hourly rate during this time. When I do a 7-14 hour day of travel, I normally bill for an 8 hour day. I think this is reasonable. What are other consultants charging for travel time?

2 replies

by oldefar

Billing for travel is reasonable since it is time you could otherwise apply to other clients.

A way to prevent issues is to address them up front. Some clients feel better with a flat weekly rate, or a even a monthly rate, that includes travel.Others like to pay per hour and accept that travel on their behalf is a legitimate charge. Often times, by getting the issue on the table up front I can work a better schedule for everyone. For example, days on their site get scheduled far enough in advance for insuring all meetings are in place with the appropriate parties, and air fare is purchased ahead of time at reduced costs.

by timwalsh

You must have a lot of frequent flyer miles!

What you are charging for travel sounds perfectly reasonable to me. The bottom line here is that the time spent traveling is time that you aren't working for other clients, and thus it is perfectly reasonable that this time should be chargeable. It's not like you are just driving across town.

I have actally seen two different strategies for charging for LONG travel times such as you have:
1. Charge travel at a discounted hourly charge, but charge for ALL hours spent travelling.
2. Charge a full hourly work rate, but only charge an 8-hour day for situations such as you describe.

To alleviate future "problems" with clients, if you aren't already doing so, I would suggest specifying how the client will be charged for travel, in your consultancy agreement. Maybe give the client an option of the two above methods. If the client doesn't like your terms, they are free to find another consultant (if possible) who is willing to give away his time.

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